Activities 1.1 & 1.2

Activity 1.1

Somewhat predictably, the first activity is about getting to know what's happening, where, when and who and checking that I've got everything ready to get started. There was a nice video to watch by Chris Pegler, the 'production chair' of the module. She talked about what the course is all about and a bit about the project. I really enjoyed the E854 project, so I'm hopeful that I've chosen a module that will be useful and interesting.

The second part of the activity was to set up my OU profile. I had sort of already done this last year but I hadn't written much. This got me thinking about how much I want people to actually know about me. There are some things that it's pretty much expected that you share online, like the family set-up and what I do for work. Then there's the stuff that could understandably be kept private. I'm sure the theme of privacy will pop up at some point in the course but for now, I've decided it makes sense to share a bit about my health and lifestyle, since it plays a huge part in who I am and how I work. I also changed my profile pic to my current favourite - the one of me in my chair at York Races, earlier this summer.

Activity 1.2

Actually this isn't the activity but there was quite an interesting bit of reading about what it means to engage in reflective writing. I'm generally quite a reflective person but I tend to keep my reflections very private. It's usually when I'm driving around on my own that I reflect on a whole variety of things - work, study, life, the universe... everything. So again, it got me thinking about how much reflection I'm prepared to go public with. I haven't come to any conclusions yet but I condensed the text into a little graphic which I printed out and stuck on the wall in front of where I study.

The actual activity was an online questionnaire about study preferences. There was just under 50 questions, most of which I can't remember. I might have another look at the questions but the way I answer these quizzes tends to vary according to what day it is, what mood I'm in and a whole host of other variables.