What's it all about - Roni?

Well - I've been promising myself, and my reader(s) that I would get back in here and do some blogging as there's been lots going on with the Masters.  So, time to update you all on how it's going so far.

Hmm - writing all these posts a little after the fact so feeling a bit calmer about the whole process now - but the process of the Masters following the induction didn't feel any smoother.

The structure (for us in my part of government at least) is supposed to be a single module per term, spread over 24-25 months.

However, on commencing the Masters on 7th October, I was presented with two separate modules, with work and reading tasks showing in both of these.  "Gulp!", methinks... but I started plodding on - largely with Software Engineering Professional Practice module, as there were fairly structured tasks in there, 'read this, comment on your own experiences to support your opinion' type of stuff, which looked really interesting.  I got part way through starting the second task there, alongside one other student.  Now, I did think it was quite odd that there were only 2 of us that appeared to be participating online.  However, it being the very start of the module I thought maybe we were just too quick off the mark.  Any then - the other guy's stuff was DELETED!

So, me being me, and unable to contain either my curiosity or worry that something was going on, I messaged the guy to find out why it was deleted.  Turns out we'd been shown 2 modules instead of just one in error!

Shame though, cos the module I'd worked on seemed like it would be really interesting, and teach me lots about 'reflective models'.  The module I'm currently on, Software Engineering Principles, covers, in the main, stuff that I'd already learned about while doing my OU degree.

So, I guess what I'm mostly learning this time round has changed.

• How to write a professional critical academic report, as opposed to just the technical kind of reporting I did in my degree.
• How to use referencing software to simplify the process of citations
• How to summarise the content of lengthy academic journals and decide whether they're appropriate to support my points in a report.

A bit more to come on the correct module and the highs and lows of the experience so far, in a later post.