TMA's: Developing a Deeper Understanding

Having been around in the O.U universe for almost 10yrs, I have come across two distinct sets of students.  There are those that see TMA's as a necessary evil; just one more thing to make you pull your hair out, when the deadline looms and you have the other pressures of life, competing for your time.  But there is also the second set (to which I belong), that started out as TMA haters, but after completing a few of them, realised just how much learning actually comes from doing some mathematics, that requires you to properly apply what you have tried to learn, in the preceding weeks.

I believe, that TMA's are a vital and indispensable way, of forcing you to delve deeply into the mathematics, for a level of understanding that you just don't get from practising a few example questions.  Now, you may have read the forum posts or looked at the course student reviews, and seen comments such as 'TMA's are formulaic', 'the TMA's were not really challenging', or even, 'the TMA's were a pain in the backside'.

But, reading these comments, you could easily be misled.

From my own perspective, as part of my experiment to learn maths and physics through distance learning and self-study; I have discovered, that no matter how much I apply myself to a particular area of study; I do not seem to obtain such a thorough understanding of it, unless it is tested via a TMA or other piece of coursework.

Exams, are different.  I mean, they tend to be the 'lite' version of a TMA; lots of lighter questions to test general understanding and recall of methods and mathematical concepts.  But, by its very nature, an exam can't dwell too much on one particular topic and in any great depth.  Otherwise, they would have to be more than 3hrs long.

It is TMA's and other marked pieces of coursework, that quite often force you to re-read a unit.  Back and forth, dipping in and out of pages, over many hours.  Checking and re-checking answers.  'Did I calculate that accurately?', 'Why doesn't the answer look right?'.  Sometimes going over a paragraph in a Unit, line by line, word by word.

It is this type of study, that allows you to have those 'aha!' moments, when you finally come face to face with what the mathematics is trying to say.  Having said that; the only way to have this type of learning experience when completing a TMA, is to leave yourself the time to do it justice.  I have, on previous courses, sometimes left myself with too little time for completing a TMA; only to resent its completion and gain no learning or pleasure from it, whatever.

It is therefore very important, to leave plenty of time for completing a TMA.  I often try to allocate the whole 16 - 20hrs of one week, dedicated to its completion.  I also often find, that if I am short of study time and my reading of a unit has fallen behind; it is often a better use of time, to stop trying to catch up with the unit and actually start the TMA.  You can then catch up with the reading, as part of your research into formulating your answers on the relevant TMA questions.

I 'heart' TMA's; although I know there are those that would disagree!