Exams are always a challenge. Remote exams for TM354 Software Engineering students can be especially challenging since students are sometimes asked to draw diagrams. Students are asked for diagrams, since diagrams and sketches are important communication tools. Software is invisible, and diagrams represent a useful way of sharing information and design ideas with fellow software engineers.

This short blog posts shares some practical tips when preparing diagrams for your TM354 exam. What is presented here is a set of suggestions. You should pick and choose the ideas that work best for you, and choose an approach that you feel most comfortable with. The biggest and most important point is that you need to be prepared. When you come to take your exam, there should be no surprises.

Understand the types of diagrams

TM354 makes use of a graphical language called the Unified Modelling Language (UML). Make sure you are familiar with the different types of diagrams you might be asked for.

Consider using diagram tools

Since UML is a well known language, there are quite a few tools out there that can help you to produce UML diagrams. It is okay to use a tool to help you to produce a diagram, but before you take an exam, you should have a very good idea about how to use it. You should be able to use it fluently and be confident in using it. You don’t want to be in a situation where you battle with your tools during a timed exam.

Consider creating a template

If you know what types of diagrams you might be asked for, and what tool you might want to use, consider creating a template for every type of diagram that you might use. This isn’t cheating; this is effective preparation. When you need to create a new diagram, open up your template and modify it to meet your needs.

Consider sketching by hand

If you don’t like tools, you can always use pen and paper to create your diagrams. You can even dispense with using a ruler, but they can be pretty useful. You don’t get any marks for neatness (but you do get marks for the expression of ideas within your diagram). When you’ve finished your sketch, you can either take a digital photograph of it, or scan it (if you have access to a digital scanner), and then paste your diagram into your exam script.

Avoid the Word drawing tool

Microsoft Word is a great tool. It offers a lot of useful features, including a drawing tool. Whilst useful for some tasks, the Word drawing tool is useless for creating UML diagrams. A bit of practical advice: avoid it like the plague. You can spend more time on choosing the style of boxes and arrows than communicating the elements of software that are the focus of your question.

Avoid GenAI

This point should be obvious. For some tasks, GenAI may be able to produce diagrams. GenAI doesn’t know what is in the module materials. This means that the diagrams it can create are invariably wrong or incomplete. Don’t use GenAI for assessment tasks unless you’re explicitly asked to do so.

Master your process

If you use a tool to create your diagram, make sure you know how to transfer your diagram to your exam script. If you need to take a screenshot (and you’re using Windows), push the Print Screen button, and crop the image using the Paint application. If you are creating a diagram by hand, make sure you can easily transfer a digital photograph from your phone to your Word document. Figuring out your process can save you time (and a whole lot of stress).

Practice

My final point: creating diagrams is a skill. Find the time to practice. There are a lot of TM354 past papers that can be downloaded from the Open SU shop.

Good luck in your exam!

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to members of the TM354 module team and TM354 module tutors. Thanks are extended to Mike Giddings and Richard Walker.

On 11 June 2025 I attended a continuing professional development event concerning Generative AI that was intended for tutors. The ALSPD team has set up an online conference site to complement the session. What follows is a set of notes I have made during the session, along with some accompanying thoughts and reflections.

Keynote Address: Reclaiming the Pace of Digital Productivity in the Age of AI

The opening keynote was by Maren Deepwell. The abstract of her talk emphasised the pace of digital content production, and mentioned the need for uncovering our own ‘critical cadence’. A key phrase I picked up on was, of course, digital literacies. This is now morphing into a related idea of AI literacies where we become more aware of the ethical, cultural and social implications of AI tool use.

I made a note of a couple of links from OpenED Culture projects:

• Dimensions of AI Literacies: AI Literacies Applied
• Dimensions of AI Literacies: a diverse and interconnected set of competencies.

Moving on from AI Literacy, a further theme that was highlighted was digital wellbeing; a term I’ve not heard before, but one that can mean different things to different people. It can relate to the use of technology for healthcare and physical activity, or it could be linked to the notion of a ‘digital detox’, which is a phrase that I struggle with. We were introduced to a resource called the Data Detox Kit which contains a number of guides.

Another curious term was ‘digital rewilding’, which I had never heard before. There was a reference to a site called HackThisCourse. I spent a few minutes looking at this page, and was puzzled; I couldn’t immediately grasp what it was all about – but it does look as if it relates back to the theme of digital pedagogy, and creative uses of digital technology. This point, of course, links to the emergence of GenAI.

An important role of a keynote is to challenge and to guide. An interesting question is: what is next? We were directed to Helen Beetham’s substack, which features articles and podcasts about AI.

A key question asked: what does digital capabilities for the AI age look like? During the presentation, I noted that GenAI can be useful if you’re in a position to critically evaluate what it produces.

Session 1 - Short Talks

Teaching and assessing students' use of GenAI

Jonquil Lowe, Senior Lecturer in Economics, from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) asks the question: “what exactly should we be teaching and assessing about GenAI?” I noted three important suggestions which relate to taching: include acceptable and ethical use, cover generic Gen AI skills, and discipline specific skills. I noted the suggestion that perhaps every module might need a Gen AI aspect, which would change and develop as student moved to higher levels of study. I also noted an interesting point that Gen AI may offer useful guidance for students for whom English is not their first language.

Within the chat, a link to an OpenLearn course was shared: Getting started with generative artificial intelligence (AI) 

Online academic misconduct 2025: real location, face to face assessment the only effective response

Next up was David Pell, Associate Lecturer from FASS. David was refreshingly direct in his opinions. In comparison to collusion, plagiarism, essay mills, GenAI is something that is different; it is ‘huge’. It is described as a useful tool for potential cheaters. David shared a direct opinion, and one that I agree with, which is: only real life, proctored assessment provides a guarantee against academic misconduct.

Some research was shared:

• University of Reading: AI exam submissions can go undetected – study (BBC)
• An OU study: Developing robust assessment in the light of Generative AI developments
• Richards et al.(2024) Bob or Bot: Exploring ChatGPT’s Answers to University Computer Science Assessment
• Fleckenstein et al. (2024) Do teachers spot AI? Evaluating the detectability of AI-generated texts among student essays

The very clear point is that GenAI can produce text that is not detectable by educators.

Session 2: The AI Hydra in Assessment - a Nine Point Response to the Nine-headed Beast

The next session, by Mark Campbell, Associate Lecturer, STEM, presents a model of potential responses to GenAI. These are: progression, policing, procedures, pilots, principles and strategy, polities, plans, programmes and modules, and practices.

In addition to these useful responses, I also made a note of the following resources:

1. OU Generative AI Staff Development
2. JISC Innovation resources: Embrace artificial intelligence (AI) with confidence
3. AI maturity toolkit for tertiary education
4. OU being digital resources (library services)

Session 3 – Short Talks

Transformative Teaching with AI - re-purposing the meaning of student-centred learning

Denise Dear, Associate Lecturer, STEM moves from the topic of assessment to the topic of teaching, and asks “how lecturers can use AI to enhance student topic knowledge retention, increase student engagement, improve student confidence, reduce student stress levels and assist students as a revision tool”. I haven’t used any of these tools as a part of my teaching, so I was curious about how it might be applied.

GenAI was presented as a potential study buddy. It has the potential to provide summaries of passages of text, may be also to provide suggestions about essay structures (which, as an arts student, terrifies me), and generate interactive quizzes. In other words, there is potential that it can provide support that is tailored to the needs of individual students.

During the session tutors were asked: how do you use it? Answers include case scenarios, sample computer code, scenario simulations, generating personas – but a word of caution was highlighted: it gets maths wrong. (LLMs also have no idea how to play chess; they know about language, but they cannot reason).

The discussion of teaching led us back to assessment. How do we assess learning? In an activity, some answers were: viva voce assessments, feedback from small group work, asking students to make an audio recording.

Generative AI and Good Academic English

The final session of the day was by Claire Denton, Associate Lecturer, FASS. Use of GenAI can suggest a lack of confidence with academic English. Telltale signs may be the use of a generic tone, no references to module materials and no supporting evidence. Or alternatively, students might begin with their own voice, which will then switch where text from AI is woven into their answer. A question that tutors face is: how do students provide feedback to students when this happens?

Anyone from any faculty can access the various subject sites. There is something called the Arts and Humanities Writing Centre which contains some useful writing resources. The site also provides a link to good academic English, and a phrase bank. (There are, of course, other study skills resources available. I’ve shared a summary of some of them through this article Study Skills Resources: what is available?)

Claire shared some great tips that could be shared to students, including: if you have spent some hours looking at a piece of writing, stop. Take your time to read it aloud. You will then pick up if you need additional punctuation, have used too many of the same words, or have repeated the same point you have made earlier. The key point is, of course, if tutors spot that GenAI might have been used, there may lie opportunities to provide additional help and guidance.

