Photo by Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash
It’s been a quiet month in terms of deadlines, if not for feedback. Only the one iCMA due in February. Most of my attention, however, has been on finishing off the last TMA for TM111 and a rather sizeable third TMA for MU123. Once again, the feedback, this time for my second TMA for TM111 (the programming one!), has been really helpful.
There are some strict rules for submitting TMAs. For TM111, I have to write the main document in Microsoft Word (or a compatible format), attach any other files (e.g. OU build, images etc.) and then put them all in a zip folder before uploading to the module website. That is fine. The Open University provides you with a free student copy of Microsoft Office 365, which includes Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, and you will have applications that come with your computer for zipping files together.
Do not be afraid to ask your tutor or fellow students on the forums if you are not sure what the exact requirements are. A lot of tutors go over this in their tutorials and it is all in the module guidance, which you’ll get a paper copy of when your books are mailed out to you before the module starts. All of this is also on the module website too.
It is slightly different for MU123. You must submit your TMA as a pdf file. You can either write your answers out by hand and then scan them onto your computer or write them electronically on your computer. I chose to do the former because of my concerns about formatting my answers correctly in Word. I know I could have learned to use a typesetting editor like LaTeX or even Word’s own equation editor. However, it is not expected in MU123 because they want to test your understanding of the module, though I understand it may well be in other maths modules. So, I did not want to use up my limited time trying to learn it while trying to get to grips with maths again and while studying my first two modules. You can also submit you TMA answers by post (directly to your tutor) and many people did just that.
I am a week or so away from being ready to submit my final TMA for TM111 and, thus, completing my first Open University module. There is no programming in the third and final block. Here, the emphasis is on networking with more than a little sprinkling of maths. A rather helpful ‘Using Numbers’ booklet on the maths you’ll need for TM111 (and TM112 for that matter) is included with your module materials. Make use of it because, judging by the tutorials and forum posts, a lot of students struggle with the math side of things in TM111 (particularly binary and logic maths). It certainly made me glad that I chose to study MU123 alongside TM111, rather than the following year. You can easily underestimate how important maths is for studying computer science but the two really go hand in hand.