I have had the results back for MU120 TMA03 and M255 TMA01;

MU120 TMA03 = 92%
M255 TMA01 = 87%

I am pleased with the MU120 score but was hoping for a higher score in M255. I left my marks slip in the last question, which involved an implementation of a piece of software to handle video rentals and asked you to improve it. I missed marks for my lack of accessor statements, which is my own fault and fairly obvious on retrospect.

The blog has seen a rise in hits since the OU published the Microsoft Dreamspark offer on Student home, seems people are benefiting from the info which is great!

I recorded the video for the Yaldex tutorial but I am not happy with the sound quality, I will try and remove some of the noise etc and get it up this week.

Its been almost a month to the day since my last blog post, which is very poor on my part, but is due to a combination of life and work and 3 assignments all falling at the same time.

I worked hard on Mu120, which although only being a level one course, I seem to be spending plenty of time on the questions come assignment time (maths never was my strong point). Coupled with the fact that my priorities are definitely toward getting high marks in M263 and M255 my actual study of the MU120 modules has slipped a lot in the last 6 weeks, meaning a lot of catch up and skimming during the assignment period.

The other two assignments are almost at completion, and even though I am only one assignment deep I have come to the conclusion already that M255 is definitely my favourite course so far, one which I recommend to any one interested in studying computing with the OU.

I'll post the scores when I know them.

Due to the popularity of my post about the Yaldex 1st Javascript Editor last year (it has been my most hit page for the last few months) I am going to record some very basic video tutorials about using the software, particularly for debugging for all the M150 students bashing there head against a brick wall come assignment time. This should be done within the next week and will be posted on the blog.

Finally the M255 course materials arrived this morning, just in the nick of time!

They were accompanied by a letter from my course tutor outlining his role and how we will interact as a tutor group which is something I have never had from an OU tutor before and it is quite reassuring that he is on top of whats going on (we've all experienced the tutors who are not so...)

I've got the software installed which consists of the Java SDK, an IDE called BlueJ and the M255 specific study materials. I haven't had a chance to play around with them yet as I have to get TMA02 completed for M263 by the weekend. One things for sure, the next few months will be interesting, if not least from a time managment perspective.

Well,
after working my way through the MU120 mathematics preperatory materials and hearing that M263 is predominantly maths based course I have chosen to postpone M255 until Febraury. To be honest I know maths isn't necessarily my strongest point and to give myself the fairest chance of passing my courses to a good standard (M263 counts towards degree classification) I want to be able to dedicate all my time to M263 and MU120.

It was a bit of a relief to get it sorted, as the last 3 weeks I have spent alot of time worrying about my workload and the thought of my first two courses which contain final exams running directly in parallel. I hope I have made the right decision... time will tell though.

Good afternoon

As I am coming around to the end of my first year with the OU I have decided to write about where I am heading and what I intend to study.
For the first year of my degree I studied two 30 credit level 1 courses. These were T175 Networked Living: Exploring Information and Communication and M150 Data, Computing and Information.

I have found both of these courses thoroughly engaging and enjoyable and they have provided a really good broad base for my future studies in computing. I have found M150 more challenging and rewarding than T175 however this is mainly because I am from a programming background and it is the route I want to persure. T175 is a newer course and the materials are probably presented in a nicer way.

My Degree (B29 BSc(Hons) Computing) should in accordance with OU recommendations, be studied over 6 years at 60 credits per year. I have followed this path for the first year however I am going to step my study up to 90 credits next year with the aim of completing my degree two years early.

The 90 credits I am going to study over the next 12 months are the level 1 course MU120 Open Mathematics, the level 2 courses M263 Building Blocks of Software and M255 Object Orientated Programming with Java.

I found my first year very manageable and hopefully 90 credits should not but overly stretching myself. At the moment though I am looking forward to having the summer off when I will be travelling around Europe for 5 weeks. I look forward to properly blogging these courses as I study them and offering any ideas and suggestions as I go.

Simon