OUIL501 End of Module Evaluation

This has been, once again, by far my least favourite module to complete of the year. Even so, it has pushed me to develop a number of skills further, putting me in better stead than I would have been for next year's research project and dissertation. I have learned the importance of primary research, through executing my own for the final practical brief, and how it can impact the quality of a final outcome; COP is not just about writing an essay, it's about developing knowledge by following your own interests and finding out about a subject that engages you yourself. The primary research gave me a wealth of material I could work with for my final book and gave me a better understanding of the subject I was trying to communicate; if I don't fully understand it, then how could anyone possibly else when looking at my book? It helped brilliantly with idea generation, what I usually struggle with the most under time pressure and what makes me dislike COP so much, as you have to be so engaged with your subject and ideas for it to become a successful module. 

The practical brief has strengthened my ability to be able to plan and successfully make a working concertina book; last time I attempted this there were tears and many late nights trying to work out where I had gone wrong and how to fix it. The key was basically to avoid Indesign (my nemesis), instead working out on paper the layouts, measurements and how it would all fit together. This probably isn't what most people would recommend but it is a method that definitely works for me; the ruler guides on Photoshop gave me everything I needed to know and I could create my own crop marks and everything that Indesign would normally do, except it was a lot easier. I would now consider making little books more than I previously would have for final pieces; they are lovely to have at the end when they are finished, such nice little objects! 

I have also learned how important it is to manage my time and workload (yet again); I have learned this the hard way, by letting the  module slip to the bottom of my pile as it slowly ran alongside other modules that I deemed as being more important to allocate my time to. As a result, I had to do most of my practical work in the space of about a week - luckily the outcome is pretty good and I am happy with it, but it could have easily swung the other way if there had been any problems, as I would have had no available time to deal with them. This is a mistake I absolutely have to address for next year; it is too heavily weighted in our grades to let it slip down to "less important" and will require too much time to simply pull it out of the bag in a week or so. I was also in a lucky position to conduct the further research towards the practical brief, as I was surrounded by my subject matter (people from all over the country who I could easily interview for their local slang). If the research had been harder to collect, for example if I had to go out of town or had been a slower and more thoughtful process, I would not have had as much to work with as I would not have had enough time. 

Using what I have learned from my experiences managing my time on this module, I am going to start my reading and research for COP3 as soon as possible; definitely over the summer and build up a bank of useful material that I can start working with when the time is ready. This is not something that needs to be left to simmer and I can't afford to make the same mistakes again, as I doubt I would be so lucky again for everything to go so smoothly so last minute. The research proposal has given me some good starting points and made me a little more excited about the prospect of having to undertake such a massive project completely based on my own interests and idea - before it just seemed terrifying. I would like to be able to enjoy COP3 as much as possible and get as much out of it as I can, definitely not having a third repeat of what COP has been for the past two years.