The first part of a two/three-year slog started this month – the “A” module part of taking the Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice (CertAVP): Fundamentals of Advanced Veterinary Practice.
I’ve been qualified for coming-up-to 17 years, and this is the first part of me “capping it off”, as it were; getting formal recognition for what I can do.
Before I waffle on, I do have to say I think Liverpool Vet School are close to cracking it. THIS is what we need – a “guided tour” of the issues to be explored and assessed in the certificate. It isn’t spoon-feeding and you are free to read and learn what you want and need to.
As an alumnus of a rival college, this realisation came grudgingly. I loved studying at Glasgow – the mix of informality, practicality, and the social scene for when exams weren’t *imminent* was what I chose GUVS for, and what I got. I also got the opportunity to flex my research muscles and study outside of the curriculum. It was with surprise that I realised my alma mater does not provide much in the way of distance learning or tutelage with postgraduate qualifications, particularly when I remember the things we experimented with when I was there. For example, in the mid-nineties, we developed very basic “proof-of-concept” work on web lectures, ultimately coming up against both the slow speed of the internet in those days, and lecturers’ fears of copyright infringement by end-users.
Liverpool are to be commended on their first-off-the blocks status with having a fully guided course to some CertAVP combinations, and in particular having such a good “A” module course. They deserve to do well with this.
Part of the coursework I had to produce for this part was to study an aspect of time management and write a brief essay on it.
I have been guilty of procrastination my whole life, but it has become worse with age. In using the access afforded to students to search and read articles and psychology research papers on this subject via the university’s library, I gained a wider understanding of the inclination.
It can be due to fear of failure, disliking the task at hand, distraction, and other negative stimuli from undertaking the work. It can also be subconsciously employed by some personality types to increase the pressure on themselves, and the researchers who proposed this model called this “active procrastination”. Those who do it unintentionally are called “passive” procrastinators.
I decided to take a risk and argue an unusual viewpoint, using similar papers as well, that procrastination can be a force for good (some who know me personally will be shaking their heads and muttering “typical” here). It was completely counterintuitive at the start, but some self-reflection mixed, probably, with confirmation bias makes me think this is at least partially what I do. Even at work I seem to do more organised work when the pressure is on.
Whether it will help me manage projects better I don’t know. It’s at least given me pause for thought, and I may well break the next essay down in to chunks with deadlines, but taking into account that I tend to prefer to do most of my writing in one pressured splurge at the end! So I may yet spawn another type: “managed procrastination”!
So the first stage of the CertAVP – the “A” module – is quarter done already, and so far it has been interesting and a little bit fun too. It is only going to get harder, though.
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