In this blog post, I'll be detailing my experience and my process of how I got Diploma in Creative Writing in English through Distance education. I have added links, my reports and the timetable I followed to keep myself ahead, even when I was procrastinating.
ADMISSION:
The month and year of my admission to the course was in January 2021. I applied through the IGNOU admissions portal - Indira Gandhi National Open University (samarth.edu.in) before the deadline mentioned in the website.
The eligibility required of the student is either a Higher secondary certificate (10+2) education or 20 years of age at the time of admission. Academic sessions are from January to December or July to June.
I had to pay Rs 3800 for 1 semester, which is the term I completed the Diploma from January 2021 - December 2021. Essentially, the reason why they call it a semester (where 1 semester = 1 year) is because you have validity to continue this course for 4 years, in case you had a break in between or didn't submit your papers. You do have to pay for each semester though. But this is a topic I won't be covering because I didn't go through this situation.
It is always a good idea to go through the programme guide given by DCE department.
There are 2 compulsory courses:
DCE-01 General Principles of Writing and
DCE-06 Project.
You can choose 3 minimum electives and 4 maximum electives from the list given below:
DCE-02 Feature Writing,
DCE-03 Short Story,
DCE-04 Writing for Media Radio and Television and
DCE-05 Writing Poetry.
After registering, you will receive an online ID card that needs to be opened using your enrolment number. You will be required to show this at the exam hall during your term end exams. Make sure the address you gave is your communication address because this is where they'll send your certificate at the end of the course. Also the RC code is an indicator for where your main regional center is. You can voice your concerns to that particular RC.
TIMELINE:
Here is the initial timeline I jotted down before the COVID-19 postponements hit:-
Project Proposal: Aug 31st 2021
Assignment: Sept 30th 2021
Exam Form Submission(Rs150): Sept 5th 2021
Project Report: Nov 30th 2021
Hall Ticket: Dec (2 weeks before the exam) 2021
Term End Exam(TEE): Dec 2021
I got all this information from the programme guide and other sites like IGNOUHelp.in . My main concern and confusion initially were why there was no contact from IGNOU. Many other students contacted the IGNOU email id but to no avail. I was determined to complete the course as they explained in the programme guide and see if I could follow the distance education course notes they provided.
Updated dates (approx):-
Project Proposal: Aug 31st 2021
Assignment: Oct 30th 2021
Exam Form Submission(Rs150): Nov 2021
Project Report: Nov 30th 2021
Hall Ticket: (2 weeks before the exam) Mar 2022
Term End Exam(TEE): Mar 16th -Apr 1st 2022
As you can see, I ordered the timeline according to priority and month. The project proposal had to be given on Aug 31st.
PROJECT PROPOSAL:
It's a 500 word summary of what you're going to present in your project report. I sent it through email to:-
Please read this official document to understand what is required of your project proposal: Microsoft Word - New Microsoft Office Word Document (ignou.ac.in).
For reference, here's the email I sent to the Director and my RC:-
"Dear ma'am/sir,
I am herewith attaching my project proposal for your evaluation.
My details are as follows:-
Enrolment Number : --------
RC Code : ------------
Name of the Programme : ------------
Name : --------------
Father's Name : ----------------
Address : -----------------
Pin Code : -------------
If there are any other requirements, please contact me at ------phone number------- or --------------email---- .
Yours faithfully,
Alisa.R "
The response I received through email, on 20th Aug 2021, has been attached to end of the below document along with my project proposal.
(Please do not use my personal details, I am unfortunately trusting the internet)
Next on my Agenda was the Assignment.
ASSIGNMENT:
You will receive a document from the official ignou site: Assignments (ignou.ac.in) to download. Please select the assignment questions from your year of admission. Mine was Jan 2021-Dec 2021.
I would highly suggest you referring to the Notes that were provided to you in e-GyanKosh while answering these questions or refer to a good source on the internet -
I personally did not refer or depend on these notes completely as I am the classic procrastinator with no time. I referred to a lot of online resources with regards to word limit. As I was preparing for IELTS at the time, I was prepared to write with good grammar.
The details given in the pdf above is also very helpful.
For the first page, you can print any one of these pages from this blog: IGNOU Assignment Front Page DOWNLOAD - IGNOU Solved Assignment (ignouassignments.in) and write your name and other details.
IGNOU requires handwritten assignments and typed project reports. I have attempted to follow the instructions given in the pdf above and came up with a template which you may or may not use.
Here I am attaching my assignments, but please do not copy or plagiarize. IGNOU will definitely find out the similarities.
Also keep your assignment submission proof in handy in case the university doesn't grade your assignments because of reasons unknown.
EXAM FORM SUBMISSION:
Make sure you submit your exam form before the deadline. Otherwise you might incur late fees. IGNOU:: Examination Form
Reference: IGNOUHelp.in
PROJECT REPORT:
Follow this link to understand how to write the project report: Microsoft Word - New Microsoft Office Word Document (ignou.ac.in). Make sure you follow all the instructions mentioned.
I wrote my report in Word and then used Overleaf, Online LaTeX Editor to make it neater. It is an editor I used to format my B.Tech. journal papers.
Please make sure to attach your Project Proposal, Response from Director and the Certificate of Originality as shown below: -
Also keep the proof of project report in handy after submitting the project report through the IGNOU Portal: IGNOU: Project Report Upload (Instruction)
HALL TICKET:
The hall ticket will be available in the IGNOU Portal 2 weeks before the TEE. Download and print it to take to the exam hall along with your ID card.
TERM END EXAMS:
The exams went on from March 16th 2022 to April 1st 2022 for Jan2021 batch. The exams are 3 hours long. They are marked out of 100 marks. The question paper will have approximately 8 questions, each of 20 marks (160 marks). 4 questions are from notes and 4 are questions are for writing features/interviews/stories/poetry. Make sure to answer as many questions as possible because this is an English exam. It cannot be graded like your PCM papers.
The paper will have a lot of questions from the notes provided by IGNOU eGyanKosh: Diploma in Creative Writing in English (DCE). So, read as much as you can, they are not hard concepts to learn. If you are a procrastinator like me, do not make the mistake I made by only attempting the questions that require no reading of the notes. The marks for the questions from the notes are scored easier.
We were able to select the college we wanted to write in as an exam hall. If you have the choice, choose the one closest to you.
GRADE CARD:
Here is the clincher. My IGNOU GradeCard was empty for the most part of 2022. Even after sending email after email to the coordinators of the RC and IGNOU, the response was to submit my proof documents to the RC. So, I printed out the proof of assignments, project report, grade card, hall ticket and ID card. I put them in an envelope along with a written letter to the Director to have my assignments graded. I went to the RC and submitted to his office and waited.
Get the required information about your RC from this site above.
CERIFICATE:
In a month all the assignments were graded, and my grade card was filled. In another 3 months, I received the certificate mailed to my communication address. I passed with a B grade and finally was a Diploma holder for Creative Writing in English.
Hope this blog post helped you become a Diploma holder as well. The advantages of this distance education course are that, for the most part, you don't have to leave the house and study at your own pace.
The disadvantage of this distance education course is not knowing your deadlines, exam dates and links (hopefully I've helped you here) and having minimal response from IGNOU. You can always contact your RC to know more.
If you have any queries, sound off in the comments below.
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