After 4 long weeks, I received the results from one of my most recent assignments – a poster on the medical and social models of disability in education. The process of completing this assignment didn’t quite go according to plan but thankfully I got a first! So let’s split this blog post in two: the writing process and a reflection on the feedback given.
The Process
I wrote this assignment during my very hectic reading week (although hectic would be an understatement). You’d expect reading week to be somewhat care-free and relaxing but no, mine played out a little differently.
On the day I planned to start my poster, I caught a sickness bug which I thought I had got away with after both my family and my flatmates had it the week previous. This left me bed stricken and unable to start my poster, leaving me a whole day behind schedule. Even though I didn’t feel 100% better the next day, I still decided to start as I knew the deadline was looming.
At 12pm (12 hours before the deadline) I realised that I had missed a vital aspect of my poster, applying the medical and social models to education. I had spent a total of 27+ hours writing it and then had to stay up until 3am to finish rewriting it which I can only blame myself for. Next time, I’ll hopefully not be sick!
Reflecting on my given feedback
The topic was something we had previously covered in lectures and had really interested me in how something like disability could be viewed from two completely different views/models. I am very pleased with my grade of 78/100 which is a great improvement from my first assignment in which I achieved a 2:1 (65/100).
I acted upon the feedback I was given last time which resulted in my referencing being perfect due to me putting a comma after ‘et al.’ and checking that all journal names were italicised.
A major strength of my poster was how ‘every aspect of the poster had been addressed with care and considerable attention to detail’. The range and depth of information in my poster was ‘excellent’ and also went into a ‘reasonable level of detail while keeping arguments reasonably concise’.
The written style was also a real strength of my poster with the presentation and layout being very clear and attractive. Something to improve on is ‘providing a link between the introduction and the main sections’.
My poster is a very pleasing first assignment that I should ‘aim to build on’ during my degree and provides me with a good basis to further improve. Here is a link to my assignment with the comments, feedback and grade given:
Medical and social models of disability in education – are either helpful?
Eleanor Nightingale 