E100 ECA guide
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1. The document provides guidance for structuring and writing an end-of-course assignment (ECA) by outlining key sections and content to include. 2. It recommends including an introduction, multiple content sections focusing on the student's development and learning, and a conclusion. 3. Specific guidance is given for each section, including recommended word counts and how to reference and reflect on course materials and previous assignments. The document aims to help the student successfully complete and pass the ECA.
E100 ECA guide
- 1. |Towards your ECA Some general points: Notes on Plagiarism: ECA are regularly checked to make sure the work is original. The OU uses two different forms of scanning. One compares your work with that of published materials and the second compares it with work submitted by other students. So take the greatest of care to preserve your own independence. You are going to have to make your own decision on balance between sections here and my word counts and illustrations are very approximate. Clearly if you only left 100 words to discuss your plans at the end this would be insufficient: look back to the balance between sections in previous TMA. Some of this will link to the person and so there should be some variation, it is unlikely that someone else’s decision about an approach will work for you whether that is mine of a colleagues so there are no hidden hints. It would be a major error to allow your work to become confused so that it is not clear what aspect of the question you are answering…almost any structure is better than no structure. You will need to make use of sections, paragraphs and possibly subtitles to make this clear. Referencing widely and deeply is essential in order to pass. Look at the assessment criteria. Referencing widely means as an absolute minimum referencing from each Unit of the course and form some of the associated Reader Chapters and DVD and the associated publications (EYFS, ECM etc). Referencing deeply means using these to weave into your discussion, linking the theory to practice and using this to question…leading to meaningful reflection.
- 2. Title=extending professional learning So the overall focus is on your learning during the course: make sure this is clear. Unit 6 explains much more Word length =3000 words No more and not too many less This assignment must be submitted by 24 Make sure you aim to finish early to May 2010. allow for mishaps, Extensions not impossible but I cannot give any you must phone the region: they are often refused The end-of-course assignment gives you an Review-go back over opportunity to review all you have learnt All you have learnt= all the course as a result of following this course. resources. You show learning by linking course materials to reflection on your practice and your changing practice We ask that you do this in a reflective So reflective means to think over your way, by examining how your practice and own practice and write about it. Try understanding have developed, and also to highlight how you have changed the more formally by reviewing your way you work and the way that you achievements to date against the course’s think about your work. Then link this learning outcomes. to the learning outcomes (see chart for the ones you identify. Unlike the TMAs, the ECA is not divided You have to decide your structure- I into sections; it is for you to decide how have indicated how this might be done you structure your text. but it is your plan and your ECA there is no one ‘right’ way. Now see notes below A conclusion Remember you might divide the ECA into sections but for higher marks you should make the whole thing hang together. I would therefore finish with a conclusion that rounds up the main points about what you have said linking that back to the original title in particular. References and detail Set aside time for checking your references and you spelling and grammar. I do this as a separate activity. Check the guidance on this.
- 3. Introduction (100-150 words perhaps: more if no introduction to sections less if there is) 1. Make an ethical statement you might reference this to course materials. 2. Say how you have organised the assignment in general terms. (e.g. The Assignment is approached in xxx sections. In the first section the XXXXXXXX is examined. The second section looks at the XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and I conclude with a final section that) You have to choose how you divide up the ECA but as a guide either 2 or 3: look at pervious TMA. 3. You might want to describe your role and setting here. There is room to expand on this towards the end so be brief. If you do not explain this here then you need to very soon. Make a link to course resources and EYFS. 4. You might want to include a definition of terms you use a lot, or you might not need to. For example ‘In the first section I examine my role as a practioner both inside and outside the setting itself since as a home liaison officer much of my work takes place in the homes of the children’ Section 1 (1500/2000 words?) You need to think how you structure this section. You might use each Unit of the course (apart from Unit 6 which you cover