Foreign Perspectives

In computing you’re constantly on a treadmill to keep up with the latest technologies.

That’s not so bad if your employer has been good enough to keep you on some kind of development programme but, of course, these days fewer employers are willing or able to afford to do that. Not only do they have the perennial problem that you might up sticks and move on right after an expensive training programme but there’s the added problem of financing it in these difficult economic times.

Usually these courses cost an absolute fortune so paying for them yourself isn’t an option. However, there are a number of more affordable versions of some of these around these days including fairly general ones like those on Java and Visual Basic through to rather more specific (and quickly dating) ones like Microsoft server technologies all for around £400 for a course running over nine months. Where you get into bigger bucks is in the networking courses with CISCO networking at £850 (albeit a rather larger course than the earlier ones) and Advanced routing at £1250.

Sadly the best all-rounder, a suite of six courses that make up the Certificate in Web Applications Development is just about to commence its final run. This was one of the experimental formats designed to be easily updated which seemingly wasn’t nearly so easy to update as anticipated (ie they probably lost a fortune on it). What’s interesting about this one is that whilst the later modules received a fair amount of criticism, the websites that the students produced are rather good.

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With me changing tack towards biology/chemistry over the next few years I thought I’d see about getting up to speed with at least some of the upcoming courses by way of taking a related short course in advance.

It turns out there are quite a number of courses for which this can be done. So many in fact that I probably won’t be able to fit them all in over the time that’s available. Still, I’ll have a go when it is possible.

So, for the big S204 biology course there’s the S171 Empire of the microbes short course. Whilst it obviously doesn’t cover all the ground that the large course does, it should get me up to speed in some proper biology terminology.

Similarly, for the big S205 chemistry course and S377 there’s SK185 Molecules, medicines and drugs which is reawakening the memories of previous chemistry courses.

For the S366 evolution course a few years down the road there’s S193 Fossils and the history of life. Unfortunately that’s in its final presentation this November so I’m going to have to make a point of squeezing it in.

And so it goes on, with S173 Plants and people having a passing relationship with SXR375, the plants residential.

As well as introducing me to some terminology in advance of the corresponding main course this approach will add 10 points for each of the short courses which is 40 points just for the above and I’m sure more mini pre-courses will turn up over the next few years.

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The final TMA of the astronomy course looked pretty much impossible to do at first glance and seems to be the cause of a substantial number of people seriously considering dropping out of the course if the forum comments are anything to go by.

The big difference between this one and the previous one is that it’s very much into the theoretical physics (ie mathematical) side of the course basically because it’s largely based on the cosmology section of the course where the heavy duty mathematics comes in. That doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s particularly difficult but what it does require is a completely different way of thinking about the questions. So, instead of looking up how to describe the appearance of a galaxy you get questions like “Using information from An Introduction to Galaxies and Cosmology, estimate R(t1) / R(t0)” which require a major shift in problem solving techniques from what went before.

Once you have flicked over to the mathematical approach, the seemingly impossible questions turn out to be fairly easy, albeit involving scary looking numbers most of the time. Essentially what’s required for most of them is to find a formula in the book which refers to the pieces of information that you’re given and getting out the calculator. Even the most complex doesn’t require more than a relatively simple rearrangement of a formula given in the book and seeing as they go so far as quoting the chapter in the book from which the questions are taken, it’s not too difficult to find the necessary formulae.

What it does show is that the guidance in the “Are you ready for S282?” guide that the “level of maths required for S282 is not high”, whilst true, is rather misleading. No, the level of maths isn’t that high but what it does require is that you are able to think like a mathematician.

That’s the final TMA that counts towards the result. There is a CMA to do but that doesn’t affect the mark so whilst I’ll have a look at it, I’ve not decided whether or not to do it as ’tis time to get going on the revision.

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