h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Ah last minute lab reports, Something i dont have to deal with again ntil at least september Glad its all going well for you though

mini

you all set for the change to the new place then?
You had exams or not bothered as you are transfering?

Passed my second Psychology module (which didn't have an exam). Yes I am indeed all set for the transfer phoned the Disability advisor earlier today and he will meet with me in July or August to make sure everything is in place before I start

mini

sounds like you are well looking forward to it!

Hows your assignments/modules going?

Its the summer break at the moment so I don't have anything to do between now and September. Am pretty much an unemployed student until then.

mini

ah, fond memories! Lots of time and very little money - well I did work sometimes, had to, but basically it involved dossing about with friends.

You got owt planned or just take it as it comes?

Attempting to find gainful employment, but otherwise messing about on hootoo, listening to music and getting some reading and movie watching done.

mini

"Still better than I expected for a rush job!"

Well done! Forget about it being rushed, you did well after all! What comes next? Any more investigations?

nope, two essays, the project write up and the exam.
Next essay in in about a month; 1500 words on either a) does the research provide any evidence for a short term store specifically used for processing/buffering complex sounds (speach) and if so what does it say about its properties
or
b)What factors can lead to a problem being relatively easily solved
This relates to the decision making models for human cognitive functions and how we actually make decisions, why some are more complex than others etc.

I'm thinking about going for a) cos it is less freeform and I didn't find myself disagreeing with a lot of the material when reading the relevant sections/papers. The decision making I found very interesting but the material we have is kinda skimming the surface of a large and very active area of research. There's 4 models presented so you'd have to cover a bit of all of them. And you have to cover the bit about the person making the decision and - yes, all very interesting but I reckon I could write 4000 words on it so cutting down to 1500 I'd end up leaving out loadsa stuff I wanted to say. a) provides a simple review format which is easier to write to and more indication of what they want.

essay 2 isn't till end of september and is 2000 words and again 2 options of either a review of theories of memory and age or a review of computer based cognitive models and how good they are.

I'd go for b) myself. Schemata and all that. Satisficing.

I would go for A mostly because I haven't learned about B yet, Could probably write a little about A though.

mini

>>mostly because I haven't learned about B

That's the whole point of getting you to write an essay. It's called 'Research'.

oh the b) stuff is far more interesting to me. But the point here is to gain marks, not concentrate on my interest. So actually doing b) would be more difficult as I'd want to say more. When I have less interest in a subject (such as a) ) then I find it much easier to be precise and not waffle!

And ackshully Ed I think the point of the essay is test what we have learned - this is an undergrad degree so it's all about pumping the knowledge in and then regurgitating it with a degree of reprocessing to see if you have understood it. Source for both the above is course materials which we have covered so far.

>>the point of the essay is test what we have learned

Oof!

The decent lecturers will give credit for original thought and good argument. But then...not every lecture can cope with that. I remember our Physiology lecturer who began, in his first lecture:
'I do not wish to bore people. If you do not find my lectures useful, I shall not be at all offended if you do not attend and choose to work independently. This is what's meant by 'reading for a degree.' '
(Although as it happens...his lectures were unmissably entertaining. Do you know how long a radio transmitter wrapped ina condom and swallowed takes to emerge from the other end? Or how high Jackie Stewart's heart rate would climb on the starting grid?)

But......why are you after the marks when your reason for doing the degree is to learn something?



A colleague has just e-mailed me a write up of some work by a post-grad that he was particularly impressed with. The guy haad chosen to do it as Powerpoint, rather than a formal report. It works much better that way!

ah but don't forget this is a distance course as well so less interaction with the lecturer or tutor. The course texts are much more conversational and explanatory than the dry texts I used to use back at uni. I guess they have to be to be able to deliver.

"why are you after the marks when your reason for doing the degree is to learn something?"

Cos I only got 70% on the last one when I could have got 80% easily enough. So I need to pick up a decent mark to get the average.
See, there's two strands to all this. One is me getting from it what I want. And that's going quite well. But it has nothing to do with the assignments and exams. Indeed I should probably not bother with them at all if that were all.

But I payed rather a lot of money to do this course (and indeed the other two I have already completed) and I might as well put some effort in and see how well I can do.