{"id":3259,"date":"2021-12-08T11:38:24","date_gmt":"2021-12-08T03:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/?p=3259"},"modified":"2021-12-08T11:39:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T03:39:04","slug":"ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study\/","title":{"rendered":"MA Education: Advantages and Tips for Part-time Study"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I think I know how&nbsp;you&#8217;re feeling!&nbsp;You would like to do the&nbsp;MA Education;&nbsp;you&nbsp;know&nbsp;you will&nbsp;learn a great deal.&nbsp;But you are a little apprehensive;&nbsp;you feel your work&nbsp;load&nbsp;is challenging enough as it is.&nbsp;I know how you feel because I felt exactly the same way!&nbsp;I&nbsp;teach at MDIS&nbsp;and, like you,&nbsp;I have&nbsp;a very full schedule.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">The first advantage of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/master-of-arts-education-studies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Bangor&nbsp;University&nbsp;MA Education<\/a>&nbsp;at&nbsp;MDIS&nbsp;is&nbsp;that there are no examinations.&nbsp;In my own personal opinion,&nbsp;for&nbsp;a&nbsp;part-time programme,&nbsp;an&nbsp;examination would be quite taxing and quite difficult to do. However, assignments are&nbsp;a different matter.&nbsp;Again,&nbsp;in my personal opinion, assignments are&nbsp;a better way of learning because you apply&nbsp;the&nbsp;theories and concepts you have learnt&nbsp;to a particular case study.&nbsp;So today, I thought I would share some tips that I personally have picked up &#8211; about how to&nbsp;efficiently tackle your assignments as you&nbsp;juggle your teaching or other work schedules.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">1. Begin&nbsp;your&nbsp;assignment&nbsp;draft&nbsp;even&nbsp;before the&nbsp;first&nbsp;lecture&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">2. Note&nbsp;down&nbsp;thoughts and&nbsp;ideas into the&nbsp;draft&nbsp;during&nbsp;lectures&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">3.&nbsp;Keep a record of all your references&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">4.&nbsp;Buffer a few days for paraphrasing&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">5.&nbsp;Polish it, make it glitter!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_11 counter-hierarchy counter-decimal ez-toc-grey\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\"><i class=\"ez-toc-glyphicon ez-toc-icon-toggle\"><\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class=\"ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1\"><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study\/#Begin_your_Assignment_Draft_Even_Before_the_First_Lecture\" title=\"Begin your Assignment Draft Even Before the First Lecture&nbsp;\">Begin your Assignment Draft Even Before the First Lecture&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study\/#Note_Down_Thoughts_and_Ideas_into_The_Draft_During_the_Lectures\" title=\"Note Down Thoughts and Ideas into The Draft During the Lectures&nbsp;\">Note Down Thoughts and Ideas into The Draft During the Lectures&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study\/#Keep_a_record_of_all_your_References\" title=\"Keep a record of all your&nbsp;References&nbsp;\">Keep a record of all your&nbsp;References&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study\/#Buffer_a_few_days_for_paraphrasing\" title=\"Buffer a few days for paraphrasing&nbsp;\">Buffer a few days for paraphrasing&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><li class=\"ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2\"><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/ma-education-advantages-and-tips-for-part-time-study\/#Polish_it,_make_it_glitter!\" title=\"Polish it, make it glitter!&nbsp;\">Polish it, make it glitter!&nbsp;<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 id=\"h-begin-your-assignment-draft-even-before-the-first-lecture\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Begin_your_Assignment_Draft_Even_Before_the_First_Lecture\"><\/span><strong>Begin your Assignment Draft Even Before the First Lecture<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Before the first lecture&nbsp;of your MA Education,&nbsp;open and save&nbsp;a word document&nbsp;with&nbsp;your name, calling it&nbsp;the draft of the assignment.&nbsp;Fill up&nbsp;all the usual elements of an assignment&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;the cover page,&nbsp;a table of contents,&nbsp;list of figures,&nbsp;list of tables,&nbsp;references,&nbsp;the&nbsp;appendices&nbsp;etc.&nbsp;Put all the standard items into&nbsp;your draft assignment even before the first class.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">This is a good way to start \u2013 to motivate and incentivise yourself.