below anyway). Some units are more substantial than others but that would link well to your TMA. Or you might structure is by the areas outlined in the list of key areas below. Once you have decided this you need to tell the reader what to look for in an short introduction to the section as outlined above. Using this structure think how many paragraphs you allocate to each section. Give an account of the way in which your role as a practitioner has developed over the past year. An account is telling a story but supporting it with argument and evidence. As can be seen below there is an expectation that you will ‘quote’ specific areas of change and use course resources to support you account. The focus is change that can be linked to the course resources. Be ready to quote form a wide
- 4. range of different study topics, the Reader and the DVDs: the thinking you have recorded in your journal will help here. In particular, show how your understanding of the way children learn and develop and the way early years settings support that learning and development may have changed. Refer back to key elements of your four TMAs to support your arguments. The focus is your understanding of the way children learn and develop: what in the course materials has changes how you think about what is happening. Read back through your TMA, you are not expected to have them as appendices, you are meant to be making comments on them in a reflective and general way but need to give enough information so that someone who has not read those TMA knows what you are talking about see the guidance on referencing to your TMA. You might include short ‘quotes’ from them, (your TMA are already available in the ETMA system) do not expect whoever is marking to go and read the whole of your TMA output to understand what you are saying. You need to focus on these areas in particular…remember if your practice has not changed yet then you should identify how your thinking has changed Show how your practice and understanding have developed in the following areas in particular: communication with children and their families; Notice this is about communication: check Book 2 and particularly Study Topic 9 and associated reader chapters/DVD and TMA. child development; How have you changed the way you think about the way children develop. See Study Topic 4 to start with. safeguarding children and promoting their welfare; You might want to say something about basic safe guarding, but you probably were doing something already so you could start by saying…’In many ways our safeguarding practice was already well developed however there have been changes in the way I think about this which will be my focus…’ Study Topics 5 and 6, associated Reader chapters, DVD, TMA. transitions; multi-agency working; OK so this is Study Topics 7 and 8 associated Reader chapters, DVD, TMA
- 5. sharing information. I am not sure and we should think about this as we discuss this but I think I would put thi ins the context of working with other professionals, parents to safeguard children and promote their welfare and learning. It could be used to sum up all the above. See Study Topic 1 some sections discuss this as does Study Topic 18 but the issue comes up all over the place. Support your view with evidence from observations of and interactions with the children you support. Section 2 Outline ways in which you would like to see your setting develop in the coming year, using the course materials and other resources to support your arguments. (600 words?) Think about the implications of this first. Re read Study Topic 18 Sections 2 and 3 in particular. You may consider some practical changes or you may wish to consider changes to the way you plan and monitor children’s learning. Try to be realistic here, if your are third in charge of the toddler room you may not be in a position to rebuild the setting. However the phrase is ‘would like’ so there is an element of wish here. The making of this section is the way in which you support your argument by linking to the course materials. If you are, for example, a sole practioner you might be quite clear about changes you are going to make. Finally, outline the way you plan for your own role and career to develop in the medium to long term and the steps you will take to support these plans. (600 words?) This is about developing a Professional Development Plan: I think it might be OK to use a chart (as in Study Topic 18) here supported with text. See section 4 of Study Topic 18. The focus is medium and long term; these are a bit loose. You might start with a definition of what you mean here. e.g. ‘For the purposes of this section I define medium term as1 to 2 years and the long term as greater than this (or 2 to 5 years).’ However feel free to define your limits here. You have to think about where you want to be and how you intend to get there and tie that into a time scale that is realistic.
- 6. Try to use the chart to make a reflection about your development needs, your strengths and weaknesses: do reread section 4 to help with this. The higher marks for this section are most likely to depend on the reflections and the way that you use this to tie together some of the points you have made in the previous sections of the ECA.