Reflections

The tone of this event implies that GenAI is going to be profoundly transformative. With this in mind, I remember the tone (and the enthusiasm) that accompanied the development of MOOCs and Open Educational Resources, and the view that they both had the potential to fundamentally change the nature and character of education. I've not heard MOOCs mentioned for a while. A lot of froth has been created in the wake of the emergence of GenAI.

Some of the important themes I picked up on from this session were importance of policies, the challenges to academic conduct and integrity, as well as the potential opportunities that targeted GenAI may present. It was interesting to hear GenAI being pitched in terms of being a ‘study buddy’. This is an interesting use case, but I’m also mildly worried by the fact that these free tools are remembering every single interaction we have ever had with them. 

I’m a GenAI sceptic. In my time as a computer scientist, I have seen AI bubbles come and go. In the 1970, researchers claimed they had solved all the key problems, and it was just a matter of scaling up until we get our own personal robotic butler. When it comes to GenAI I do feel that we’re approaching the Peak of Inflated Expectations and it won’t be long before we crash into the Trough of Disillusionment (see: Gartner hype cycle, Wikipedia). If we’re not at the GenAI hype peak already, we probably will be in 18 months time. (I'll be very happy to eat these words if proved wrong).

I remember a computer book from the mid 1980s. It contained a program that you type into your home computer, so it would ‘talk back to you’. It was written in a programming language called BASIC and was only three or four pages long. It recycled your words; it was a simpler version of a 1967 computer program called ELIZA. I once described GenAI as ‘ELIZA on steroids’. GenAI is seductive, since LLMs uncannily reflect back to us echoes of our own humanity. Looking to the bigger picture, philosophers still can’t really define what intelligence is. I don’t know who said it, but I always return to the phrase that ‘AI is really clever people getting really dumb machines to do things that look clever’.

All this takes me to a mild (and yet) important constructive criticism of the event: it was significantly light on ethics. We need to slow down and ask the question: who runs and owns these GenAI tools? What are the consequences for us, and for society when these are used? To what extent does a LLM create a model of its users? How are these models shared? What terms and conditions have we signed up to? There is, of course, the slightly important issues of transparency and copyright. It is likely that these words are, in some way or other, hoovered up by a LLM engine.

Out of curiosity, I asked Copilot the following question: “Who is Chris Douce and what does he think about artificial intelligence?” Here’s the answer: “Chris Douce is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Communications at the Open University. He has a background in software engineering and educational technology, with a focus on distance learning and accessibility. Regarding his views on artificial intelligence (AI), Chris Douce has expressed interest in how AI can be integrated into educational technologies to enhance learning experiences. He has discussed the potential of AI to provide personalized learning and support for students, particularly in distance learning environments. However, he also emphasizes the importance of ethical considerations and the need to address challenges related to accessibility and inclusivity”. That’s a pretty good summary, but I think it is, perhaps, an understatement.

One of the useful aspects of this session was the sharing of links to many related resources and references. There is always homework to do. Now, that’s something that GenAI can’t directly help me with. It’s down to me to do the work. Anything else would be cheating.

Addendum

I shared this post with a colleague, who recommended two interesting resources; a book and a podcast:

Book: Bender, E. M. & Hannah, A. (2025) The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want. Bodley Head.

Podcast: Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000 by Bender and Hannah (Distributed AI Research Institute)

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to all the presenters, and for the team who facilitated the event. Thanks are also extended to David Hales.

Whilst wearing my student hat I went to a careers event that took place on 12 June 2025 for students who were studying arts and humanities modules. I attended because I was curious; I wanted to know what would be covered in sessions like these.

What follows is a set of rough notes I made during the session. The aim of the session was to explore and to find ways to identify what skills employers look for, to learn more about career options for students studying arts and humanities qualifications, and to share resources.

Activities

The session began with an activity, where we were asked a question: what skills do you think employers want from you? This was linked to some research by an organisation called the Bright Network. In their most recent survey (at the time of writing) the top three ‘skills’ identified were: ‘interest in the business’, resilience, commercial awareness.

The next activity we were asked to create what is called a ‘skills calling card’. The idea was that we choose an image, list our top 3 employability skills, and rate them out of 100. In other words, imagine creating your own card for a game of ‘skills top trumps’.

This led to some questions, namely, how might you demonstrate or evidence your top skills by way of examples? This being, of course, being linked to how you pitch yourself within a job applications, CVs and interviews.

Careers

The activities led to the question: what can you do an arts and humanities qualification? There was a discussion about job roles and employers. I was stuck by a particular statistic, that 85% of jobs are open to students who have any degree, which was attributed to an organisation called the institute of student employers.

We were directed to some useful resources: Prospects, which as a section about ‘what you can do with your degree, and the OU jobs platform, opportunity hub. I like Prospects. It is through Prospects that I gained an opportunity for doctoral study, which eventually took me to the OU.

We were encouraged to carry out some further activities in our own time. One was to look through job adverts to identify what skills employers are looking for, what examples can you draw upon to evidence the skills that you might have. Another activity was to look at career paths of OU Alumni through LinkedIn.

Resources

We were introduced to a number of useful resources:

• A badged open course, about having a freelance career in the creative arts (OpenLearn)
• The FutureYou pages presents a summary of ten core employability skills and attributes.

It is interesting that these attributes have been only related to Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences modules. They can, of course, also be applied to modules from other faculties.

A reminder was given that all students have access to the Careers and Employability Service, which can be found through the Help Centre. The services provides advice for about writing of your CV and preparing for an interview. You can also book in an appointment with a professional career advisor.

Acknowledgements

Many thanks to the presenter and the facilitator, and the careers team who devised this session up.

One of the new level 1 computing modules on the BSc (Honours) Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence qualification goes by the catchy title TM113 Computing fundamentals 2: programming, databases, software engineering. It accompanies TM110 Computing fundamentals 1: concepts and Python programming.

As suggested by its title, this new module has three strands. What follows are a set of links and resources that may be useful to anyone who might be potentially interested in tutoring this module. If you have tutored TM112, the Python element will be familiar to you, but the software engineering and databases less familiar (although you may be familiar with databases, if have had any awareness of TM254 Managing IT: the why, the what and the how).

Programming

If you are familiar with software development but not with Python, the following OpenLearn and Cisco resources might be useful:

• OpenLearn: Simple Coding (Level 1: Introductory, 2 hours)
• Cisco: Python Essentials 1 (30 hours, beginner)
• Cisco: Python Essentials 2 (40 hours, intermediate)

Databases

Within OpenLearn, there is the following:

• OpenLearn: Data and processes in computing (Level 2: Intermediate, 14 hours)

Another useful resource that has been mentioned is:

• SQL Zoo

Software engineering

Turning to the theme of software engineering, there are a couple of OpenLearn resources that have been derived from existing OU modules. 

• OpenLearn: Approaches to software development (Level 3: Advanced, 9 hours)
• OpenLearn: Software development for enterprise systems (Level 3: Advanced, 8 hours)

Other resources

If you have never tutored an OU module before, the following module can be very helpful:

• Being an OU Tutor in STEM: Computing and Communications (Level 3: Advanced, 6 hours)

If you are an existing tutor, a really useful thing to do is to take advantage of the university’s fee waiver.

Reflections

The OpenLearn resources can certain be useful, and you can demonstrate awareness of the materials by gathering an informal badge (which can be added to a CV). What has really helped me to become a better tutor has been the fee waiver. This could be applied to computing modules, or modules from other faculties.

Acknowledgments

Thanks are extended to Anthony Johnson who shared some of those resources during a very early module team meeting.

2 May 2025

Finally, a negative covid test.

Despite having a covid addled brain, over the last couple of days I’ve managed to corral together quite a significant bunch of quotes from a range of different sources for my EMA which is due at the end of the month. The reason for doing this is to try to figure out what different critics think about the two texts I’ve chosen, before going ahead and doing a final re-read of my choices, and finally coming to a view about what I think. The challenge I’m facing is that that I’ve never felt that I’ve been any good at history. A bit of a blind spot I have is knowing much about all the various British kings and queens. This said, the more I read, the more bits of it start to make sense. An interesting reflection is that some of the themes from level 1 are now beginning to find their way to level 3.

Here's my plan: let everything sit with me for a couple of days. When I’ve done that, re-read through my 18 pages of notes and quotes, then re-read the texts, and then start to write the EMA; I already feel as if I have a macros structure – it is the detail that need to figure out, and that is pretty important.

6 May 2025

Today is a day of two tutorials. I went to one that took place at around noon. It had focus on drama and the EMA. I think I have more of an understanding about the purpose of the EMA, and what it is looking for, but I’m less certain about how I go about making an argument that works with both of the texts that I’ve chosen. I’ve gone from feeling confident, to less confident.

There’s one tutorial tonight, and another one tomorrow. When I’ve attended both of them I’ll probably start to write, after having a quick look at another couple of references that I’ve picked up from the lunchtime tutorial. I guess this oscillation between certainty and uncertainty accompanies becoming familiar with the principles that underlie a discipline that I haven’t (yet) completely grasped its fundamentals. I feel like I’m getting there.

