SK195 Human Genetics and Health Issues

I had to phone up the OU to get onto this course, as I was about 2 days past the deadline, and whilst they allowed you to register late for this course if you thought you would be ok with that, you couldn't do it online.
I was a bit nervous about the step. I hadn't studied or taken tests in years. Would I still be able to study at university level? Just how hard would it be? Would my free time be enough to cope with the course?

Anyway, I was committed now, and a few days later a box arrived with all the details. It had:

• A book,
• a DVD
• a set of exam papers (known as the ECA - End of Course Assessment)to be completed at the end of the course,
• some study notes.

With the enthusiasm of a new toy I set out on the course. With a fair bit of relief I found the course was reasonably easy with my existing knowledge of genetics. There were one or two words that I wasn't so familiar with - karyotype for instance. I know I'd heard it before but its just not something I had come across in some years.

I finished reading the book and watching the videas about a week and a half later. I started on the ECA. The ECA took a further week on and off, going back to the answers and tweaking them a bit. I also logged onto the OU firstclass electronic conference and took part in one or two discussions, but it wasn't a very lively lot doing the course at that time.