Hi Pennypincher, Long post coming up:
I've done the MSc in Management of Operations ... through Oscail in DCU, which in what I assume you mean. I completed in in Oct 2005 with a "write up year" (i.e. it should have been done in Oct 2004). I did a BE in engineering in UCD before that.
I would strongly recommend that you ask them to refer you to a student who is registering for Year 2, you can find out what its currently like from them. Or call in to see them, the Oscail building is striaght in on the left hand side of the entrance road when coming from the Dual Carriageway entrance into DCU (Ballymun Road?).
Aside from the introductory module, I don't remember any maths in it.
If you are doing this to enhance your career, note that they don't have any companies interested in any graduates from the Management of Operations programme (I'm not sure about any of the other ones). I thought this was a particularly bad sign, but unfortunately I only found out afterwards ... you might try calling the DCU careers office if this is relevant to you.
When I started, it was a tutorial / lecture on a Saturday once a month, plus 2-3 course handbooks (each one the size of the Golden Pages).
Year 1 had an introductory module to get everyone up to speed
IT
Maths
Business Studies
Economics
I had covered enough on these before that it was easy enough for me. However, if you hadn't covered one of these subjects, its a hell of a learning curve, with little or no support from the lecturers. For example, one of the people on the course had done arts, and was lost even in this introductory module.
They changed this in year 2 to being 100% online "tutorials", and this caused havoc among the class ("breach of contract" etc. etc.). They eventually bowed to the pressure and gave us 4 tutorials during the year. I understand its now 100% online, but to be honest I much preferred the tutorials and assignments once a month or so... at least you got to meet the people in your class! We never got any meaningful online course material or tutorials, and I doubt this has changed much since then.
===== Extract from email from an Oscail admin in yr 2 : ==============
MOPS YEAR TWO
There are two modules
1. Mops 004 Management of Operations2
This has three parts;
· Product and process development
· Project management
· Researching operations
All three sections have one assignment attached to them, the one for researching Operations will come in two parts. As a result there is no terminal exam in the Researching Operations section. The exam will cover only product and process development and project management.
2. Mops 005 Strategic management.
This has three parts
· Organisational Change
· Operations Strategy
· Strategic Management
The first section has a two part assignment and the second and third each have one assignment. Again because the first section is covered by a larger assignment it will not be part of the terminal exam. The exam will cover only operations strategy and strategic management.
========================
Year 3 is a dissertation project - you are assigned a tutor (I got a professor in DIT, as he had experience relevant to the subject of my dissertation (the electricity market in Ireland), but had no notion of what the Oscail programme was about, or the content of the course during the two previous years. He also marked my dissertation at year end, so I thought it was a waste of years 1 and 2 if it was marked by someone who didn't know what was being taught. I had zero contact with Oscail apart from requesting an extra year to hand the report in, and the final submission in 2005.
Aside from the extract above, I can't remember the course content (which in itself is not a good thing), but they tended to be wishy-washy anyway. I'll root it out when I get home - PM me if I forget!!!
My general feeling after having done it for 4 years was :
- Its a good way of getting an MSc without giving up work
- I learned some useful stuff that I have used, but not as much as I thought I would ...
- Distance learning is not equivalent to the "real thing", despite what they might try to say
- Its quite an expensive way of "reading a manual" ... I tended to gloss over topics, rather than try to understand them. And emailing a tutor with a question about a complex issue is not as easy as it sounds ... picture trying to explain in writing what you don't understand about something ???
- the admin and general support from Oscail was terrible, the only reason I completed it was that I knew in the 3rd year I didn't really need anything from them.
- I don't think I would do it again to be honest, but if you already know what they are like through the BSc., it might be for you
- If you do it, I would strongly recommend that you pick one that is relevant to your work, as it allows you to pick examples of real life events that are relevant to the course. Its more difficult to make up (say) a product development plan for a company that you're not familiar with.
Bottom line, if you were new to Oscail and Distance Ed., I would say steer well clear, but if you know what they are like already, you'll get on grand.
==============
Email below was received from a guy the year behind me, and it just brought all the bad memories flooding back. He is a student who has had a meeting with Oscail to raise (many) issues with them that the students are not happy with.
Hi All!
I met Liam Boyle to discuss points raised by some of you. Following were
some areas discussed that are of use to the whole class:
* It is envisaged that assignments will be more structured in the coming
year e.g. an assignment may have multiple parts - so rather than having all
assignments as 3000 word reports - it might instead have, for example, some
500 word sections. There will be more collaborative aspects to the assignments
e.g. there may be mini group projects contributing a small percentage of
an assignment. Skills that are useful at dissertation level will be used
more in the assignments e.g. bibliographies, research. The practice of encouraging
the student to refer to real-life work situations in their assignments will
be continued and the assignment 'deadline' on Fridays will continue as before
* It is hoped that there will be a dedicated tutor for each module, where
possible, instead of different tutors for the different sections and thus
less 'fragmentation' in the course. This will have the effect that tutors
get to know their students better which should result in a better service
(e.g. response time, collaboration) for students
* Some students do not use the supplied MOPS folders - The practice of sending
folders out to students will be reviewed at a later date
* It is envisaged that there will be one 'get-to-know' tutorial at the beginning
of the academic year to increase collaboration among students and tutors
* It is hoped that more 'Synchronous Chat' sessions will be used more often
e.g. 'Synchronous Chat' tutorial sessions might be scheduled a week before
every assignment due date and/or before exams. This would be helpful for
assignment and exam preparation/direction. Some of you have asked for additional
tutorials - these 'Synchronous Chat' sessions go some way towards providing
additional tutorials
* The 'required' textbooks will be reviewed to ascertain if they are still
required. Some of you have questioned whether they are all required. There
will be no re-writing of the course text this year because of time constraints
- but keep your suggestions coming in
* It is hoped that the feedback on assignments will be more structured e.g.
feedback under different headings. Additionally, it may be the case that
returned assignments are annotated - there may be some technical hurdles
to overcome. The average mark for an assignment might be given - thus giving
the student an idea of their relative performance with other students. This
should make assignment feedback more informative and effective. FYI. Interestingly,
it has been found that students respond better to concise assignment feedback
compared to overly comprehensive feedback.
From looking at the points raised by students, it is worth repeating that:
* The MOPS course is an online course making this course advantageous for
many of us e.g. many of us are geographically dispersed making attending
tutorials somewhat troublesome. Being an online distance education course
we should not expect face-to-face tutorials
* The is a Study Skills course available on Moodle - this is useful for
students to ascertain a good approach to assignments and dissertations e.g.
references, structure, style
* The tutors are there to help us - as students we can be more proactive
in getting their assistance and learning from each other through e-mail,
forums and other communication channels. In addition to fellow students,
the course co-ordinator and tutors - there are student advisors available
to help us with most queries we have regarding the course. For example,
if you are having difficulty with an assignment - create a posting on the
relevant forum or e-mail your tutor!
* To do well in assignments it is useful to make use of the DCU library
portal
We students are doing quite well - the average assignment and exam results
are very good - so it would seem that the issues raised aren't hindering
our studies too much! I will respond individually to those who e-mailed
me feedback on the course.
Ciao for now,
-