7 May 2025

Last night’s tutorial was quite helpful in terms of unpicking the EMA question. I’m going to keep with my texts, since I like them. Our tutor said it’s okay to go with our favourites. 

I have two things to do today: to attend a book 2 summary tutorial that takes place in the evening, and to then try to dig out a couple of extra references to read (although I know I have loads). I think I’m a couple of day away from starting to write my EMA.

10 May 2025

Well, I’ve downloaded those extra resources, and I’ve transferred them to my Kindle, and have thoroughly scribbled on them. I now need to transcribe all my quotes into my notes document. I also have another task, which is to dig out some critical reviews of one of the texts that I’ve chosen. 

Following a determined morning of TMA marking, I’ve just come out of another two A334 EMA preparation tutorials. I missed the majority of the first one, but I’ve downloaded the slides. My to my dismay, one of the presenters shared yet another reference which looks to be of interest. I seem to be creatively procrastinating, doing everything else except for the writing of the EMA.

After the tutorials, I’ve had a listen to an EMA preparation audio which has been prepared by the module team. It didn’t contain any surprises, which is a good thing. I’ve also made a note to listen to another few resources, which can be found on the page ‘learning event summaries’. I think that is going to be this evening’s job, along with some further TMA marking.

What I’m now more certain about is what I’m not going to include within my EMA.

The countdown clock to the final submission date is ticking louder. I don’t yet feel as if I know my chosen texts backwards yet, which is making me feel slightly uncomfortable. I’m nearly there with one of them, but I need to work on the other. I’m sure I’ll get there.

15 May 2025

Well, I’ve got my TMA 5 back. A mixed result. Certainly not one of my best. It is a shame, since I did feel (whilst writing it) that I had submitted a good essay. My tutor left me some helpful feedback. The main comment was that it’s structure (for a literature essay) was a little unconventional. Reflecting on this, I can see his point. It could have been presented differently, to integrate together the philosophical ideas and text from Confessions. Had I done this, I would have produced a more readable essay. I am, however, very secure in my understanding of the sublime, but I am slightly frustrated that I spent so many hours working through Confessions.

I was doing a bit of travelling yesterday. I read a few more critical sources. Whilst reading these, I gathered up a few more ideas that I could use in my EMA. Whilst traveling, I have missed an EMA preparation surgery, but my tutor has already emailed his group saying that a recording is available.

My plan for the next few days, leading up to the weekend (which is going to be an EMA writing weekend) is: continue to read critical sources. By the time I get to Saturday morning, I should be more or less ready to write.

16 May 2025

I’ve just listened to that ‘EMA surgery’ tutorial that was run by my tutor. I’m going to attend another day school event that is taking place tomorrow, which is all about drama and close reading. The more events that I attend, and the more general reading that I do, the less confident I feel in my ability to write an essay that meets the assessment criteria. I want to write something interesting, which does the texts justice, but I’m feeling a long way away from that. Perhaps this is a lull of confidence that one has whilst building up towards something that is going to finish soon. It’s a curious feeling.

No matter what happens on the day school tomorrow, I’m going to be starting my writing. I can’t carry on reading more and more, although I do feel as if I’m learning more and more. I need to figure out what my position is, and get into the texts to choose some sections to demonstrate close reading. I’ve got a rough idea of what I want to write, but the difficulty is that I don’t think it is what the module team are looking for – and I don’t really know how to get out of that rut.

I think the key in all this will be the importance of cutting, which was a significant point mentioned in our surgery.

Addendum: towards the end of the day, another resource was suggested to me; a series of podcasts by Emma Smith called Approaching Shakespeare. I’m hoping to listen to one of them, just in time for the EMA.

19 May 2025

I’m nearly done. I spent Saturday morning in the day school, and a bit of the afternoon creating an EMA document and starting writing. On Sunday, I got properly stuck in. Although I didn’t do any significant essay planning other than creating a skeleton structure within my EMA document, I did have a rough idea of what I was going to write about.

On Saturday evening, I was wracked with self-doubt and questioning. I felt as if the two texts that I had chosen wouldn’t work together and that perhaps there might have been better choices. By the time I got to Sunday evening, this had changed; I had found a way to make them complement each other – I can now see (and hopefully the examiner will see) how they are related to each other.

My next step is to leave everything for a few days, to let my thoughts settle, and then turn to the final bits of editing. I’m 200 words shy of a final word count. Although I think I know what I want to add, I’m currently too close to what I’ve written to make an objective decision about what might work more effectively. I’m looking forward to getting everything in and finishing. The EMA writing has been a bit of a roller coaster.

20 May 2025

It was nearly 3am in the morning. I had been thinking about my EMA. I had a vague notion that I should strengthen some of the points that I feel I had been implicitly trying to make in my essay. I came to the view that I needed for foreground a couple of points. In the space between wakefulness and sleep, I sent myself a sketchy email from my phone, put on the latest episode of In Our Time, which was about the development of copyright, and fell asleep on the sofa.

Yesterday evening I submitted my unedited EMA, with the view that if were I to suffer a catastrophic IT failure, something would be in the system. I have a printout of it. Either tomorrow or the day after, I’m going to do my final edits, and try to take account of the vague ideas that I’ve sent myself.

I’m really looking forward to getting this all done. I’m also looking forward to summer, my final module, and reading George Elliot.

22 May 2025

An update has gone in.

I can’t seem to leave my EMA alone. Last night I had a thought about an additional sentence I could add, which may have clarified one of the points that I was trying to make. A quick set of edits, and then a resubmission.

I dipped in and out of the ‘write now’ tutorial. I felt as if I started to overthink, and question every single sentence I had written. I should try to relax.

23 May 2025

I can’t leave it alone. I made another couple of edits and resubmissions. Mostly typographical changes; cutting a word here, adding a word there. I think I’m only going to relax when the submission day has ticked over.

Here’s a few curious numbers which I thought I would share:

My Kindle A334 category contains 84 items. This includes set texts, module materials, critical sources and secondary readings.

I have collected 43 presentations (PDFs or PowerPoints) from the various tutorials that have taken place during the course of the module. Some of these are module wide events, other are tutorials events. I can’t say for certain whether I’ve been to all of these, but I’ve certainly been to a good number of them.

I went a bit overboard with my EMA reading, downloading 33 articles which relate to the EMA question (in one way or another) and both of the set texts. There’s a huge amount of scholarship and opinion out there. A challenge that I’ve had is deciding on what I think, and trying to express it with a degree of confidence. The process of reading, and writing for the assignments is, of course, a very big bit of the learning.

The official module guidance is that students should spend around 16 hours per week on their studies (I’ve not looked this up; it might even be more, but this number is sticking in my memory for some reason). I don’t think I’ve done as much as 16 hours (I feel as if I’m experienced student), but it’s not too far from it. There were some weeks that were lighter than others.

It’s one more day closer to the end of the module.

It’s time to get back to my day job. 

29 May 2025

Well, this is it; the final day of the module presentation.

Over the last week and on long(ish) cycle rides, I’ve been trying to think about what else I could have included in my EMA. I’ve got nothing. I’ve submitted no further updates or corrections. It’s time to let it go.

How I feel about these level 3 modules is different to how I feel about level 2 modules. I was surprised at how well I did in the level 2 modules. This led me to gaining a feeling of confidence. In turn, I became thoroughly invested in wanting to do well for the level 3 modules, although they were clearly harder.

There’s one thing that I still need to focus on, and a couple of take away points that strike me as really important. 

The thing that I need to focus on is to develop a more detailed understanding of the notion of ‘an argument’ and what this means in literature essays. I understand that it means adopting a particular point of view, expressing that view, and backing it up with evidence (from texts and sources) to substantiate that view. What I’ve struggled with is the interpretation of essay titles and choosing a point of view. I don’t (yet) have the confidence to go too far from the core of the essay since I don’t want to go off topic. There’s a subtlety to all this that I haven’t yet resolved. All this might well depend on the question that is asked and how I relate to it.

Here's my couple of take away points. With English essays, whilst it is important to clearly demonstrate your understanding of texts and critics to satisfy essential learning outcomes, essay structure is even more important. How you write your essays is more important than what you say within your essays. This makes sense. After all, it’s all about communication and how you express yourself.

I’ve added ‘results day’ into my diary. I’ve started an A335 blog. I’ve also looked at what other modules I might be able to study if I don’t get the grade that I’m hoping for from this module. You see, I’m now thoroughly invested.

Many thanks to my tutor (who has been very good), the module team, and fellow A334 students (you lot on the WhatsApp group have been amazing). It’s been hard work. I feel as if I've learnt a lot.

Your TM470 project can be about pretty much anything, providing that it

• has a significant computing component, and
• allows you to draw on your earlier level studies to enable you to demonstrate and to further develop your knowledge and skills.

Drawing on a point that I share in my introductory tutorials, your project should address a non-trivial question and one that is reasonably difficult without an obvious answer; you should have a problem that needs a solution.

Projects can also be:

• Development projects – you create something.
• Research projects – you find something out.
• Evaluation projects – you do comparison, or test something out.

