Mental health awareness week
This week it’s Mental Health Awareness week, and the focus for 2018 is on stress.
Read MoreTo find out more details about the transfer to The Open University see A New Chapter for OCA.
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Skip NavigationThis week it’s Mental Health Awareness week, and the focus for 2018 is on stress.
Read MoreThis hangout is open to all students at all levels who wish to actively engage with their peers in the discussion of various topics/ questions and a place to seek feedback on work in progress whether in its infancy or almost complete. The experience adds an additional layer of learning, feedback and reflective practice, a valuable opportunity to gain insight into other students thoughts, ideas and working practice.
Read MoreKnowing that distance learning can be difficult we recently reached out to you, our students, to ask the people who know best what it’s like to study with OCA and what you have found has helped you to study effectively. So many of you came back to us with great hints and tips that we’ll run a mini-series to cover all the suggestions, plus a few of our own from the staff here at OCA HQ.
Read MoreThe learning log is possibly the most essential part of the student experience, however at times it can be the least understood aspect as students embark on a course.
Read MoreThe basic aim is that your work looks coherent and that the assessors can effortlessly navigate it. It may take you a couple of assessment events to get this right but as you progress through the degree programme, repeatedly sending work for assessment you will develop and perfect ways of organising your work.
Read MoreThis simple presentation meant the samples were easy for assessors to go through; the logic of the development was clear and any collections of samples were grouped together, either on one sheet or on a series of sheets.
Read MoreThinking about assessment and sending work to the OCA head office is an anxious time for students. You have worked so hard over a long period of time, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and taking knock backs from your tutor. So it can feel very much like crunch time when you are thinking about […]
Read More‘My Sketchbook is a witness of what I am experiencing, scribbling things whenever they happen’ Vincent Van Gogh
Read MoreYou may be familiar with the idea of writing a first draft of an essay, and then editing it down to get to the final version? In my view, to edit a body of work is something that needs to be done continuously and not done just at the end, through reflecting on what ideas/techniques are working and what isn’t and making the decision to either take them forwards or ‘edit’ them out and leave them behind. Editing your work ensures that ideas are always pushed forwards and projects aren’t left to become stagnant and uninspire.
Read MoreReflecting on your work underpins your entire practice; it is essential to be able to look objectively at your work and really review things such as- why you have done something, how does it work, is it a success or does it require more development/thought, how would it be improved, and the specifics of why it has worked/not worked.
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