Sunday 30 April 2017

Louder and Louder

... the ticking of that clock.  Ever and on.

Sat down today to put a proper start on some of the 'words' of my final EMA report, given that a lot of the choices I need to document are those I've already made by now.  If I can pull the majority of the background stuff together, then it should be a case of simply (hah!) slotting in the official findings of the analysis I've still got to do.

I have to admit, having a third or so of the words together is helping a little with the inner panic.  The fact that I shouldn't then have the whole 3000 words to write after I finish the analysis might help me to focus on the analysis in a more logical fashion.  My head's been fluttering about like some mad butterfly, one minute on one part of the analysis, then to another part entirely, never quite settling on any one flower.

I get the feeling I'm never going to feel entirely satisfied with the resulting report, as word counts have a tendency to do that to me anyway - I like to tell the whole tale and once I am restricted by a word count, that's not possible.  But hey, the way I have been feeling lately, I'll settle for having a logical and coherent report that answers the questions I need it to.

Apologies for such a fluttery flappy blog post, but I think that just completely describes my state of mind in these final few weeks of my OU studies.

Onwards toward the unknown!


Thursday 13 April 2017

Tick tock ...

Oh dear that countdown clock is ticking faster than I would prefer now.  On the one hand - yippee, the countdown heads towards freedom, from the world of study and deadlines and assignments etc.  On the other hand - it reminds me just how little time is left to complete the final EMA.  I remember being very happy that my final module had an EMA instead of a final exam.  Right now I think I would have preferred the short sharp shock of the exam.

Suffice to say, this final module has not exactly filled me with joy and delight.  There have been some satisfying moments along the way, but the very structure of the course has been difficult to balance with life.  Particularly a life which now has my working days being filled with learning.

The final assignment requires some data analysis, some use of data mining techniques and a formal report.  The data sets are based around the EU referendum, which I have to admit I was sick of the first time round.  And now I get to pull it all apart and try to make something interesting out of it.  Now anyone who knows me knows how little interest I have in politics, so they couldn't really have picked a worse subject to keep me interested.

Slowly but surely I am starting (I hope) to get a grasp on what I need to do.  But I will be very glad when the clock stops ticking and my OU study journey finally comes to a close.

And then - only one final part of the journey to take - the march of the graduand.  So excited to finally get to wear that gown and celebrate all the hard work!