Typically, your project will have elements of each of these projects.

Your title that you choose should reflect the aims and objectives of your project. It should ideally suggest whether it is development, research or evaluation project. Your project title should also be concise. If it is more than ten words, you might want to think of how to simplify it. You need something that is concise, and prepares your examiner for what they will encounter.

Here are some titles of projects that have been inspired from the various projects that I have seen over the years:

• Knowledge management system for field engineers
• Web application for management of school transportation
• An app to help a restaurant to buy organic produce
• Web application for selling of art to art galleries
• An accessibility evaluation of museums in a city
• Development of a test automation framework for a company
• An app used to provide information and guidance to carers
• Financial reporting app for a market trader
• Rugby club, soccer club or cycling club management tool
• A legal case management system
• An app used to recommend reading resources to parents
• Evaluating the potential effectiveness of a new network architecture

Returning to the earlier point, your project should solve a problem that is non-trivial.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are extended to fellow tutor Karl Wilcox who inspired some of my tutorial slides, which may well have influenced this post. I now have no idea which are his words, and which are mine. I think Karl made the very useful point that your project needs to be both significant and non-trivial. These two points clearly stuck with me.

Software engineering is done by people, but what people do to build software depends on the nature of software that is to be created. The culture of individuals, technologies and organisations also plays an important role too.

At the turn of the century, there was a new idea about how to build software; something called agile development. This led to the creation of something called the Manifesto for Agile Software Development If you’re interested in software development and want to know something about what ‘agile’ means, you need to have a look at the manifesto.

I first learnt about agile through something called eXtreme Programming (Wikipedia), and then something called Scrum (Wikipedia) (Don’t use Wikipedia in your TMAs; always use official references). In my eyes, the notable characteristic about agile (or Agile; there’s a difference between small ‘a’ agile, and large ‘A’ agile) is that it is all about people. Agile (in its different forms) helps to establish rituals which can, in turn, help software engineers to talk about that ‘invisible stuff’ which is software.

I recently asked a colleague, Advait Deshpande, who was the chair of an agile practices microcredential what the latest trends were in agile software development. He was kind enough to share links to some interesting articles and resources.

Articles about agile

 Here are some review articles that might be useful to anyone who is starting to study agile:

Edison, H., Wang, X., & Conboy, K. (2021). Comparing methods for large-scale agile software development: A systematic literature review. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 48(8), 2709-2731. Available at https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9387593/

Vallon, R., da Silva Estácio, B. J., Prikladnicki, R., & Grechenig, T. (2018). Systematic literature review on agile practices in global software development. Information and Software Technology, 96, 161-180. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950584917302975

Other resources

Advait also shared the following two links, which he gives me permission to share here: UK Government: Agile delivery - Agile tools and techniques.

The notion of ‘agile’ has moved beyond software, but to business. It is important to distinguish between the two. This second link emphasises what agile might mean within a business context: Agile Business Consortium: Business Agility.

Post (or peak) agile

Once, agile was the new thing on the block. Now agile has become mainstream. An accompanying question is: have we reached post (or peak) agile? Also, what comes next? One of the criticisms of agile is that it is best suited to smaller teams, which puts a limit to how it can be applied to bigger projects. There have been several attempts to address this:

• Large scale Scrum
• Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)
• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFE)

Advait directed me to a talk that was hosted on YouTube that had a provocative title:

• Agile is Dead by Pragmatic Dave Thomas

I know Dave Thomas from a book I have on my shelf at home; a book called ‘the pragmatic programmer’ – it is a good read, and is packed filled with some very practical advice. His talk about agile is worth a watch. He presents a critical view of the ‘agile industry’ in a humorous and engaging way. It is worth a watch. He talks about the origins of the agile manifesto, as well as ‘large agile’. An important point is that when thinking about how to create software, we need to think critically too.

Reflections

When I was learning about software engineering as an undergraduate, I was introduced to something called the software development lifecycle (or SDLC). There are different models; there’s a waterfall model, a spiral model, and there was something called SSADM which bored me to hears. It was only after I graduated that I later learnt about agile in all different guises.

When I started working as a software engineer, the company that I worked for didn’t have a software development process, so we had to make one. Culture and experience are themes that can influence decisions about what is done. I was lucky enough to work with someone who had had a lot of experience, for which I was really thankful for.

We set up policies and processes. We also applied techniques that had an agile flavour, bits of pair programming, and aspects of test driven development. Our processes needed to work for both the products and the people who were developing the software. We needed to be pragmatic to get things done.

Acknowledgements

Thanks are extended to Advait Deshpande. I really appreciated the chat and all the links he shared.

One of the most useful features of Microsoft Word is its flexible style system. Using Word, your words can be written any number of fonts and font sizes. If you decided you need to change the style or size of what you have written, you have a choice: you can either change the words themselves (by selecting them and picking another font or font size), or you can change the font of the style that is used with your all your words. Knowing about Word styles can help you to work more efficiently.

When you begin writing a document, you typically write words with the ‘Normal’ style. Word also provides a set of heading styles. These heading styles are linked to a number of other bits of Word functionality. Most notably:

• The Word document navigation view, and
• The Word table of contents creation tool.

Whenever you create a heading for a section, apply a Word heading to that session. If you then open up the document navigation view (which you can find in the view menu), you will see a clickable summary of your document.

When you have edited your document, and you need a table of contents, click on the references menu, and then on the table of contents button. This button will give you a couple of options to choose from. This references menu hints at some of the more advanced features in Word, including the ability to provide cross references between sections (which avoids you from having continually figure out what the correct page number should be if you add or remove a bit of text), and a way to define entries for an index.

Further guidance

The following pages from Microsoft offer some further guidance:

• Use the Navigation pane in Word
• Insert a table of contents

A further resource that looks to be useful is this useful summary sheet from the University of Aberdeen: Working with long documents.

If you are a TM470 student, you might find the following blog article helpful: TM470 TMA and EMA template.

For my sins, I’ve found myself on four module teams; two in production (TM113, TM253) and two in presentation (TM354, and TM470). The two production modules are a part of an important new qualification the university is producing.

What follows is a set of notes I’ve made that relates to this new qualification. For the official word about the R88, my recommendation is to have a look at the R88 qualification webpage. 

Firstly, a bit of context: a full time degree is made up of 360 academic credits. The equivalent of one year of study at a brick university is 120 credits. The OU also reflects this, and has three levels of study. Degree classification scores are calculated from results from levels 2 and 3. Level 1 is about skills and knowledge development, but level 1 modules do need to be passed. All modules on this qualification are 30 credits. 

Here is a quick summary of what I know.

Level 1

TM110 Computing fundamentals 1: concepts and Python programming

This is the first module to study. It is likely to include some maths just to prepare everyone for the first maths module that follows. Unlike TM111, it makes use of a textual programming language from the outset. Different themes are interleaved with each other. There are two TMAs and an end of module TMA. 

TM113 Computing fundamentals 2: programming, databases, software engineering

The first presentation of this module is planned for October 2026. This obviously has three related components, and like TM110, the topics are interleaved with each other. This uses the same programming language as before, but uses a different programming environment: Visual Studio Code.  Like all these modules, there is a focus on skills development and employability.

TM129 Technologies in practice

This module has three ten point sections: a bit about robotics and AI, a section about virtual machines and the Linux operating system, and a bit about networking. In AI machines will, invariably need to talk with each other. Knowing something about networking is important.

MST124 Essential mathematics 1

This module is produced by the School of Maths and Stats. It builds on ideas that were introduced in TM110.

Level 2

TM253 Programming and software engineering

This new module is planned for October 2027. This picks up where TM113 left off. It is likely to introduce students to a programming language that is different from Java, and is likely to help students do understand more about software design and architecture. There is also likely to be a significant emphasis on object-oriented software (but other programming paradigms might also get mentioned).

TM258 Introduction to machine learning and artificial intelligence

This is a new module which introduces a range of different AI techniques. I know nothing more than this at the moment, but I’ll hazard a guess to say that ‘search’ is likely to be covered.

M269 Algorithms, data structures and computability

It could be argued that M269 is the most computer science of all these computer science modules. It covers the fundamentals, which means searching and sorting.

M249 Practical modern statistics

Stats is important within machine learning (as well as computer science). The module description says that it covers “time series, multivariate analysis, and Bayesian statistics”. 

Level 3

TM342 Investigating intelligence and ethics

As a postgrad student, I studied a module that had the title ‘natural and artificial intelligence’ that was led by the school of psychology. It was a subject that I really enjoyed. I’m looking forward to learning more about what is going to be covered in this module.

TM343 Artificial intelligence in practice

I don’t know anything about this module, other than I know it is going to be hands on, and may well cover the subject of natural language processing (in some way or another).

TM358 Machine learning and artificial intelligence

This is an existing module which is a part of the BSc (Honours) Data Science qualification. The module description says: “you’ll learn about various machine learning techniques but concentrate on deep neural learning”. In other words, neural networks.

