Started the semester with a Systems Analysis and Design double, 2 hour lecture followed by a 2 hour tutorial, both taught by David Grant. First of all congratulations to David for holding everyone’s attention for 4 straight hours which is a mean feat in itself. A colourful teaching style with interesting analogies kept the class listening and involved.
As with most introductory classes their was a lot of non-subject specific items covered however a structured preview of the course along the reasons why we should learn the material has set a good foundation for the coming classes. Having the class material up on Moodle very early (in comparison to other subjects) allowed me to preview the lecture and tut which is basically a must. This begs the question why other subject coordinators haven’t done the same.
The tutorial was interesting with the usual self introduction rounds. The following activities and homework assignment, a broad analysis of some large systems, seem a fairly indirect avenue to explaining some basic principles of systems. I guess the broad stroked approach is designed to spark interest in as many students as possible. Although one should already be interested enough if one has chosen to do a post graduate course on the topic.
Pearl of the week (Taken from FIT9030, Sem 1, 2010, Lecture 1):
Analyst’s approach to Problem Solving
- Research and Understand the Problem
- Verify the benefits of solving the problem outweigh the costs
- Define the requirements for solving the problem
- Develop a set of of possible solutions
- Decide which solution is best and make a recommendation
- Define details of chosen solution
- Implement the solution
- Monitor to ensure desired results are achieved
Although the acronym ‘RVDDDDIM’ may lack catchy-ness, this process has clearly come from practical experience and I can make easy relations from the theory to real-world. Thanks David.