A semester of Distance Learning w/ University of London
Tags: education, career, computerscience
Published: 2019-08-13 19:42:01

In April of 2019, I enrolled into the [*B.Sc in Computer Science*](https://london.ac.uk/courses/computer-science) programme offered by the *University of London*; and this post summarises my experience of the first semester. While there is a debate on the necessity of degrees, I chose to play safe and get one anyways.

## Background
I have been working full-time since my first year of undergraduate studies at North South University (a brick-and-morter, physical University). My employer was open to letting me attend classes during work-hours. However, I couldn't take on many courses per semester. A full-time job is, well, full-time.

As it turned out, continuing my university classes with strict attendance requirements was becoming impossible as I positioned myself as one of the senior resources at my organization. I had taken more responsibilities, tougher challenges. I struggled to do well in my university exams, and grades plummeted. At one point, I was so far behind my peers, I couldn’t complete half of my course requirements in 3 years. Full time work and fighting through Mirpur (Dhaka) traffic meant, I stayed outdoors from 7 AM – 8 PM. Exhausted. All time.

I couldn't stop working just to attend school. My family couldn't afford it. Student loans in Bangladesh aren't like the U.S. So that wasn't an option either. Most importantly, I had to work! Leaving the industry after 3 years of full-time work was impractical to me.

### Choosing the University

Among the Online Programmes, University of London stood out to me for a couple of reasons,

1. It is renowned and accepted in Bangladesh and the countries I wanted to work in.
2. The cost was significantly lower compared to similar Universities.
3. Coursera had been the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) partner. So I knew I would have a great experience with content.
4. Two of my colleagues had already studied at UoL, and their recommendation boosted my confidence.

The programme was designed by [Goldsmiths College](https://gold.ac.uk), under the University of London. It's a 3-year programme (if studied full time). You can take a maximum of 6 years to finish the programme.

I wrote a post on [why I chose UoL](https://adhikary.net/2019/07/06/uol-bsc-cs-why/), check for details!

## Study Experience

### Registration

After applying for admission, I thankfully got an offer to study with the University. (If you want to more about the process, or my experience with admission, let me know in comments please!)

![Offer Letter - University of London](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/eqqtjxvvd8i8sa1o4dr8.png)

Next, I had to get registered for my courses and pay the fees.

![Course Dashboard](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/gndp383dbb7x1ri0n7qt.png)

After the initial payment, I got a Student ID. My UoL account got linked to Coursera and I had access to all study materials! Also, I got virtual library access to plenty of books I can read online, or event (legally) take prints. As Coursera is the VLE, almost every learning activity happens on Coursera.


### Lectures

![Video Lecture - University of London](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/8x24b6hs490crznu5kiy.png)

The lectures are like the regular Coursera videos. Nothing too different.

### Quizzes

![Practice Quiz - University of London](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/4nfsjgf9odrfj7fwrdko.png)

Quizzes are of two types: Practice Quiz (Non-graded) and Graded Quizzes. I could take the quizzes online. Graded quizzes are usually time-boxed. And in the middle of the course, there might be a mid-term quiz covering the topics taught so far.

### Essential Book Readings

In the course, often essential book readings are recommended. The books are available in the Virtual Library offered from the University. These can be read on computers, tablets or even be printed (legally).

### Assignments and Projects

Almost all of the courses have coding assignments or written assignments. Each assignment is checked with modern plagiarism checkers. So any bad intentions should be under check! Assignments usually contribute a huge bulk of marks for the course (varies by course)

### Deadlines

There are deadlines! Certain tasks have deadlines attached to them. It is wise to use a reminder / calendar / TODO system to keep track of coursework and assignments.

### Proctored Exams

Some courses (about half) require proctored exams. Where you show up a local testing center to take a written exam under test conditions. These centers are available across the world. In the India region, the exams are hosted by British Council; in Singapore, by RELC.

## First Courses

I started afresh with the University. So my first courses were,

1. Introduction to Programming I
2. Numerical Mathematics
3. How Computers Work
4. Web Development

### Introduction to Programming I

This is basically and intro to programming with JavaScript and p5.js. Throughout the course, we have to build a HTML5 Game and complete a few programming assignments to solve criminal cases! This course was fully online, requiring no proctored written exams.

### Numerical Mathematics

This has been the most amazing math course I have ever taken. This course taught Steganography, Encryption and other CS-related topics as the course content and assignments. It focused a lot on the CS applications of maths. Which made it very interesting. It covered Statistics, Probability, Linear Algebra and Calculus among others. 50% marks for this course comes from online assessment, the rest comes from a proctored written exam.

### How Computers Work

This course focused on the basic understanding of Computer Science. Topics covered web, networking, machine internals, abstractions, machine learning and other computer science concepts. This has been mainly a conceptual course. This also has a proctored written exam apart from online assessments.

### Web Development

This course is also a pretty basic course. Where 100% of the marks come from projects! 30% from a group project, and 70% from an individual project. This course actually taught me a lot about semantics and accessibility. Two topics often ignored by devs in general. This requires no proctored exams.

More information on the courses can be found on the website.

## Flexibility Devil

This had to be discussed. The very flexibility that lead me to choose the Distance Learning degree was my biggest enemy throughout. Let me explain.

Since I had almost infinite time to complete my coursework. I just procrastinated. I pushed my assignments away for later, later and later. Soon enough, the end of the semester came. I had to deal with everything I have skipped!

![TODO List](https://thepracticaldev.s3.amazonaws.com/i/d65ufdk0kar75lkswbbi.png)

As a solution, I had to make a complete plan of my studies and strictly stuck to the plan. Thankfully, I am almost finished recovering my studies by now. I used a todo app to plan every single day. And balanced out my studies as a habit for every day.

I remember an advice from a Navy seal: Discipline is Freedom. And honestly, if flexibility isn't dealt with correctly, it soon becomes anarchy.

## My Proctored Exams

I am attending the final exam of Numerical Mathematics and How Computers Work this September. I had to sign up for the exams at my local British Council. Please, wish me luck for the exam everyone!

So that's been my experience so far. Thankfully, I can obtain my degree while working full-time in any corner of the world. For the flexibility, I can support my family whilst studying and working! Hope to obtain my degree in Computer Science soon from UoL.

I will be more than happy to answer your questions.