TM470 The computing and IT project

This is what is called a capstone module. Students who take this programme are required to complete a project that is likely to have an AI flavour to it. This is also one of the modules that I tutor. I’ve written quite a few articles about TM470 in this blog.

Other qualifications

There are a number of other related qualifications which are worth knowing about:

• Q62 BSc (Honours) Computing & IT
• Q67 BSc (Honours) Computing & IT and a second subject
• R60 BSc (Honours) Cyber Security
• R38 BSc (Honours) Data Science

Reflections

It’s really exciting to be working on the software engineering bit of two new modules. 

In some ways, this takes me back to my undergraduate days where I studied computer science. On the programme, there was a single AI module (which was a third year module) which I quite enjoyed. Things have, of course, moved on a huge amount; there are new techniques and new technologies. I was only taught about symbolic AI, and nothing about statistical approaches. I only came across neural networks as a postgraduate student in the mid-1990s.

It is interesting to see how mathematics is introduced in this programme. It begins slowly with material in TM110. This reflects my own experience as an undergrad. I never studied maths at A or AS level, so I went to a ‘gentle start’ class. This led onto a 'discrete mathematics' class, which could be termed ‘bits of maths that could be useful for those studying computer science’. I didn’t like it much. To this day I remember proofs, matrices (which is useful for computer graphics), and a lot of probability (lots of questions about playing cards). The equivalent of my discrete maths class is, of course, MST124. Given the importance of statistics in machine learning, there is then M249. 

It’s also important to reflect that software engineering has changed since I studied it. Computing is now everywhere, and that is a characteristic that makes it such an interesting subject. It is in your devices, in your appliances, and in the cloud. A personal objective is to work with others to create materials that not only give the materials industrial relevance, but also to share with students what it means to study software engineering as an academic subject.

Looking back to my time as an undergraduate, one of the modules that I recognise most clearly in M269, the data structures and algorithms module. Some fundamentals never change. What does change is how they are used, and how they are realised. I remember reciting Dijkstra’s algorithm in an exam, just as if it were an ode. I also remember getting a bit baffled by the big O notation, which features in M269.

One of the areas that I know I’m weak on is statistics. When I’m through studying my current module, I may well find my way back to maths.

Disclaimers

This qualification (along with all the others) is subject to change and development.

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements are due to the School of Computing and Communications directors of teaching who have played an important role is establishing this new qualification.

TM470 is different to other computing and IT modules. The most significant differences is that the aim of the project module is to show off your skills and abilities, and build on what you have studied in earlier modules.

The module team have introduced some changes at the start of the February 2025 presentation. One of their really welcome changes is that they have now introduced a recommended ‘draft structure’ for each of the assignments. Interestingly, this template can also be applied to everyone’s EMA submissions too. 

A notable difference between TM470 and other modules is that all assignments assess all the learning outcomes from the module, but at a different level of intensity.

What follows is my own version of the module team’s TM470 TMA and EMA template, and continues from an earlier blog post entitled TM470 Project report structure. Some of the sections outlines here will, of course, be more appropriate in some TMAs rather than others. In the early TMAs, some of the sections will not have very much in them. All project reports should have a similar structure, but they will differ substantially in terms of content. Every project will have a different ‘project work’ section, which will have a structure that will reflect the tasks identified in your project plan.

I do ask everyone to number each top level section, other than the opening table of contents and the closing summary of references. The reason for this is that numbering makes it easy to provide cross references between each of the sections without having to write too many words.

Before summarising the suggested structure, I have three tips for students:

1. Ensure that your report is as readable as possible (but do make sure it remains a formal report). The project marker may be unfamiliar with the subject that you are writing about. Take time to set the scene and explain concepts that may be unfamiliar to a reader.

2. Do have a look through the OU Skills for Study resources (OU website). In particular, I’m a fan of The Good Study Guide which you can find through the OU study booklets page (OU website). The Good Study Guide offers some really helpful advice about researching and writing.

3. Think of the project report as a ‘technical narrative’, or a ‘technical story’. It is also a story that can contain other narratives. There is a story about your planning, a story about your reading, a story about what has been done, and what has been learnt. Make your technical story as interesting as you can.

Onto my suggested structure (which has been developed from official guidance from the module team). Within the structure, I also highlight how each section relates to each of the module learning outcomes:

Project Title

Begin with a title page where you give your project a short and descriptive title. A good rule is: no more than 10 words, but ideally around 6. Present the title in the Word Title Heading style. Underneath the title, do leave your name and your student number.

This first page links to the following learning outcome:

LO2 (Project Goals) Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.

Contents

The next page should share a table of contents. Don’t spent the time creating one by hand; get Word to create one for you. You can do this by using the Word in built header styles to indicate the start of every section and subsection. You can then create a table of contents by pressing on the table of contents button that is located within the references menu. (The exact location of this feature may vary depending on the version of Word that you’re using). In addition to being able to create a table of contents page, using the Word in built headings also enables you to use the document navigation tool, which can be really useful when your project gets larger and more complicated.

A well structured table of contents relates to the following learning outcome:

LO7 (Communication) Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions clearly.

1. Introduction

In this first opening section of your report, write a really short introduction to the whole of your project. Try to summarise it in a couple of sentences. Then, provide the reader with a pointer towards what they can expect to see in the next sections. This will ‘prime’ them for what is coming up in the next section. You might also want to allude to what you have achieved, but don’t tell them everything; this is presented in the next sections. 

Although this section is the first section the examiner will read, this will be perhaps one of the last sections you will write. When you’ve finished writing your project, it is a good idea to loop back to make sure it continues to reflect the aims and objectives of your project.

This section speaks to the following learning outcome:

LO2 (Project Goals) Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.

2. Problem description

In this section, go into a bit more detail about what your project. You might want to explain a bit more about the project context or setting. Background information will help the EMA examiner to understand what your project is all about. In some ways, think of the opening sections of the report as a ‘spiral’, where you gradually lead the examiner towards the detail of what you’ve done. In some way, you’re teaching the reader about your project.

LO2 (Project Goals) Identify and refine the goals and content of your project which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable.

3. Planning and resources

The module team section call this section Resources and Planning. I personally feel that it reads better if it is the other way round. My motivation for this is that before you use something (your resource), you need to know what you’re going to be doing with it (your plan). Admittedly, this heading does break my implicit rule of including an ‘and’ into heading titles, which I really hate (an ‘and’ almost suggests that there needs to be more than one heading), but it does relates to two learning outcomes, which are:

LO3 (Determining resources, skills and activities needed) Identify, list and justify the resources, skills and activities needed to carry out the project successfully. Identify and address any associated risks.

LO9 (Planning and organising work) Plan and organise your project work appropriately, and keep systematic records of plans, progress and outcomes.

In the previous section, you’ve told the examiner what you’re going to do. This section is all about how you’re going to do it. Since sharing detail about your project plan is important, it is a good idea to split this section into a number of subheadings.

3.1 Project Model

A suggestion is to begin by telling the examiner about the project model you’ve chosen. Do have a look at the module materials about this, and what this means. In other words, you could use this section to summarise the project planning approach that you have chosen. A good approach is to present a table to show that you have thought about the various advantages and disadvantages of each of the different approaches, concluding with a decision about which module you have chosen, and why it has been chosen.

3.X Resources, skills, activities, risks, plan…

What might follow is a series of subsections about resources that you need, skills, potential risks to the project, and also something about this high level plans. Do say something about what you’re going to be doing, and also what tools you might have used to decide on what you’re going to be doing and when.

What I always like to see is a list of resources that are needed or will be used, a very high level list of activities (perhaps presented in the form of a table), another table that considers the risks to your project, and then a detailed Gantt chart. The structure of your Gantt chart should reflect your project model. If you use an iterative approach, this should be visible within the structure of your plan.

4. LSEPI and EDI

Legal Social Ethical and Professional Issues (LSEPI) and Equality Diversity and Inclusion are important in TM470. As future Computing and IT professionals, it is important to be mindful about the impact of a project or development on wider society, and any implications it might have. Also, if a project involves working with people to uncover requirements, it is important that you treat everyone in an ethical way. The module team offers a bit of guidance about this topic, but for further inspiration it might be a good idea to have a quick look through the British Computer Society Code of Conduct  (BCS website). The Association of Computing Machinery code of ethics also offers some helpful principles.

EDI is intrinsically connected to LSEPI. If you’re developing an app or a software system, you need to consider its users. This might mean making it as accessible as possible for users of assistive technologies, for example. There is a link here to UK legislation, such as the equality act.

I’ve historically recommended that LSEPI and EDI sections are presented early on in the project report. I’ve even been recommending that it should occur before the literature review section (which follows), but I accept this might well be a moot point. My argument is: if significant LSEPI and EDI issues that relate to your project, you need to read about them properly, which means adding to your literature review. Adding them on the end does make it feel as if they are a bit of an afterthought, but I know that certainly isn’t the intention.

Here's the learning outcome for this section:

LO10 (LSEPI & EDI) Identify and address the legal, social, ethical and professional issues (LSEPIs) and the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) concerns that may arise during the development and use of computing and IT systems. Include project approval form as Appendix 1.

5. Literature Review

The project team call this section ‘Account of Related Literature’. I prefer the simpler ‘literature review’.

This section is all about showing the examiner what you have read or studied, and how this has influenced the project work that have done. There are different ways to structure a literature review. Two ways are: by theme, or by time. In other words, by the subjects that you have read about, or the order in which you have read things. I always prefer thematic literature reviews since they enable the writer to adopt a more critical approach. This means you can more directly and easily compare and contrast different opinions from different sources.

In this section, do try to reference as widely as possible. Do take the time to reference other modules you have studied (including textbooks and module blocks), any technical textbooks you might be using in the next section, and also do a bit of digging into the OU library (which all students have access to).

Fellow tutors have offered the following guidance: “show you understand the importance of a source; show you recognize the limitations of your sources; show how the literature has influenced the direction of the project and informed your thinking, and show how the literature has justified decisions”.

Here are the learning outcomes that are demonstrated in this section:

LO4 (Gathering, analysing and evaluating information) Gather, analyse and evaluate relevant information to complete the project successfully.

LO6 (Making effective use of information) Make effective use of a variety of information sources including the internet, demonstrating awareness of the credibility of the source.

6. Project Work

I used to call this section ‘account of project work’, but I think a heading with two words is better.

This is one of the most important sections of the report. It shows the examiner what you have done during the course of your project. It should ideally be a series of case studies that presents a narrative (story) of what you have done, and should relate back to the plan that you have described. To structure everything, it is a good idea to separate everything out into a series of subheadings; one for each mini case study.

Drawing on comments from fellow TM470 tutors, the examiner needs to get a feel for the project as a whole, the solution you created, and whether you solved the problem. Importantly, this section should demonstrate your technical and presentation skills, and should be concise.

If you have a project where you have generated a lot of materials, such as interview scripts, survey results, source code, or diagrams, you need to make a choice about what goes in this section, and what you choose to put in an appendix. One way to answer this question is to ask yourself: is this an example of my best work? If so, put something in this section.

Again, here are the learning outcomes:

LO1 (Understanding Technical Concepts) Demonstrate and apply a systematic understanding of the fundamental technical concepts and principles relevant to your project.

LO11 (Analysing and solving a practical problem) Analyse a practical problem and devise and implement a solution which should be within the area of your chosen specialist route, if applicable, building on, and extending, the knowledge and skills developed throughout your earlier OU studies and experience.

7. Review and Reflection

I think the module team call this heading ‘personal development’ which feels a bit general for what it is. 

By the time you get to this section, you would have prepared a plan, have done some research, and have carried out some project work. This section is all about telling the examiner what you have learnt from the experience of running your project. 

To help you to begin to answer this question, think of those “WH” questions: what, how, when, and why? Ask yourself the following questions: Did you follow your plan? Did you learn the right thing, and the right time, to solve the right problem? How did what you learn help or hinder your project? Also, how did you expand on your level 3 studies?

The more thoughtful your review and reflection section appears, and the more that you appear to have learnt by completing the project, the more evidence there will be that you have obtained some of the TM470 learning outcomes.

LO5 (Critically reviewing approach so far) Critically review how you have tackled the project.

LO8 (Learning Independently) Learn independently and reflect on what has been done, with a view to improving skills and knowledge.

8. Summary

I’ve received a query from a student who was asking what was supposed to go in the epilogue. Rather than an epilogue, I recommend that students to write a short summary. A suggestion is: offer a reminder about what the project was all about, what project model was chosen, summarise what has achieved, and then to share three things that have been learnt by completing the project. Your final summary should mirror the introduction section.

This short final section speaks to the project goal learning outcome, the outcomes which relate to technical work, and the review and independent learning outcomes.

References

In academic reports, there is always a references section, but sometimes there can also be a bibliography. I understand that a bibliography is ‘stuff that has been read that have more generally informed the project’. Being vaguer isn’t necessarily helpful when it comes to good academic practice. My recommendation is to ditch a bibliography section, and only have a references section. A references section should present what resources you use.

Clear referencing is really important. One of the aims of this section is to enable the examiner to find an original source, report, textbook, or anything else that has helped you with your project. A useful principle that I’ve heard is ‘anything in the world can be referenced one way or other’. If you’ve used a tip that you’ve found on a website, a bit of software, or an idea from a module, you should reference it.

Make sure that you present everything in alphabetical order, and mention dates of publication. If you’re unsure how to format any resource, book, paper, technical report, or bit of software, do refer to the CiteThemRight website.

Appendix 1 - Project Ethics Checklist

Every project should have an appendix 1 section, which is a copy of an email sent to your tutor that gives ethical approval for your project. A recommendation is to copy/paste the email into this section. The simplest approach to sharing it is probably the best.

If the aim of your project changes, part way through your project, you should always submit a new ethics form. You should include the latest approval email you have received, but you might also want to share earlier versions if it is appropriate to do so. This relates to LO10, which is all about LSEPI and EDI.

Appendix 2 - Project Log

When working on your project, I recommend that all students create a project log. This could take different forms. It could be notes saved in a Word document, notes in an actual paper based notebook, or it could be an email summary sent to your tutor every couple of weeks; these emails could be combined together to form a log of all the work that you have been carrying out. Providing this appendix gives further evidence to support your achievement of LO5. Plus, you can refer to your log in your reflection section.

Appendix 3 - Original Gantt chart

As you make progress on your project, a recommendation is to regularly review your project Gantt chart. It is likely it will change; some of the risks that you have previously written about may (or may not) have materialised, and you may have to adjust your schedule. To help with your reflections, a strong recommendation is to keep a copy of your original Gantt, which you can share as an appendix in your final report. Sharing two Gantt charts will give you something to talk about in your reflection and summary sections. Providing this appendix provides further evidence to support LO5 and LO9. 

Further Appendices

A project report can have any number of appendices in addition to the three that are suggested. You can use an appendix to share supplementary materials to help the examiner to get a feel for what you’ve done during the course of your project. 

There are no hard and fast rules about how many appendices you should have since every project is different. You might use them to show excerpts of source code, diagrams, consent forms, and data that you might have collected during the course of your project. Whatever works best for you. You should, however, always reference each appendix from within the body of the report, just to make the examiner aware that this may be an important part of your report.

Although you must try to limit your project report to 10k words, there is no limit to how many additional words you can provide within the appendices (but the module team does encourage everyone to be reasonable).

Give your appendices a letter, as well as a title. The letter is for cross referencing. The title is, of course, for the reader.

Final points

All these sections of your project report address a really important learning outcome, which is:

LO7 (Communication) Communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions clearly.

When it comes to writing your project report, a really important tip is: make it an interesting read. Whilst this will not, on its own, lead to a higher EMA score, an interesting and readable EMA will help the examiner to relate all the learning outcomes to your submission. 

Acknowledgements

You can include an acknowledgement section in your project report, along with a glossary if you feel it is appropriate to do so. In this post, I would also like to acknowledge Alexis Lansbury, TM470 module team chair, and fellow TM470 tutors for their help and advice.

1 January 2025

It’s been a lazy day today. 2024 has been thoroughly rubbish, so I went to bed early, and I woke up with a clear head.

I’ve worked through all the audio and visual resources for Week 14, which relates to the Arabian Nights’. It was interesting to hear that there were also some references to Montague, which I think is the next week.

I’ve been busy reading Aladdin, and I think I’m nearly through to the end. There’s a lot going on. The more that I read, the more uncertain I am about the direction my TMA 3 is going to take.

13 January 2025

I’m in my second week after getting back to work, and I feel as if I’m getting behind again. Last Tuesday there was an interesting tutorial about the poetry section, which I quite enjoyed. A bit of the tutorial introduced us all to the TMA questions. I’m now increasingly certain about which option I’m going to choose.

There’s a couple of things I need to do. I need to finish Aladdin (I took it to a medical appointment, but I ended up reading Grazia magazine), watch Tartuffe on iPlayer (as recommended by my tutor), and start to read The Turkish Embassy Letters. There has been some interesting chat in the WhatsApp group about this text.

One other thing I’ve done is begin to listen to Gulliver’s Travels whilst on a long drive (which is available on BBC Sounds). I did try to begin to listen to Sense and Sensibility on the same journey, but I had paused my Audible subscription. Even if you’ve downloaded an audio book, you can only play if back if you have life subscription. An annoying ‘feature’.

It looks like the BBC iPlayer version of Tartuffe lasts for about two hours. I’m going to put the kettle on and give that a go.

18 January 2025

There have been a round of tutorials over the last couple of days. There were three tutorials, back to back, with a break for lunch. I’m guessing that the structure reflects what would have taken place had there been a face-to-face day school. I’ve also noticed that there’s another tutorial that has been recorded, which I need to listen to.

The tutorials have covered some of the texts that are the focus of TMA 3. I’m still not sure exactly sure which direction I’ll jump. My tutor shared a point that had already occurred to me, that some of the texts more directly align to one of the questions rather than the other. I’m waiting until I’ve got to the later texts that are in the current part of block 2.

One bit of the tutorial that was especially helpful was the section on independent study, which relates to TMA 4. My working assumption is that we pick up on some of the texts that we haven’t chosen for TMA 3. A range of different independent study options were highlighted to us: some further stories from the Arabian nights, or some more plays by Moliere. I’m far from close to deciding which way to go, in part since I’ve not done very much this month; I’ve been really busy in my day job.

The other night I got back to Aladdin, but didn’t get very far. What I did discover was that I only have ten pages to go, which admittedly isn’t too many pages. After I’ve got to the end, I’m going to jump to The Turkish Embassy Letters, after making sure I know what bit of the text to focus on. I’m not sure whether jumping about is the best strategy, but I do feel that I need to study strategically.

19 January 2025

I’ve finally finished Aladdin! In the end, I quite liked the story, but I did raise a critical modern eyebrow about how some of the characters were depicted. The whole text has got me thinking about the role of stories, and how similar stories appear in different contexts and cultures.

After Aladdin, I went to the module materials and briefly read up to chapter 6, which was about Gulliver’s Travels, which I read over the summer. I do need to reread what I’ve gone through today, since there’s a lot in the detail that I need to properly take in. The material about the political situation in the 18th century is interesting.

A couple of notes to self: I need to have a good look at the audio and video materials that relate to Gulliver’s Travels. I might even get onto doing that today if I get through a bit of ‘day job’ work. I also need to look at the suggested independent study options, to see what I want to do.

23 January 2025

I’ve been to another tutorial which focussed on the independent study materials. I need to have a good look through all the different options and figure out what I want to do, since that will make up an important part of TMA 4. I need to refer to my notes - there is also a question of figuring out what bit of independent study may have changed my perspective.

I had a good listen to the Gulliver’s Travels audio book whilst doing a lot of driving. Maybe I’ve mentioned it before; this was one of the few texts I managed to read over the summer. I’m finding that I’m really starting to enjoy the text (if you can call an audio book a text). Reflecting on the previous module, there’s clearly a link between Gulliver’s Travels and Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed. By the time I get home from my own travels, I might be able to navigate myself across Gulliver’s.

Whilst chatting on WhatsApp, a fellow student mentioned something called York Notes. Although I had never heard of them before, I recognised some of the book covers from my times browsing bookstores. Knowing that I’m going to struggle with TMA 5, I ordered a couple of second hand copies from eBay. I know this is taking me away from my course texts, but I do feel as if I need as much help as I can get.

When I’ve finished reading the module materials about Gulliver’s Travels, it is then onto the bit about The Turkish Embassy Letters. I’ve got a load of reading to do.

30 January 2025

I’ve still not finished reading the module materials about Gulliver’s Travels, or have started The Turkish Embassy letters. I have, however, read a set of York notes. Reading these notes took me back to a time when I was studying from my literature GCSE. It was a curious time, where I had an increasing realisation that I enjoyed studying English lit. It was also a time when I didn’t really know what was going to do for the rest of my life. The notes took me to quite a reflective place.

A couple of nights ago, I went to a tutorial about the Arabian Nights, which was facilitated by a member of the module team. We focussed on literary technique, and had a look at a couple of passages, practicing our close reading skills. I quite enjoyed the tutorial, but it did help me to make my mind up that I’m probably not going to use that text for either my TMA 3 or TMA 4.

I also spent a bit of time going through the TMA feedback I received. There were some really helpful points, particularly about where to focus my writing.

I now have more of a sense of what it means to be an English Literature student, but I still feel I have quite a restricted way of thinking about the texts we’re studying. I feel as if need to begin to look at the texts in a different or more creative way; in a way that I’m not yet doing. I feel as if I need to get away from an ‘engineering’ way of looking at what we’re studying. I feel that I’m doing okay, but not as well as I feel I could be. I’m hoping for a ‘penny drop’ moment, but I’m unsure about how to speed that up.

To procrastinate a bit more, I’m going to see if there are any audio or video materials about Gulliver’s Travels and the letters on the module website, and then I’m going to go back to my day job. I’ve a lot to do.

In an earlier blog article, I described the structure of an undergraduate honours degree in terms of academic credits (or points). Degrees are organised into modules, and modules attract credit. To gain a degree you need 360 credits.

I am sometimes asked the following question: ‘is a degree from a brick university the same as a degree from the OU?’ The answer is, ‘of course it is’. A related question is, of course, ‘who defines what goes into a degree that makes them the same?’ 

This is where the QAA comes in. QAA, an abbreviation for the Quality Assurance Agency (for Higher Education) is a government quango (a quasi-non-governmental organisation) that defines what goes into a degree. Academics who are writing and delivering modules, and external examiners who help to maintain academic standards all need to know about QAA Benchmark Statements.

Here’s a definition of what they are, taken from the QAA website: “Subject Benchmark Statements describe the nature of study and the benchmark academic standards expected of graduates in specific subject areas, and in respect of particular qualifications. They provide a picture of what graduates in a particular subject might reasonably be expected to know, do and understand at the end of their course or programme.”

What follows is a mild ‘deep dive’ into a couple of subjects: Computing (which I’m involved with teaching), and English Literature (which I’m currently studying). If you are not interested in either of these, you can still find your own subject by having a rummage through the QAA website. An interesting activity would be to see how the learning outcomes for the module that you are tutoring are expressed on the QAA website.

I begin with computing, looking at computer science. I then move to look at Artificial Intelligent (AI) and then software engineering (which is a module I have some responsibility for), before looking at any accompanying QAA guidance that relates to project modules. This is followed by a contrasting look at English. I conclude with some reflections. To give you a good idea of what is contained within the QAA materials, I’m taking liberty of quoting extensively.

Computing

The QAA Computing benchmark statements are presented in two documents: a summary document (the basics), and a more detailed subject statement. At the time of writing, both documents were dated March 2022.

I began by looking at ‘the basics’ document. The purpose of a computing degree is to gives students “the opportunity to explore creative and dynamic technologies” and to “improve their employment prospects in a rapidly evolving global digital skills economy” (p.3). I was also drawn to a comment about assessment, which includes varied methods that are accessible to all students. Assessments should be authentic and tied to real-world contexts and constraints, allowing students to practically demonstrate the skills they have developed” (p.2).

Turning to the larger document, IEEE and ACM computing curricula (1.2, p.3). Before digging to the ACM curriculum and important subtopics within computing, below is a summary of points from the first three sections of the statement that struck me as being interesting and important. 

• Sustainability is to be addressed throughout the curriculum. The curriculum should make students aware of ‘the resource consumption of massive data centres used for cloud computing, and more generally, the environmental costs of both building hardware to support computing and disposing of electronic waste’ (1.16, p.6).
• On the topic ‘content, structure and delivery’, ‘educators should consider the balance between subject-specific and transferable skills development between educational and workforce requirements as courses are developed and maintained’ (3.4., p.15). In other words, learning activities should help students to develop skills that are useful in the workplace.
• On the topic of pedagogy, ‘teaching should encourage students to reflect, evaluate, select, justify, communicate and be innovative in their problem-solving; and prepare them to become adaptable independent learners throughout their lifelong learner-earner journey.’ (3.9, p.16)
• On the topic of defining what is to be learnt, computing ‘curriculum will define the knowledge students will gain and the course learning outcomes indicate the areas in which graduates will have knowledge competence or capability.’ (3.12, p.17)
• Computing is also a practical subject: ‘[t]he hardware and software resources available should facilitate a practical approach to the delivery of the course’ (3.13, p.17). 

Section 4 of the document summarises the benchmark standards, which are divided into the following areas: subject knowledge, understanding and skills, intellectual skills, computational problem solving, practical skills across the computing lifecycle, interpersonal and team working, and professional practice. The professional practice topic includes the importance of working with a legal and ethical framework, understanding the important of equality, diversity and inclusion, and sustainability.

Three levels of attainment are outlined: threshold (students must demonstrate a requisite understanding to get a pass), typical (students should demonstrate a sound understanding), excellent (students are to show an exceptional understanding, showing an ability to be creative and innovative).

Curricula summaries

Appendix 3 of the benchmark statement shares some further guidance about what should go in computer science degrees. Educators should be aware of the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery) curricula recommendations. From here, it is possible to find your way to a digital book, Computer Science Curricula 2023 by Kumar et al. (2023) which was published in January 2024. It is useful to note that the document summarises ‘core’ and ‘non-core’ subjects. 

There are connections between the subject of computing and related named degrees, such as artificial intelligence and software engineering, which are sketched below. This is followed by a brief summary about the importance and significance of project work.

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) can be a named degree, but the QAA does not publish its own benchmark statement that is specific to AI. Instead, at the time of writing, it falls under the subject of computing. 

