Student Interview with David C. of Australia. Some Thoughts and Experiences from a Newly-Enrolled April-Cohort Student

Hello there, /r/UniversityOfLondonCS!

Today I bring to you an interview, with David C. of Australia! Hailing from sunny Sydney, David is a 40 year old technology professional with a degree in Digital Electronics and Telecommunications. He’s an April-cohort student in the process of finishing up his first semester, taking a course-load of Computational Mathematics, Algorithms and Datastructures 1, Fundamentals of Computer Science, and Introduction to Programming 1. David has kindly volunteered his time for a virtual interview. I sent him a list of questions, and here are his replies.

What led you to enrol in the University of London’s distance-learning BSc?

The University of London has a great reputation internationally and their Bachelor’s of Science in Computer Science programme curriculum is fantastic. Because of my life, work, and travel commitments, I had to choose a University that would allow me to follow the academic life 24/7 from anywhere in the world. The fact that the University of London uses Coursera to deliver their content was definitely a plus because I know that platform very well and used it intensively to attend some other courses and certification programmes. It is just amazing that today knowledge and even Uni programmes are so accessible online. Consider that my first degree is in Digital Electronics and Telecommunications, and I have been working in IT for more than 20 years. When I went to college, there were not many CS-specific college programmes around. Studying CS at UoL is like a dream come true for me.

What is your feedback about the classes so far? Was it too easy? Too hard?

Their quality and industry relevance are very good, up to date, and their difficulty level is about right. We also should put things into perspective. Even though online learning has been around for a couple of decades now, many universities are still converging from a classic academic educational approach, to a more connected, digital and multi-channel one. We have to recognise UoL’s role as a pioneer in their convergence to online learning. That type of digital transformation is never easy and quick to achieve and there will be always room for improvement if you want to remain relevant in the market.

What do you think about the midterms? Did they help you master the material?

When I started working on them, I realised how important it was for me to go through that process of content review and knowledge check. It did help me refresh and master the content. I wish we can do something similar before the end of the semester or final exams. This semester I took four modules, hence the midterms were quite challenging, but their difficulty level was fair I think.

What do you think about the student community on Slack?

I am glad about the level of collaboration that exists among my peers. There is always someone to answer a student question on the channels, and this is a huge plus. I personally try my best to help others, when I can. I am sure that it will come back at some point… after all what goes around, comes around! UoL mentioned that its staff will not moderate the UoL Slack channels, and this has its pros and cons. What we have with Slack is a good start and I would like UoL to experiment other collaboration platforms and channels as well and work harder to build a strong student network.

Share a positive experience you’ve had with the student community

I am genuinely interested in people, different cultures and languages, and being part of our UoL world-class community is quite amazing. For instance, putting aside the pure academic use of the online channels, I would say that the international and diverse nature of the of our student community is fantastic. I can chat hours with my peers spread around the world to discuss everything, including our Uni assignments.

What is one of your favourite things about this programme?

The fact that we have all the content available 24/7 online is a huge plus. This is one of the reasons I choose UoL/Coursera in the first place. I think is worth to mention other key aspects of the programme, such as a like-minded world-class student community – as just mentioned – challenging content, quizzes and assignments.

How do you organise your life studying and working?

I think this is everybody’s dilemma. Don’t you think? I try to divide my day in three time-windows. One devoted to my family, one to my work and the remaining third to studying. Of course, in proximity of important Uni milestones my academic commitments take priority on other life matters. This works for me. It might work for other as well.

Do you have any suggestions for your fellow students?

I will try… Play nicely with others and share your toys – remember that what goes around comes around. Avoid silly and childish gossip and be always part of the solution not of the problem. All the best to everyone!

Thank you very much for the advice, David!

I’m always looking forward to bringing new perspectives and new voices to speak about the programme, and this interview is one of the things I’m trying to bring more content to this subreddit. I hope you enjoyed David’s account of his experiences as a student at the University of London – and if you have any further questions, feel free to join us at the unofficial Discord server.

Take care!