abbreviation jumble

Due to the fact that some (or many?) of my blog readers aren’t (yet) studying with the Open University, I’ve already been asked many times “what are all those abbreviations about?” Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to keep a register of the most important ones to hand on here. It’s surely not complete, but after all a start .

OU = Open University → english distance university with seat in Milton Keynes

TMA = Tutor Marked Assignment → essays or answers to questions and reports you send in which built the basis of your assessment

EMA = End of Module Assessment (used to be ECA = End of Course Assessment) →  a bigger version of a TMA which usually asks to include materials from a whole module; it replaces exams

iCMA = interactive computer marked assignment →  a mixture of multiple choice and essay type questions which are electronically assessed

OCAS = Overall Continuous Assessment Score →  all TMA scores added together, weighing of each varies with modules depending on importance and total number of TMAs

OUSA = Open University Student Association

NRC = North Region Commitee → Committee of OU staff, tutors and students dealing with issues in the North of England and continental Europe

CCC = Central Consultative Commitee