Oscail BA English & History Workload?

easterbride

I am thinking about completing three English modules next year. I will be working full-time also. Can anyone who has completed this course give me an idea about the tutorials, the assignments and the workload. Would it be possible to complete three modules comfortably in English ~ are there any modules have less of a workload? Any advice appreciated ~ thanks.

jos28

I just finished up with Oscail this year having done 12 modules, 2 per year.
English and History do require a lot of reading apart from the course notes so you will be busy. I did history and sociology, history definitely took up more of my time. I reckon you should allow 12 hours per module, per week. You will have 3 assignments and 1 exam per module. The main problem is that your assignments will all be due at the same time. It's usually Nov/Dec for Assignment 1, Feb for Ass2 and early April for your final one. That leaves you 5-6 weeks revision time for exams. It gets a bit manic when your assignments are due but it is well worth it. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and am so glad I did it. Oscail have reduced tutorials from 8 (2hr) ones per subject to 5(3hr) ones and I found that much better. They are also expanding their online live classroom tutorial programme which is a great idea. I did one Psychology module and found the workload much easier than His or Soc but not as enjoyable. If you are prepared for the work you will be fine. Print off your assignment instructions early and work towards those to take the pressure off. Print off the previous exams papers and see what comes up each year. You can be selective about what you focus on. Remember that the academic year is short, you will be busy from Oct to May but that's it and the reward is a degree at the end. Well worth it ! I did not do Lit so I can't help you there but there is an Oscail student group on FB and someone there will be able to advise you.

easterbride

thanks for your reply Jos ~ maybe two modules might be enough with full-time work!

jos28

You are probably right to do 2. I have met people who did 4 per year :eek: and while I admire them, I think that your grades suffer and it is obviously not as enjoyable. While the aim is to get the degree, it is nice to do so without too much pressure. Enjoy and feel free to PM me.time if you need to

krisbecs

I am starting the Humanaties program this year and intend to do the 3 intro modules of Eng. Hist. & Psyc. and then make a decision at the end of this year which 2 I want to focus on. I work full time but get good holidays (similar to primary schools) so am hoping this will help me keep on top of the workload. Are there many occassions where we have to go into the college for tutorials?

mrsherself

This might be offtopic, but I'm very curious about the Oscail English programme. I can only assume you have to read whole novels. Could you get them in the library if they were on a reading list? Or did you find you had to buy them?

krisbecs

to be honest I am not sure as haven't started yet but I assume they are available from the dcu library to which you have full access but also many of the classics are free to download on ibooks and kindle so am pretty confident it shouldn't be too much hassle

krisbecs

jos28 wrote: »

I just finished up with Oscail this year having done 12 modules, 2 per year.
QUOTE]

Sorry just wondering about fees I have to register tomorrow & want to make sure I have enough in the bank - they said you pay 60% tomorrow but I am unsure is that 60% of total or 60% of total-deposit? That is I am doing 3 modules @ €825 each total €2475 so tomorrow am I paying
60% of €2475 which is €1485 or am I paying
60% of €2475 - deposit already paid of €500 which is €985

jos28

60% of the full total, I'm afraid. Don't forget you can claim part of your fees back from the Revenue Commissioners.

jos28

krisbecs wrote: »

I am starting the Humanaties program this year and intend to do the 3 intro modules of Eng. Hist. & Psyc. and then make a decision at the end of this year which 2 I want to focus on. I work full time but get good holidays (similar to primary schools) so am hoping this will help me keep on top of the workload. Are there many occassions where we have to go into the college for tutorials?

You will have 5 tutorials in total, they are 3 hour long sessions. Although that may change with the expansion of their on-line tutorials

MTAG

Hi,

Has anybody completed the single module (History) with Oscail? I believe you need just five history modules to meet the teaching council requirements to teach History to leaving cert? What would the work load be like just studying History? Is it difficult? As I hope to complete the five history modules only, what qualification would I come away with because you need 12 modules for a degree, so confused, as its not stated on their website??

Thanks!!!

MTAG

Freiheit

no formal qualification for 5 or even 6 modules in one subject, you have your 'credits' but no formal award.

I've done 4 Psychology modules only there, did history for my degree and it took a very long time as there was so much reading, but it wasn't with Oscail. Think the name Oscail is gone by the way :rolleyes: