Evaluation

Introduction

After doing two years of Open University courses in the hope of getting into uni, I was gutted to find rejection after rejection. The only course that was admitted to was a Spanish and Italian course even though my application was for German courses and my native language was Spanish.After speaking to the admissions office in Edinburgh, I was advised to do an Access course in languages at Stevenson.
Motivation
My motivation for the course was very strong, even though I had to wait until August to have a group interview and had to hand in my notice in England and move to Edinburgh without actually knowing if I could be accepted on the course.Luckily things worked out and I started the course soon after. I am unsure about what my expectations of the course were. I expected entry into university and polish a few skills here and there. I can see now that I was overconfident and somewhat “cocky “as I had already had A levels and considered myself to be already quite articulate and ready for University. How wrong I was!

Positive experiences

I have enjoyed the course but my personal highlights have been in History, Communications and German.

Evan’s enthusiasm has been so contagious and I have enjoyed learning about British and European History, in fact I am hoping to take History or Social Anthropology as a third subject next year.

Scott was demanding and meticulous with my work. Even when other teachers said that my English was good enough, Scott showed me that I was making a lot of punctuation mistakes and he showed me how to develop a critical argument on paper.

Deborah, is a fantastic language teacher, she is very thoughtful in her lesson plans and deliveries both in German and in French. She was also great company in our trip to Berlin which was an incredible experience. Not only because of the amazing places we visited but because I had the opportunity to speak the language I had been learning for nearly three years.

Investigating Europe was also really fun because we were allowed to research any subject. It was great to have the independence to investigate my subject area at my own pace.

How the course could be improved

I found that the beginning of the course was very slow. I would like to have done some short essays straight away, even if they didn’t count for anything but it would have been good practice for everyone, especially us non native English speakers. Three months down the line, the course got incredibly busy which of course had to coincide with personal difficulties which made it harder for me to meet the deadlines.

I would have liked to learn more about literary concepts as it was the first time I took literature and I found myself really lost with all these new terms. Writing small essays in literature would have been a great way to learn how to structure my literature essays.

I think tutorial could be improved by making SMART plans about our assignments and maybe mixing it with Study skills.

Grades would also be beneficial as it would be great to see where there is room for improvement.

Evaluation of your own performance

I have to admit that my performance in the first 3 months wasn’t great. I took advantage of the relaxed attitude at the beginning of the course and I didn’t make time to study more.

Then I panicked when the pace quickened and became very inefficient. I guess I had to go through those peaks and troughs to understand what was required of me.

Finally just before Easter, something clicked and I was not only able to catch up but to become more organised. It felt so good to feel in control again!


Conclusion

As mentioned before, I thought I was ready for university for after doing this course I realise that I was far from ready.

In doing this course I have learnt to manage my time better, to prioritise my work load and to keep calm even when personal circumstances are far from idea. I have also learnt to be more evaluative with my work and research.

To be honest it took be the best part of 6 months to become organised with my work but for the first time in life I’ve done it. I am on top of all my work and it feels great.

I still worry about literature but I know that if I keep calm and become more self critical I will be ok.

Final assessment: Reflection on the course

For the final assessment I would like you to post in your own blog a reflection on the course.

Please take your time to do this properly, it will show whether you have really become a reflective learner.

You can write in essay form, as you are so good now at wrtiing essays.

This is what your essay must include:

-Introduction – motivation and expectations
- Positive experiences
- How course could be improved
- Evaluation of your own performance
- Conclusion – what you have learned

Good luck!