SK220 Human Biology & Health (Biology At The Open University)

Member Name: Muffikins

Product:	Biology At The Open University
Date:	19/10/01 (126 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fulfilling. Ideal for people in Nursing profession or similar.

Disadvantages: Hard Work!

This course is extremely hard work for a level 2 course, but very rewarding if you are prepared to put that work in. Of course any OU course requires a great deal of effort as none of them could possibly be easy, but this one covers an extremely large amount of topics, ranging from the time before conception right up to the time of death. With 5, fairly substantial sized text books, it seems like every process of the human body is covered throughout the course!

Not only is biology a major part of the course but socio-economic issues and psychology matters also figure relatively highly in the course. A major theme of the course is the way in which reductionism (the practise of concentrating on one little part of a problem, for instance the role of genetics in cardiovascular disease) and holism (encompassing all disciplines into the study of a disease or illness) play their parts in diagnosis and research of disease/illness.

Essay work figures quite highly in the course, with essays of around 1000 to 1500 words being part of every TMA and a 1000 word essay forms 36% of the examination component. If you hate essay writing then this is not the course for you!

It is a 30 point course and to be honest it is worth every single one of those. The 30 point course that I undertook last year, Science Matters, was much less demanding and the 60 point Discovering Science, which I have taken alongside SK220 Human Biology and Health, this year, is similarly less demanding, in my opinion. Having said that, I wouldn’t have missed it as the knowledge gained is tremendous.

As with all OU courses, the support from the tutors is brilliant. The feedback given on each TMA enables you to steadily improve as you work your way through the course. All of the material that is used contains the latest ideas and studies too, which is imperative in a course of this nature.

All in all I would recommend this course wholeheartedly.

Summary: