Earlier this year I started studying MSc Computing (Software Engineering) with the Open University (OU). One of the benefits of working at the OU is that staff get to study OU courses and modules for free! Not only is this a great opportunity to learn new skills, but it’s also a great chance to encounter the student experience first-hand. The latter clearly vital for a product manager concerned specifically with the student experience.
I kicked off my masters with M813 Software Development looking at designing software systems, right through to implementing them using Java. A highlight was the chance to dig into software development patterns again, something I really struggled with on my undergraduate in Computing and Games Development at Plymouth University. By the end of M813 though, I was really burnt out! Turns out juggling full-time work, part-time study and your personal life is tough. But I’m still proud of what I achieved.
This month I start my second module, TB872 Managing change with systems thinking in practice and as part of that I’ll need to blog from time to time. My first task is to answer the question ‘Why am I studying the module?’, and to be honest I don’t have a straightforward answer. However as you can see from this post so far there are perhaps lots of reasons for gravitating towards it:
- Develop new skills
- Explore the study experience as an OU student on another module
- Complete another module on my masters
- Ease burnout by not revisiting a topic I’ve struggled with previously
- Have a reason to start posting on my blog again
The truth is I’ve never really heard of Systems Thinking. But I am fascinated by models and processes and figuring out how I can apply them to my practice. So I’m hoping as the module progresses I’ll have discovered my reason for picking the module, even if I did so unintentionally!