2010 Study group

[merlin89]

Will there be a virtual Study group this year?

[PJW]

Will there be a virtual Study group this year?

Good question; partly depends on whether any real interest. Certainly everyone is free to post their attempts and queries in the main Module 3 area and I and others will attempt to answer.

The idea of setting up "inner areas" that only a more select group had access was to encourage more active participation by more people- partly as it was said that posting too publically was a deterent to posting at all and partly as an incentive: "you will be able to read more if you contribute rather than just lurk and download".In the past it hasn't really worked but if there were a group of people then it makes sense to establish a group so that we can say "attempt the 1999 paper by 1st march" and then everyone ought to be "in phase" and we can compare and contrast different attempts to the same questions at the same time. It makes sense to do this if there is a worthwhile sized group (apart from anything else it makes our life easier and certainly I have a very hectic work year in front of me in 2010 so limiting my availability). If there are only one or people then just responding on an ad-hoc basis as and when someone posts something they selected at random might be just as good......

Peter is running an actual mod2/mod3 group this year and may be by publishing that schedule it might give a framework / timescale for those studying on their own. Similarly we could set a timetable for working through a particular section of the Study pack / other study material.
Hence the answer in this question is mainly up to the student population (constrained of course by our ability to support as our resources aren't unlimited!); so this is everyone's chance to let us know what you'd find helpful from the list below for example:

1. Do you want the external discipline of being set work to do by a certain time as a form of "pacemaker"?
2. Do you see the advantage of attempting the same questions at the same time as others in order to compare?
3. Do you feel that the Study Pack isn't enough by itself to guide you through what you need to learn and how to approach it?
4.Are you all by yourself or part of an embryonic Study Group that is keen to work as a goup but doesn't know where to start?
5. Do you feel that you need the relative privacy of a restricted area f the website in order to be prepared to send in your attempts?
6. For what other reasons miht you find a virtual Study Group helpful?

Once we get some answers to the above, then we can try to decide what best fits the majority of the respondents; over to you all........

[merlin89]

1. Yes deadlines helps in a sense so that I cant put it off until tomorrow
2. Yes good to compare how fr you have come as an individual and as a group and how far you have to go
3. the study pack for me seems to be more geared towards listing relevant sources (but Im writing this only with distant memory of reading last years) I think its more helpful if as a group we can share our resources and tell each other where to find the relevant bits to answer the questions. I find sharing of information can only be a good thing whilst we can all go and find the information as other people have in the past the group ethos of sharing will make it all that bit quicker.
4. I thought that I may have been part of Peters group but on secodn thoughts I think Im geograhically snookered when comes to getting there in time so would prefer something online if possible.
5. Dont require privacy but in some of my postings there have been quite a few views Im not that shy when showing my mistakes on paper and good parts too.

I think there isnt that much of a difference between posting in the main mod 3 forum area and the study group its just more organised to move forwards as group. What Id like to see is a group of people all attempting the same answers with varying degree of abilities sharing their experiences and drawing on the wealth of knowledge of the moderator. exchanging information, resources ideas such as chapters of books to read, why they found answers hard or easy, knowing what the marker was looking for, generating style of answer etc. Im more than willing to pitch in as I have benifited enormously within the forum. In the study group if for example we say right by end of march submit answers they are reviewed we move on to the next..we could have seven papers done by september and I dont mind starting at the beginning by saying by end of Feb we submit our answers to either 2008 and work backwards or 97 and work forwards