- 7. Notes from Study Topic 18: One of the objectives of this course, maybe the prime objective, is to help you change and develop the way that you think about what you do. Reflection is about having conversations with yourself and others about what you do trying to develop a better understanding of what is happening. In order to do this you need to challenge or question what you (and to some extent others) do as a practioner…what I would call developing a reflective critical perspective. You then need to make a judgement about your own work, but in order to do this you need to have some viewpoints other than your own. You might call upon the views of other practioners, other professionals, parents/carers, theorists and written materials. This is quite vital because you often cannot see the ‘wood for the trees’: there are also several different ways of viewing the same event and to understand what is happening you need to account for these. Note there is a difference between thinking your thoughts, sharing your thoughts (articulating) and writing your thoughts: listening and articulating are vital to the process and each has their place. Schon saw 2 sorts of reflection…reflection in action and reflection on action. Reflection in action works best when you have a well developed pool of professional experience and knowledge: this is part of what is developed in your professional studies (knowledge in action). Reflection on action happens after the event, draws on your knowledge but may also draw on perspectives other than your own. Where do you get you different perspectives from? How do you listen to these? How often do you do this? How do you manage time to allow this to happen. Reflective practice takes events (observations for example) and interprets them, analysing, discussing and explaining. The reflective practioner in this sense becomes a leader moving others on in their understanding. In a reflective setting all practioners and the children would be part of this process, building
- 8. dialogue. I would argue that reflection on action is what feeds and validates reflection in action. This leads to section 2. Section 2. Centres on the work of Etienne Wenger- communities of practice where the community develops and builds shared understanding about what events mean. It takes time to fully understand this perspective but I believe it depends upon the view that meaning and ‘knowledge’ are socially constructed. Think carefully about the way different communities of practice might be formed. There is a fairly vital bit about this at the end of page 137 start of 138. It introduces the idea that you might have a limited position that makes it hard to build a community of practice. The way forward is to identify where elements of this ‘community’ already exist and how you might build on this. It may as yet be a partial community, yourself and a fellow practioner, you and a visiting professional, you and your partner. How can you build on this? What makes you a ‘leader’. Make sure you read list on page 142, which boxes can you ‘tick’?
- 9. Section 3 Leadership and development What sorts of professional learning are you involved with, how can you continue to develop these? How professionals operate varies but our aim here is to be a workforce that constantly transforms, develops new directions. Think about the links to possibility thinking. There is no permanent ‘right way’ to practice. Our practice reflects our community and the society that it is in. Read and read again the first and second paragraphs of page 146. Note it is not the collecting of evidence that is significant it is the sense you make of the evidence. How settings operate depends upon the way that the context and culture is organised: ‘democratic and collegial means that each person contribution is valued, each person is listened to. We could argue that this sort of structure implies an openness that allows change to take place. When thinking of leadership you might want to consider the difference between managing and facilitating…telling others what they should be doing and creating situations where all those involved construct what they are doing. Consider the impact that these different staff environments might have on the children: what role model does your leadership give the children.
- 10. Section 4 Your development We shall be doing Activity 7 as part of our last tutorial. If you are not able to come do have a close look at this. When discussing your development you need to account for the fact that you are training and developing in a sector that is fast moving and changing. When you are thinking about your professional planning in part you may have clear and rather simple future goals: I want to complete my degree and attain EYP status. However it pays to dig beneath the surface and reflect on your strengths and weakness. If I use myself as an example I might write something like… ’In the medium term I would like to develop my ability to examine reflection in Early Years setting. Whilst I am generally regarded as a strong reflective practioner I find that I need to think more clearly about the reasons for this in order to be able to lead my students (that is you in this case of course) into a deeper understanding of what it means to be ‘reflective’. In order to do this I will…and will review my progress after …’ SO in the above I have identified something I need to do, questioned my practice identifying strengths and weaknesses thus producing a set of reasons for developing this area and would then go on to say how and when I will achieve my development.
- 11. Referencing your TMA ‘When you directly quote from of one of your TMAs in your ECA you should present it in the following way.... In the text of your ECA, insert the page number where the discussion/evidence is considered in your TMA.... e.g. Sarah Hutchones quoting from her TMA 04 would write in text: Hutchones (2010, TMA04, p.4)........... and in her list of References at the end of the ECA: Hutchones, Sarah(2010) E100, TMA 04.’ This is posted by the course chair and has the same weight as the Assessment Guide. In your mind you need to think about your TMA as being published. It is on the ECA system (even though you have had a copy back) and can be accessed. SO you do not need to include it as an appendix but instead refer to the TMA. How you do this is fairly clear I think. You could also make a general reference….In TMA 04 I found that I did not really have a real grasp of the way babies might think mathematically Hutchones (2010, TMA04) Any questions and further comment or worries please get in touch Les Les Hereward 07905243886 01372800822 leshere@ntlworld.com