By David Wells, editor at Surviving the OU

David has signed up for H817 and is looking to nail this MA over the next year

Hey all, I’m back and raring to go on another year of OU studying. When I say a year I mean from February to September, but you get the idea.

After handing in my EMA for H800 I had a few decisions to make about which direction I would travel in next. Should I follow straight on and continue studying or should I wait until February 2018 and do two back-to-back modules in the same year? Choices, choices…I guess there’s no mystery as here I am in January getting ready to start H817: Openness and innovation in elearning early next month. Read about how I deliberated at the end of H800 on what to do next by clicking here.

Image Credit: Mindbursts

Module Description

Innovations in elearning are moving apace, especially with the use of new social software tools that encourage peer supported learning. With an emphasis on exploring innovation, you will discover the latest educational communication developments, the increasing use of data in education through the fast developing field of learning analytics and also experience developments in open education. You will develop specific elearning skills (including online group moderation and collaborative elearning activity design), conduct small-scale investigations, and use case studies, with the overall aim of incorporating or rethinking elearning activity into your own professional context. This module will introduce you to current debates around the concept of openness and the ethical issues relating to learning analytics.

Inside Student Home

I’ve been making my way through the module site after it opened a couple of days ago and everything seems pretty standard. My first task will be to clear out my old folder from the first module and get printing off the TMA and EMA specifications as soon as they appear (only the first TMA is outlined so far). Then I get hole punching and put them in the folder before reading through them, getting some ideas and an initial fresh feel for the overall themes of the module before assaulting the papers with my pen and fluorescent marker to make notes.

I love the last one in that box: “No residential school”, do they still do residential schools at all now? These trips have been present ever since I started on AA100 all those years ago but I never actually went on one because I did not sign up for a course that had it as part of the requirements.

Cost of the Module

Before I leave you I’d like to just speak briefly about the cost of the module. £2,333 in total, which wasn’t an easy sum of money to come by when you’re working and raising a family with numerous expenses etc (you don’t need me to tell you about that, I’m sure) but with some stringent saving and a few pound rolling in from this website (thanks to everyone who has bought the study guide or any of the eBooks I’ve put together) I made it and paid the total in full. I’d also saved and paid for the first module as well, which was also £2,333, so quite the financial outlay over the past year or so. 

Hopefully it will all be worth it one day and I’ll be in a stronger career position and able to recoup some of the money in earnings from a better job or some freelance work that comes as a result of me having the Masters in Online and Distance Education (F10).

Thanks for reading, we’ll drop another update in soon.

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