My studies towards the BSc(Hons) Computing with Psychological Studies degree with The Open University continue to occupy most of my free time. I'm approaching the end of DSE212: Exploring Psychology, a Level 2 introductory psychology course that has been interesting but challenging since it's my first experience of the subject. I also started M255: Object-Oriented Programming with Java last month and so far this is going well.
I have, however, been concerned that I may not be able to complete the named degree as I received notice from The Open University last month that the undergraduate Computing/ICT curriculum is undergoing a major review. The recent Higher Education funding cuts have made it impractical for the university to maintain indefinitely the existing degrees and courses offered, so they plan to withdraw all the current degree programmes and introduce a flexible BSc(Hons) Information Technologies pathway to "enhance significantly the choices and options that will be available to students seeking a named degree in the ICT & Computing area". My concern is that, as flexible as the proposed new IT degree aims to be, the interdisciplinary nature of my studies won't be accommodated by the new curriculum. It doesn't mean that I won't be able to complete my studies as I will be eligible to graduate with a BSc(Hons) Open degree, but I fear that it may look a bit "Jane of all trades" on my CV compared to a "CS Major, Psychology Minor" degree. The department hasn't come to a firm decision about how the degrees will be phased out for existing students so I shall just have to wait and see.
In the meantime, I am concentrating on Learning Java, with a capital "L" because in the past I have tended to coast through my Java coursework and concentrated more on languages that have interested me more. As the vast majority of people who study CS at university study Java and in some cases study just Java, I wanted to distinguish myself in some other way, but after reflecting on why I enjoy programming and what sort of programmer I want to be I realised that this attitude doesn't serve me well so I am taking the time now to learn the language in depth.
To put my knowledge into practice, I am presently developing a 2D single-player RPG for the Android platform. Since graphic design is not my forte, I'm collaborating with Peter Waldron, a recent graduate of the University of Cumbria's Multimedia Design and Digital Animation degree programme (and my future brother-in-law), who is handling the graphical elements of the project. Some pre-viz examples of the graphics are available on his website; I think we can probably improve on them as we further explore the possibilities and limitations of both the platform and language.
I'm still also hacking with Arduino and the Processing language/IDE, doing the odd bit of web design for people (one day soon I hope to get around to doing my own site!) and doing nowhere as much with Perl as I'd like.
