Invisible posts and the same complaints

I’m sure my posts on TT284-12B are invisible. Someone asks a question, I post an answer then three others post the same answer shortly before the asker thanks them. Sounds petty, I know, but I’m genuinely wondering if my posts are visible.

I’m tired of seeing the same complaints too. You might well argue that if people keep complaining there’s a genuine issue and there is – people don’t read the damn module descriptions. If the module description says the material is entirely presented on-line (which it does) then you’re on a hiding to nothing to complain you didn’t get a book.

University should be somewhere to meet people with similar interests, share ideas and see things from new perspectives. Perhaps its because I’ve been moderating a module that I’ve become jaded. I’m becoming less and less interested in interacting with other students.

TMA results for Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone, whatever your faith (you get the sentiment)!

MS221′s first TMA was returned yesterday. My tutor has a sense of humour – she gave me an extension, acknowledged receipt and within a day emailed me to tell me she’d given me a week’s extension on TMA 2 so I could “catch up more gradually”. I spent a few days thinking I’d totally screwed up the assessment but I actually got 93% – which I’m pretty damn pleased with (especially as I didn’t answer one part).

MS221 TMA01

I’ve had nothing but problems with this TMA, the latest being Word refusing to open my solution document. Last time I bother with that, its a lot easier just to write it all out by hand.

I hope I can remember the material for the exam. Being allowed the handbook and working through past papers will probably be enough but I’ve found MS221 a big jump from MST121, frankly it’s put me off level three but you never know.

My problem is that I just can’t spot patterns so have great difficulty making conjectures. There’s a conjecture question in the first TMA and although I’ve got the Mathcad sheet all set up, I can see an approximate connection but can’t think of a way to formalise it.

MT254 TMA 01

First TMA on MT264 (Designing applications with Visual Basic) got returned today – 96%. I’m very pleased with that and exceptionally lucky given that I read the material in a week, attended one on-line tutorial and wrote the assessment in a couple of days.

I’ve seen complaints on the module forum that tutors aren’t getting assessments back to quickly enough. The cut off was the 15th (I submitted on the 13th) and it was returned on the 27th, I don’t really see what the problem is.

Nested selection reared its head again but I didn’t lose any marks for it. In every programming module I’ve been picked up for using Else If so I played it safe and used nested If statements. So I was advised to use Else If proving I can’t win!

 

Certificate in Information Technology and Computing

I finally realised how you link qualifications together “on the way” to a degree with the Open University. So I’ve now achieved the Certificate in Information Technology and Computing. Which was nice (as they say on The Fast Show).

Apparently, that makes my name Dougie Richardson, Cert IT & Comp (Open). I think I’ll skip that.

Next stop is the Diploma of Higher Education in Computing and IT, which is 240 credits (currently I have 120 points completed and 60 in progress, with another 30 point module starting in February if I get a place). I can link MS221 to this qualification as my free choice at level 2.

Its encouraging but it still seems like a mountain to climb – I only hope that the government doesn’t do a Darth Vader and alter the bargain further.

Developing a developer

Still some way to completing my degree part-time (at the end of this academic year I’m half way). I’m not soliciting my services – just looking for advice from the community and if anyone has a few minutes it’d be very much appreciated.

I enjoy mathematics and programming, my degree modules have revolved around the two, covering Java and VB.Net (its a very Windows centric place the Open University but it’s getting better). I’m in the UK and would like to go back to Edinburgh for family reasons when I leave the services in a couple of years time. Looking at the job boards, there’s a lot of Java contracts in the area.

Has anyone got a job with only open source experience? Does anyone know of any open source projects that are Java based and would be a good starting point to build on the fundamentals? Are there other qualifications or courses that you recommend? What are employers looking for? Does anyone work in a specific field that utilises both maths and programming? Is there a language that is in particular demand or do you find that good experience is more value? What’s a realistic starting salary?

Samsung NP-RV511-S02UK

I bought a new laptop the other week, a Samsung NP-RV511-S02UK. I have been using a Samsung NC10 dual booting Ubuntu and XP. An NC10 is a wondrous thing but when push comes to shove, a 1280×600 resolution is too small for Visual Studio work – especially when you want to see a PDF at the same time.

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Café

Well that was emotional, the TU100 forums opened yesterday. My poor co-moderator Nicky got thrown in to the deep end (I was at a mess top table).

I checked in before work, and there were a few posts (about two dozen) so I thought we’d be OK. Checked in earlier and there’s several hundred!

I’m studying for MS221 and MT264 but it’s clear I’m going to have to put some time in this weekend reading through TU100′s material – especially with Sense, which seems to have captured student’s imaginations.