In the ACM 2023 Computer Science curriculum, AI is covered from pages 65 to 86. Two notable points summarise some recent changes: ‘importance of understanding and assessing the broader societal impacts and implications of AI methods and applications, including issues in AI ethics, fairness, trust, and explainability’ and ‘there are explicit goals to develop basic AI literacy and critical thinking in every computer science student’ (p.66).

Important AI topics include searching (for solutions), the use of heuristics, knowledge representation, machine learning, applications and (as mentioned) the societal impact of AI. Machine learning is a significant topic since it can relate to different approaches, and highlights the importance of working with data. Other areas (which are currently considered non-core) includes natural language processing, robotics, and computer vision.

Software engineering

Software engineering, like AI, can be a named degree. Appendix 3 of the QAA benchmark standard (p.34), contains a useful summary of software engineering, suggesting that students need to understand:

• problem definition, specification (including formal specification), design, implementation (including debugging) and maintenance, software testing, change management and documentation;
• cybersecurity, including information security, and safety-critical systems;
• understanding risk, reliability and scalability of the range of possible options and an appreciation of design trade-offs.  (QAA Computing Subject Benchmark Statement, 2022, p.34)

ACM offers some specific guidance about Software engineering courses, specifically SE2014 Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Software Engineering. In the recent 2023 ACM curriculum book software engineering is covered on pages 237 to 254. Topics that courses should cover includes teamwork, tools, requirements (functional and non-function, which can include sustainability), design, software construction, software refactoring, software reliability, and formal methods. It is interesting to note that formal methods has now been relegated to being a ‘non-core’ subject, which reflects both current trends and practices.

Another source of guidance for educators is something called the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge, which is also known as the SWEBOK. The most recent version, SWEBOK V4 was made available towards the end of 2024

Computing projects

When I was an undergraduate in computing in the 1990s, I had to do a computing project towards the end of my degree. The OU’s named Computing degree is formally accredited by the British Computer Society (BCS). This means that students must complete a project to gain a specific named degree.

The QAA benchmark guidance offers comments on the notion of a project in paragraph 3.19: “[c]omputing courses often conclude with a capstone activity, which brings together knowledge and practical and analytical skills that learners have developed throughout the course. This may take the form of a traditional project or end-point assessment, but other formats can be appropriate, whether research or practice-led” (p.18). Students who are studying on degree apprentices will work on a project that integrates together professional practice and independent study. 

The 2023 ACM curriculum book also offers a bit of guidance about projects, suggesting that ‘many of the fundamental topics of software engineering are best experienced in a hands-on fashion’ (p.238) whilst also emphasising the importance of feedback.

English Literature

The QAA benchmark standard for English was published in 2023

It shares the following characteristics of an English degree:

• 'English involves the study of language, literature and the practice of creative writing’ (p.3)
• ‘The study of language, of literary and cultural works, and the production of critical and creative work, enable students to interpret and interrogate past and present cultures, to anticipate their future transformations, and to enhance their ability to understand themselves, other people and our shared world.’ (p.3)
• English graduates should be able to: read critically, analyse texts, reflect critically, develop persuasive interpretations, articulate an understanding of complex texts, communicate, and apply a scholarly approach.

Just like the computing benchmark standards, there are three levels: threshold, typical, and excellent (p.14). To gain a pass, students must meet the threshold level. The benchmark is split into categories: generic skills; subject knowledge; understanding of EDI (equality, diversity and inclusion), access, sustainability and entrepreneurship.

Subject the subject knowledge is understandably quite descriptive, highlighting the importance of close reading of texts, helping students appreciate that different texts can carry multiple meanings, help students to understand the ‘rhetorical properties of texts’ (p.16), including pre-1800 texts, and how culture of the time would have influenced the production of texts. 

When looking through the benchmark standard, the following struck me as both interesting and important:

• ‘English courses often link literature, language or creative practice to sustainability and environmental challenges through exploring the relationship between humans and the natural environment across different periods and discourses, and between different modes and genres of writing. Ecocriticism places the environment at the centre of its interpretative focus.’ (1.15, p.5)
• ‘Creativity is fundamental to all aspects of English. Students of English demonstrate open-mindedness, initiative and independent thinking, as well as abilities in innovation, problem-solving and solution finding.’ (1.21, p.6)
• ‘The subject of English enhances the critical and analytic thinking that is crucial for enterprise and entrepreneurship, by encouraging curiosity, questioning, observation, pattern recognition, and problem identification.’ (1.22, p.6)

Unlike the computing subject benchmarks, there are no detailed appendices that provide pointers to other curriculum summaries.

Reflections

This has become more than a ‘quick’ look at QAA. To prepare this blog, I actually had about three goes of looking through it and reflecting on it before compiling this post.

There are some clear similarities and differences between the computing and English standards. Beginning with computing, I felt the QAA guidance tries to offer a balance of providing sufficient detail to be useful, whilst at the same time offering pointers to organisations which are able to offer a more comprehensive summary of the state of the curriculum in a fast moving field.

I was struck by the extent to which sustainability was emphasised, and I was impressed that it provided pointers toward helpful papers. When digging further into the computing curricula reports, I was struck that computing history is considered to be non-core. Computing clearly has an history, and understanding of how things are they way they are is important to understanding computing practices and tools.

Turning to English, the benchmark statement felt more complete, but I don’t think that should come as a surprise. It was striking was that nothing was mentioned about the canon; texts that are broadly recognised as being significant and worthy of study. This said, the standard wasn’t specific to English literature. This begs the question: do English academics have more of a free reign to choose texts? I have heard of instances where lecturers and students have worked together to study texts that they themselves identify as important.

There are clear points of similarity. There is the importance of skills, knowledge and critical thinking. Both subjects emphasise the importance of academic practice; what it means to study the respective subjects at a degree level.

It is interesting to see close reading emphasised in the English benchmark; it is certainly emphasised within the modules that I have been studying. Computing students have to do close reading too. Rather than analysing novels and poems, computing students need to analyse code. Code has, of course, two audiences: the machine, and software engineers working within the culture in which the software exists. There’s another important similarity, which is perhaps emphasised more in the English degree than it is in the computing degree: the importance of creativity. To get things done, computing students need to study a range of sources (different software components) and combine them together in creative ways.

So, what have I learnt from all this? I now know that the benchmark standards have a consistent structure, and I’ve given myself even more curriculum guidance to look through. I’m going to assume that’s a good thing.

Acknowledgements

I have drawn on the QAA subject benchmarks statements extensively in this post. They are worth spending a bit of time looking at. This article has been written as a part of an eSTEeM project about tutor practice.

I’ve had to read quite a few plays during my study of A334 English literature from Shakespeare to Austen I have found that some plays are easier to read than others; it really does depend on how much I know something about them.

One play I’ve enjoyed reading is Hamlet. To help with my study of the text, I tried an experiment. Could I get an AI chat bot to read Hamlet with me? After a conversation with a friend, I tried Pi, a general purpose chatbot.

We’ve been studying the Arden edition of Hamlet, which is an annotated version of the Q2 edition (if you know about these things). To keep things simple, I focussed on the very start of the play, where Barnardo and Francisco have a chat about keeping watch.

Using my mobile phone and a headset, I told Pi that I would play the role of Barnardo, and that Pi (who I configured to have a male voice) should play the role of Francisco. Pi insisted on saying ‘Francisco says…’, which was really annoying. After a bit of persuasion, Pi agreed just to immediately move onto the next line in the text after I had finished my line.

Although I was initially hopeful that I could have a cool digital performance buddy, things fell apart very quickly; ‘Francisco’ began to say lines that were not in the Q2 edition. Responding to this, I patiently explained which edition I was using, and Pi said something like, ‘okay, I understand, I’ll use the Q2 edition’.

We started again… and it all fell apart. Pi started to speak the wrong lines again.

Knowing that AI models have drawn on resources such as Project Guttenberg, I tried it out on a different play, using a version that we could both have access to: the Project Guttenberg version of Julius Caesar. Out of curiosity, I asked it to speak Mark Antony’s famous speech about Brutus being an honest man.

My reason for asking this was simple: perhaps Pi could be a helpful accessibility tool, and may help me to work through passages of bits of texts that I might have trouble with.

Pi refused. It didn’t want to read the speech for me. It told me that it wasn’t designed to help me in that way.

All this messing about with AI chatbots does beg some interesting questions. To what extent could it be possible to create a digital tool to help with the performance of play texts? I didn’t get too far with the use of a general purpose AI chat bot. My guess is that it would be better to tool that is specific to the problem. I have in my mind something where you could give different voices to different roles. Alternatively, the tool could play real recorded human voices too.

My questions are: what bits of technology could help to do this? There are speech recognition APIs and speech generation APIs. How might it be possible to create the middle bit? How could the idea of virtual actors be used in live performance, or to help to prepare for live performance?

I'm pretty sure there must be something like a text annotation language, to specify how a fragment of text should be read, i.e. whether something should be read slowly, or quickly, or in a friendly tone, or in an angry hurried manner.

Collaborators welcome.