The Working Life task asks students to select about 6 highlights of a typical working day. Looking at what you actually do on most days will help to provide a basis for future modules, as well as explaining your work role. If you choose to do a 500 word essay, rather than the suggested photo story, then the structure could be a paragraph each for:
An introduction - your job title and context
One paragraph for each of about 6 highlights
A conclusion, revisiting how the six highlights relate to your job title.

If you are drafting a photo story, keep the explanations down to captions, rather than paragraphs.

The first visit to a university library can be a challenge - perhaps even more so for an online student. In the first module it is important for students to show that they have used the university library to find a work-related article (or book). At this stage, it is acceptable to interpret this widely. The facilitators know that early visits to the library may be challenging for many reasons, and it is enough to show that you have: a) found the library b) found one work-related item Campus students have parallel experiences - I can remember my first visits to a university library (huge!), getting used to a new and complex system, locating the shelves where the most relevant books would be found, taking out my first book. The Anglia Ruskin library can be accessed at http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/digitallibrary/digital_library.htm

It has not been clear to students that the Library barcode is available from their e-vision accounts. For any problems, there is an online query form. I had to use it last week to renew my account, and within five minutes I had a reply.

Lydia made a movie about using Google Scholar in conjunction with the university library, available at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=PZH8NWvQ3Ig

YouTube contains an amazing assortment of videos, but as with any large collection it takes time and expertise to find the good stuff. Intelligent Life at YouTube: 75 Educational Video Collections does a great job in identifying some of the key contributors.

The Individual Learning Plan (ILP) form for Investigating the Work Setting includes some ideas from a discussion with Ian about plans and contracts. Ian tends towards the view that the plan is also a contract between student and tutor, whereas my view is that the plan is a personal tool for managing study time, checked by a tutor to ensure that the essential dates are appropriate and that there is a basic understanding of the required assignments. However, I agreed with Ian that some "contract" elements would be very useful, and included them in the design of the form.

As the form is new, there has been some discussion with students about what is expected in the section on consideration of issues, and I have provided the following example:

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Workplace advocate / Line manager
My workplace advocate is the Programme Leader for the Learning, Technology and Research degree course. He fully supports my study and is prepared to arrange a meeting this semester to discuss any work-related issues. My line manager is the Director of Education Studies and has encouraged me to undertake the course.

Ethics
As a university employee, I will need to comply with both the policies on research ethics, and the Dignity at Work policy.

Resources and support in the workplace
My colleagues will be a key source of support.

Support for specific student learning needs
none

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Some students will specify dyslexia in the last section, or other learning needs that need to be taken into account.

Resources for schools are often better for introducing ideas than texts for university students. The British Library introduction to research offers a straightforward yet interesting approach to creative research.