Introduction
In this unit we turn to the nature of the arts and humanities themselves, and look at the main processes involved in studying them. Broadly, when you study the arts and humanities you study aspects of culture. You explore people's ideas and beliefs, their cultural practices and the objects they have made. Human history is criss-crossed with the traces of people who did, said and made things and these people were to some extent aware of what they were doing. So all
1 Communication The basis of good communication seems very simple, it is speaking or writing clearly such that any message you (the sender) intend to send to someone else (the receiver) is exactly the one which they receive. This means that as well as the detailed content of the message, we have to give some thought to the language we use e.g. ask ourselves if the receiving person might misunderstand any words or phrases we use. We must also be aware of the way we deliver the message –
8.2 Working on improving your problem-solving skills The three-stage framework for developing and improving your skills provides the basis for you to become more confident in: developing a strategy for using a variety of problem-solving techniques and tools, including being clear about what you want to achieve, identifying relevant sources of information that will help you to achieve your goals, and planning how you intend to improve your skills; monitoring your progress and critically
8 Part B: Evidencing your teamworking skills This part requires you to present work to show the example of work identified in Part A. You need to present the outcomes from your work in a group situation using the criteria given in Table 1 below. (Table 1 was also used in Section 6 to help you select appropriate evidence while working on this assessment unit.) Please present:
Author(s):
5.1.7 Literature
Drabble, M. (ed.) (1995) The Oxford Companion to English Literature, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
References
1.2.5 Stage 3: Details Examine in more detail the explanations surrounding the numbers or diagram. Check the small print to make sure you aren't drawing the wrong conclusions. Are the axes of diagrams clearly labelled, and do you understand what they mean? (Axes, pronounced ‘axease’ is the plural of axis. Axes are the vertical and horizontal lines against which lines on a graph or bars on a chart are plotted. They must be labelled to tell you what units you are counting in.) If there is shading on the di
1.2.3 Stage 1: Preparation Numbers and diagrams are highly abstract and condensed summaries of the world. They require a degree of mental effort to bridge the gap between them and the aspects of the ‘real’ world they stand for. Approach them slowly and with care, allowing yourself time to get the feel of what you are looking at. Don't assume you already know what you are looking at.
References 8.3 Acknowledging the sources of ideas Even when you have used your own words it is essential that you acknowledge the source of the ideas you re-present. This entails making a note of the author and date of publication of the material from which you extract key concepts and points. So at the end of our summary of the Croall extract above, we would need to acknowledge that we got our information from that source by putting (Croall, 1998) at the end of the relevant paragraph. If you use more than one author's work in a paragraph th 7.3 Internalizing and interrogating key ideas In addition to revisiting your notes at different times throughout the year, you might also look for opportunities to discuss key ideas with someone else - either a fellow student or someone outside of The Open University who is interested in contemporary social science debates. This can provide a helpful stimulus to internalizing them. Debating issues with someone else may well help you to generate further questions and critical observations, all part of processing and interrogating m 6 Extracting a summary In developing short notes you are already beginning to extract key ideas from the text. To assist you further in this you might also find it helpful to bring the points you have highlighted and/or made short notes about together. This involves the use of link sentences and words, perhaps even the addition of short quotes taken from the text directly, and examples or additional words of explanation. In this way your notes build up into a summary which you can use more easily. 3 Strange words, long sentences and lost meanings In reading for a purpose it is not unusual to get stuck on unfamiliar words and concepts or struggle with complex ideas and sentences. This section suggests tactics for coping with unfamiliar words (and inadequate dictionaries), unpacking complex sentences and retrieving lost meanings. In order to do this we will draw on an extract taken from a book, Crime and Society in Britain, by Hazel Croall (1998) which is a social science text. It thus contains more ‘conceptual’ or ‘technic 2.2 Reading techniques: skimming You might want to find information about the effectiveness of the child curfew scheme in Hamilton but be less interested in some of the other issues that are raised in The Scotsman piece. One way of extracting this kind of specific information is to skim the article for key words – such as ‘research’ – and statistics which may give you evidence of the effectiveness or otherwise of the scheme. This method is also especially useful when you are searching for something particular Acknowledgements The material below is contained in Social Psychology Matters, Wendy Holloway, Helen Lucey and Anne Phoenix, published in association with Open University Press, 2007. The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under creative commons licence. Grateful acknowledgement is m 2.3 Summary Mind–body dualism has been a pervasive problem since the seventeenth century. One consequence of this dualism is the way in which bodies have been treated in psychology. They have generally either been ignored or reduced to biology. However, our bodies are much more than simply biology; at the very least, they are the interface between the individual and the social world or, more radically, they are inherently social objects. There is growing recognition of the interaction between our bodie 4.4.5 Do – provide information Clear information for students and advisors is essential. Disabled students need to know whether they can complete all the learning objectives and what adjustments they can expect. They need this information in good time before they start the course so that they can plan ahead. We have more to say on this subject in the section, ‘Informing students’. 3.13.1 General OU Knowledge Network, ‘Guidelines for describing visual teaching material’ http://kn.open.ac.uk/ public/ index.cfm?wpid=2709
US National Public Website on Assistive Technology
3.11 Accessible content and alternatives Assistive technology can give access only to whatever is on the screen; it doesn't provide any alternative content, unless this is specifically added. For example, a screen reader cannot interpret visual content but it can read a description if one has been provided. Multimedia content might need to be supplemented with the same content in other formats. Deaf students need transcripts of audio and for the audio track of video material. If the video is an interview, a simple transcript m 3.10.2 Other impairments There are people with a wide range of other impairments that are not covered by the above groups, but which may affect study. Some examples are listed below. People with diabetes may have reduced sensitivity in their hands. People with many different conditions may experience severe pain, which makes it difficult for them to concentrate on a task. People with mental illness may have a range of difficulties, including
