Well it’s been almost a week since I sat my exam for B203 and I’m sitting here anxiously waiting for the results, despite them not being released until July. Pointless really. But here I am.
Before I get onto my experience with the module I’ll mention that this post is peppered with links; this isn’t to annoy anyone but I figured the best way to make sure everyone understands what I’m talking about is to link Open University related language to the glossary page I’ve created on this blog. So if you don’t know what one of the linked words, acronyms or whatever means, give it a click and look it up in the glossary! I’m hoping that’s useful to some of you.
Everyone told me B203 Business Functions in Context was a tough module for anyone, let alone someone with a chronic illness, and in the end I have to agree with them. It is tough. But it is also doable.
If you’re a regular reader of this blog you’ll know I haven’t had the easiest time with my health and other things during this course. I’ve had additional viruses and infections on top of my chronic illness as well as dealing with the terminal illness and subsequent loss of a close relative. Not easy for anyone to deal with healthy or otherwise, but throw in a chronic illness like M.E and you have a real challenge on your hands.
Anyway back to B203, despite being a tough module and, in my opinion, a module with too much reading for the amount of time you’re supposed to spend on it, I thoroughly enjoyed most aspects of it. Yes some topics didn’t interest me at all but others had me enthralled. That happens with most courses.
The assignments themselves I found quite clear in what they expected you to do. The required participation in the Tutor Group Forum was difficult when I was suffering quite badly with sensitivity to light, but for the most part they were enjoyable. Discussing topics related to the course with fellow students made me feel less like I was going it alone; a feeling that can creep up on you when studying from home at a distance.
Tutorials were a fantastic resource, full of additional, helpful information for assignments, revising and the exam itself. I only managed to attend two of them, but I’m sure if I’d managed to go to more, and had slightly better health, I would have achieved better TMA marks. As it was I didn’t do badly given everything, and my tutor was always at the end of an email or the TGF if I needed help!
The books and materials…well what can I say? There’s a lot of it! The block sessions which guide you to the parts of the five books you have to read are all online, and in my case I had to spend quite a while printing each set out because I couldn’t spend long periods on the computer reading them. You don’t read all of each book but it certainly seems like you read most of each one! There’s a great pleasure at times when you’re told you can skip a chunk of the book!
Despite the sheer amount of reading B203 has been an engaging module, and I have for the most part enjoyed it. However you do need to be able to spare a lot of time and energy on it. It’s not a module you can bunk off of. You have to do the hard graft. I’d recommend trying to get ahead on the reading and staying ahead, but that’s certainly not easy and obviously not always possible. I tried but due to my health and other circumstances I found myself behind at times and it was incredibly difficult to catch up again, let alone get ahead again!
Anyway all in all B203 has been an interesting but challenging module. One which I came very close to giving up on but I’m glad I stuck with it. Now I just have to wait and see if I’ve done enough to pass it!