&nbsp;What you will now do&nbsp;is&nbsp;fill in the&nbsp;gaps, fill&nbsp;in the&nbsp;specifics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-note-down-thoughts-and-ideas-into-the-draft-during-the-lectures\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Note_Down_Thoughts_and_Ideas_into_The_Draft_During_the_Lectures\"><\/span><strong>Note Down Thoughts and Ideas into The Draft During the Lectures<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">To&nbsp;keep&nbsp;up with your assignment, you could apply the technique that worked for me. From the very first class, leave your laptop open and have your&nbsp;assignment draft ready. You have&nbsp;already&nbsp;read and understood the contents of the assignment.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">From the very first class, listen to&nbsp;all that the teacher tells&nbsp;you;&nbsp;take&nbsp;down&nbsp;notes and pointers that&nbsp;you feel&nbsp;are very specific to the&nbsp;MA Education&nbsp;assignment. Every time the teacher tells you something that you feel is useful to the assignment&nbsp;(it could be about some particular concept;&nbsp;it could be about some particular book;&nbsp;it could be about some particular educationist),&nbsp;immediately note&nbsp;it&nbsp;down in the draft that you&#8217;ve done for your assignment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-keep-a-record-of-all-your-references\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Keep_a_record_of_all_your_References\"><\/span><strong>Keep a record of all your&nbsp;References<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Whenever you take some material from a book or a journal or an internet source,&nbsp;remember to&nbsp;immediately put down the source where you&#8217;ve taken it so that you don&#8217;t have to search for it later. This saves you a great deal of time later.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">MA Education&nbsp;academic assignments required&nbsp;plenty&nbsp;of academic references;&nbsp;so&nbsp;remember to use academic references from textbooks and journals.&nbsp;The quickest way to do this is to use Google Scholar and as far as possible try to use references that are recent,&nbsp;the last 5&nbsp;years if possible.&nbsp;Of course,&nbsp;there are&nbsp;seminal textbooks&nbsp;that&nbsp;could have been written many years ago and are&nbsp;still relevant to your assignment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-buffer-a-few-days-for-paraphrasing\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Buffer_a_few_days_for_paraphrasing\"><\/span><strong>Buffer a few days for paraphrasing<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">If you are copying and pasting items into your assignment and planning to paraphrase it later, you need to keep a buffer of a few days to paraphrase your entire assignment, all at one time. This can be quite a challenge at the last minute. (Sometimes, my students at the last minute, use an online paraphrasing tool; the output is terrible and incomprehensible.)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-polish-it-make-it-glitter\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Polish_it,_make_it_glitter!\"><\/span><strong>Polish it, make it glitter!<\/strong>&nbsp;<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">Once your assignment is done and once you&nbsp;have&nbsp;paraphrased it,&nbsp;you still need a few days to improve it&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;to&nbsp;format it correctly, to&nbsp;polish it,&nbsp;to make it&nbsp;shine and&nbsp;glitter. This is the last and final stage and you must give&nbsp;yourself&nbsp;some time to give it the finishing touches&nbsp;it needs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\">I wish you all the best;&nbsp;I&#8217;m sure that you&#8217;ll do very&nbsp;well and that you&nbsp;will&nbsp;learn a great deal from doing your&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/master-of-arts-education-studies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MA&nbsp;Education<\/a>&nbsp;from Bangor&nbsp;University,&nbsp;even if you&#8217;re doing&nbsp;it&nbsp;amid&nbsp;of a very challenging work schedule!&nbsp;I&#8217;m always there to guide and support you whenever you want to take it!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pursuing an MA Education, or any postgraduate course, part-time while juggling other commitments is challenging. Here are some tips to help you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":286,"featured_media":3260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,24],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/286"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3259"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3261,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3259\/revisions\/3261"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mdis.edu.sg\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}