Year 1: Semester 2

This will be my third post on my blog. I have skipped two weeks, this was not intentional and it has set me back, so I will be posting three times this week to make up for it.

To continue from my last post; For my 2ND semester 1ST year I completed the following classes:

• Investigations and Intelligence
• Knowledge management technologies
• Relational Database Design and Development
• Macroeconomics

I did very well in Investigations and Intelligence. It was an easy class to understand and get involved in, I also found it to be very simple to relate to the entire concept of my program. I only had one problem in I & I was completing the group assignment as I had two people in my group who were not very willing to do their share of the workload. This made it very hard to get all of the parts of the assignment together on time, in the same format and to the same standard. This was resolved by having a meeting with the group and doing the majority of the work during the meeting.

Knowledge management technologies was also an easy class for me when I studied. There was a lot of information to take in and I am not very good in making websites. It was also hard to complete the work for the class as my laptop did not have the required programs to make the websites; all of my work had to be completed on the university computers. Finding computers in the labs can be very hard when it gets further into the semester and closer to exams; though at the end of the class I had gained a stronger grasp on the concepts of websites and HTML/XML which will be very beneficial in my future career as information is becoming more and more electronic and on the Internet.

Relational Database Design and Development was an awful class. I found it dull and badly taught by the lecturer. It was hard to learn how to use the database as we were only taught the different terms regarding to the database and how to structure it and not how to make an actual database. I got through that class by doing a lot of outside study of the system, working together with friends and seeking information from people who knew how to use the system. My only goal for that class was to pass, I had no aspirations for high scores as I knew it would be impossible with the lack of information I had been given in the classes. I could see how the course would benefit me, but it needed to be taught better if it was to be of any use to me.

Macroeconomics was also a dreadful course, I ended up failing by 3 points. I could not see how the course related to me and my program and I still can't. It was taught badly as the lecturers' could not speak proper English and did not seem interested in helping students pass. In the first lecture of the course the lecturer said "I will be seeing more than 80% of you again because you are going to fail." That, is not the way to introduce a course. My only goal for that class was to pass and I couldn't achieve it. I hope that the program is changed to include more relevant courses and not ones like macroeconomics. The only forms of assessment for this class was in-class tests and the final exam so it has no assignments page link. I received a fail for this course, I am not very proud of it, but I know that many people from the BP140 degree has had to complete it again.