Taking the plunge and registering for DOP conference
A year ago I mulled over whether or not it would be worth the investment to go to Glasgow in January 2015 for the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology conference – or DOP...
View ArticleThe three laws of study
I’m pleased to report that I’ve just submitted my training and development assignment. It’s a relief, as today was the last day that I had available for study before Thursday’s deadline. It’s also...
View ArticleWelcome back – the OU re-launches psychology masters degrees for 2016
Last year, the Open University announced that it intended to start offering masters qualifications in psychology again from 2016, after mysteriously withdrawing them a few years ago. More details of...
View ArticleDissertation proposal progress
I’ve just realised that it’s been rather a long time since I wrote about the progress of my dissertation proposal. August, to be precise. So with the deadline for submission rapidly approaching and...
View ArticleEthics: not just a checklist
“The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it.” General Norman Schwarzkopf The British Psychological Society introduces its resources on ethics by...
View ArticleMy 2016 target: one word every two minutes
It’s been a busy month – probably the busiest of the course so far. The deadline for the penultimate module, on Training and Development, came and went on 12th November, with the deadline for the...
View ArticleWhat occupational psychologists get up to in January
Happy New Year! This week I’ve had the pleasure of spending three days at the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference, held at the East Midlands Conference...
View ArticleOpen University student numbers fell 12.2% in 2014/15
The number of students studying at The Open University has fallen for the 5th consecutive year, according to figures released by The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). Data for student...
View ArticleIn praise of Baroness Sharp – the Lords debate adult education and lifelong...
Last week, the House of Lords debated the current state of adult education and lifelong learning. I’ve now taken some time to read through the transcript and I’ve picked out a number of highlights from...
View ArticleFalling off the ethical happy path
It’s Sunday morning. I’m currently surrounded by books, academic papers, highlighter pens and lots of scrappy notes. I’m ploughing my way through the individual at work module in an attempt to start...
View ArticleStress and procrastination
Someone in the occupational psychology course team clearly has a sense of humour. Having finally squeaked my way around the ethical approval process a couple of weeks ago and having recovered from the...
View ArticleWhy education shouldn’t be a treadmill
I can understand why some people say that education is a treadmill that you get on as soon as you’re born and eventually fall off, presumably when the speed of the belt goes beyond your capacity to...
View ArticleMSc occupational psychology modules review
Last night I submitted the final module assignment for my MSc occupational psychology qualification at the University of Leicester – hurrah! It’s now just the small matter of restarting the...
View ArticleSix things needed for a research interview
On Monday I will start to feel like a ‘proper’ researcher. That’s because I’ve reached the stage in my dissertation when I can conduct a pilot interview. The aim of piloting the interview is to make...
View Article6 things my pilot research interview taught me
I’ve now completed my pilot research interview, transcribed the resulting audio and conducted a very brief analysis of the data. These are six of the more important things the pilot has taught me. I...
View ArticleA distinction in procrastination
Hello all – and please accept my apologies for being away from here for a little while. “No problem”, I can hear you all saying, “we understand that you’ve been working hard on your dissertation,...
View Article10,000 steps a day – day 11 – dissertation done!
My dissertation is officially finished. Yay! Well, almost: I will proof read it again tomorrow before submitting all 9,000 lovingly crafted words. But, done. Which brings me to the end of my MSc, too....
View ArticleDiscursive strategies used by sales leaders in value co-creation
Today, this amazing thing happened. A short paper based on my MSc research into the discursive strategies used by sales leaders has been included in the programme for the 2017 BPS division of...
View Article(Probably) the end
Hello! *Blows away the cobwebs and dusts furiously* I bet you thought that I’d forgotten about you all as I haven’t written anything here since May. Well, after my excellent attempts at procrastination...
View ArticleOpen University enrolments fell again in 2015/16
It’s the time of year when HESA – The Higher Education Statistics Agency – issue their statistical first release covering student enrolments and qualifications obtained. Against a background of a small...
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