I'm finally done with all my exams including FIT2001: Systems Analysis and Design, the unit that had me start blogging again. For the unit's exam, I went through most of the lecture notes for the unit and (assuming the lecture notes were a reflection of the unit, I didn't go through the book) I think this will help me write a final conclusive post about the unit, hopefully the last one about it as well.
Thoughts about FIT2001's Syllabus
As someone who hasn't read anything about Systems Development beyond
Eric Ries' essays on Lean Startups, I can hardly judge the syllabus for the unit. But assuming the unit was meant to be an introduction for IT students to industry practices regarding Systems Analysis and Design, the syllabus was definitely complete. Personally, I would've liked to see more in-depth coverage of emerging methodologies, especially Agile Development, but I guess OO approach was covered in detail because of it's clear majority in the industry. There were also a few overlaps between FIT1003 (IT in Organizations) and this unit but that was hardly an issue. Overall, the unit was relatively simple, quite interesting but almost entirely theory based which led to more than a few students ignoring the unit completely during the majority of the semester except when assignments/exams were due.
Thoughts about FIT2001's Assignments
There were 3 assignments associated with the unit, and all of them were relatively straightforward. Most were completed within a couple of hours before the deadline, and fetched decent grades. I still found that instead of all assignments focusing on the same case-study, more case-studies could've been used of progressively more difficulty. Also, because the final deliverable of the assignments were just diagrams and charts, there was no way of comparing solutions with other people (except maybe the colors, but that ended with no real conclusion). I think simple assignments comprising of Systems Analysis and Design & little Development would've led to more challenging assignments, and more distinct results. Maybe, having different real companies as real clients for the assignments would've made it more interesting. It could've been as simple as adding a chatting area to my.monash or something similar, yet the excitement of working on real projects with real deliverables would've been so thrilling that more students would've actually put in good amounts of effort understanding what they were doing and why it is important.
Thoughts about FIT2001 at Monash
From the first day of this unit, I liked the way it was being taught at Monash. I especially liked the active online forum and the usage of social media including Twitter, Facebook, podcasts and blogs. This showed that an effort was being made to make sure current technology and trends are being incorporated into the teaching of the unit. But over time, I lost this feeling. The teaching became quite dry and borderline boring as time passed, and I could see an exponential drop in the number of students attending the lectures and tutorials during the first couple of weeks, after which I did not bother as well. So how did a unit with an interesting syllabus become almost unbearable for most students? I guess it's because the learning experience changes from teacher to teacher. This is backed up by the fact that I had friends who left the lectures mid-way after getting bored from playing Mario Cart, yet couldn't get enough of the online recordings. I hope the unit evaluations really makes this clear as I've seen this happen in a number of my other units and it really affects a student's perception of the unit.
Final closing thoughts about FIT2001
When I started this unit, I thought it was boring, unnecessary and the problem with software development. But 13 weeks later, I think I've realized that importance of Systems Analysis and Design in the industry. Analyzing problems and Designing solutions is a safeguard used against major problems that arise during Systems Development. The various tools, charts, diagrams, and methodologies make sure the solution developed is most likely what was required. Personally, I still think I've read
Paul Graham essays too many times to actually consider diagramming and charting as a full phase before launching the IDE and starting to code. At most, white board scribbling or the back of a napkin would suffice. But I've also realized most of the IT world does not operate like this, and hence Systems Analysis and Design has it's own place. Overall, I'm glad I did this unit and I'm better off with it than without it.
Lastly, I'd like to thank Peter O'Donnel (@podonnel) for being an awesome teacher and bearing with my rants throughout the semester. Hopefully, this will be the last one :)
