Bsc Arboriculture or Level 6?

[Kveldssanger]

Aye, my standard assignments with my BSc were 2-3k, and my dissertation was 10k.

 

Part of me hopes there is no limit for the QCF Lvl 4 Arb Diploma. So much to write about... got notepad documents filled to the brim with notes and references.

[Gary Prentice]

Admittedly mine are too long. A moderator asked to pass one on to a degree student to assist in their dissertion. I assume because of the volume of information. But, as we're frequently reminded it's all about the Learning.

 

Personally for me, it's less about passing and more about knowledge. I can now read some really complex papers on fungal enzymes or chlorophyll fluorescence and understand them, which makes me appreciate the whole evolutionary process even more. I also tend to bore my wife when I want to explain what I've learnt:biggrin:

[Kveldssanger]

Admittedly mine are too long. A moderator asked to pass one on to a degree student to assist in their dissertion. I assume because of the volume of information. But, as we're frequently reminded it's all about the Learning.

 

Personally for me, it's less about passing and more about knowledge. I can now read some really complex papers on fungal enzymes or chlorophyll fluorescence and understand them, which makes me appreciate the whole evolutionary process even more. I also tend to bore my wife when I want to explain what I've learnt:biggrin:

 

100% this. It's about the journey towards improved knowledge.

 

Chlorophyll fluorescence is one of those things that I think I understand, particularly after I picked up an Arborcheck leaflet on it. Trying to wrap my head around it the first time I read about it properly lead me to spend an hour being totally clueless.

 

So to clarify, there is no word limit on the Lvl 4 or Lvl 6 Dip Arb with TreeLife?

[Island Lescure]

I think you may be wrong re the Icf,

t

Have a chat with Chris Eden, as I believe he is working towards chartership.

 

 

Edit. Two years for the L6 is wishful thinking unless you can allocate every evening and weekend to it. IME

 

I can imagine that it is quite hard to achieve as the level four in one year was no walk in the park. I was only working 4 days a week, no kids and yet very little social life, course work pretty much every night and weekends.

[Island Lescure]

H mate,

 

I faced the same dilemma (see my other post) a coupe of years ago and went L6. My initial thoughts.

 

1. Both are L6 on QCF and that is what makes them recognisable worldwide.

2. I know I said I was told BSc would be less work by the tutor from Warwick but I would still think it would be heavy duty.

3. The L6 is ridiculous in terms of workload but the support from TL is excellent.

4. I'm working on ICF at the moment and they haven't made any objection to L6. I know it has less points on the academic side but its not an academic qualification. Its professional so has to be supplemented by work experience. At least that's my understanding but the guidance from ICF is vague at best.

 

My decision went like this, what do I want it for? My long term aim is AA reg consultant. Who would I like to set me on my way with my L6 qualification, a college lecturer or an actual reg consultant? i.e. Dave Dowson. That is why I went L6, I think its more aimed at consultancy and taught by a top consultant.

 

If I wanted to be a college lecturer or to be involved in research I would have gone for the BSc.

 

I don't think you can do the BSc in two years as you would need to do the FDSc first. If you have the L4 I think there may be some bridging modules you can do instead but essentially its not designed to bolt onto L4 while the L6 is. That was another reason for my decision. I did the old tech cert so L6 was the obvious progression.

 

As Gary said doing L6 in two years is tough. I did mine in two years but I worked every night and weekend and through the hols. I had no social life for two years which is hard but doable once you get into the mind set. The trick is to think strategically, set yourself small goals that you can meet but that also fit into the overall two years. Get re-submissions in quickly as each tick in the box is a little incentive which really helped me. Set yourself max times for each assignment and try not to exceed them it will put you behind on the others. Its easy to go overboard with the research which is counter productive. If you want to know more about something go back after the course. Just do enough to meet the AC.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Good luck,

 

I imagine workload of the level 6 to be ridiculous but also satisfying as you have gone through everything top to bottom. I would really like to know my stuff, though I appreciate the "the more you know the more you realise you don't" scenario as Paul Barton has mentioned despite having a masters...

I did like the support from Tree Life and meeting people every so often.

I have always wanted to go to exotic places and help researchers, or I guess conduct the research myself at this point, to climb trees, traverse, etc... So a bit more orientated towards Bsc. Anything that doesn't involve just chopping trees.

I had no problem meeting the minimum criteria for the level 4 assessments, as in I never wrote too much, more often not enough...

Anyway, waiting on a reply with regards to the bridging modules for the Bsc. Still not sure what to go for. A consultant around here finished his Bsc last year. I will ask him what he thought too. Thank you for the advice!

[Island Lescure]

If you were to do the level six and compleat it is there any cross over to the BSC to get the degree or would you have to take the whole course?

 

From the myerscough website, it looks like you can go from level 6 to Msc. Not super clear on the level 4 to Bsc though...At least to me

[Island Lescure]

I've done the Arboriculture MSc and still don't know anything - does that help?!

 

I would tend to agree with most of Chris's comments above - they are totally different courses. One is academic so will require lots of reading and writing essays, and the other is professional so will reflect typical work scenarios more closely.

 

I'd also give serious thought to your learning style. Are you motivated enough to do distance learning on your own, or would meeting up with your fellow students and tutor regularly help alot?

 

Para 1: not really?

I don't know if I am motivated enough, plus:

lvl 6 you can take up to 5 years to complete... Not that I think I would do it this way.

Bsc you can complete it from anywhere in the world but, can you retake bits that/if you fail? I guess I need to ask this.

[Gary Prentice]

100% this. It's about the journey towards improved knowledge.

 

Chlorophyll fluorescence is one of those things that I think I understand, particularly after I picked up an Arborcheck leaflet on it. Trying to wrap my head around it the first time I read about it properly lead me to spend an hour being totally clueless.

 

So to clarify, there is no word limit on the Lvl 4 or Lvl 6 Dip Arb with TreeLife?

 

No, no limit apart from the Independent Research Project - on the L6 at least.

 

I think it took me more than an hour to understand the biological/chemical mechanisms of the process, and a pack of aspirin

[Chris at eden]

 

I've got an awful lot from treelife over the last two years, my outlook and thinking has changed entirely.

 

Spot on.

[Chris at eden]

Para 1: not really?

I don't know if I am motivated enough, plus:

lvl 6 you can take up to 5 years to complete... Not that I think I would do it this way.

Bsc you can complete it from anywhere in the world but, can you retake bits that/if you fail? I guess I need to ask this.

 

You can do L6 by treemail - tree life's correspondence version. It would be tough though.