# DCU Distance Ed-Anyone done the masters?



## pennypincher

I have completed my Bsc from DCU using distance Ed and found it quite a time effecient manner to gain a degree.I can't however find anyone who has done the masters...there are 3 to choose from
MSc in Information Systems for Managers 
MSc in Internet Systems 
MSc in Management of Operations 
Has anyone done any of the above...how did you find it,what was involved is there huge maths content(I don't like)DCU have still failed to provide me with a course module breakdown


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## Bootdog

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,
-


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## ronny78

Hi PennyPincher,

I too have completed the MSc in Operations Management with Oscail at DCU. I completed the 3 year course over 4 years also, opting to split the 2 second year modules and do only one per year. I finished the dissertation September 2005. It was always in my mind to complete a Masters once I started work and when I started this I was working as a Manufacturing Engineer and it suited the type of work I was involved in particularly for assignments and, as was the case when I started with Oscail, tutorials.

However the tutorials were discontinued and the 100% online was introduced. I certainly began to enjoy the course less after this. The tutorials made the work more interesting, it was nice to meet people and actually discuss the issues you might be having with the curriculum. The online thing never really took off and in the years that I was involved in it, not once was a discussion actually posted in the student area. People just got through the manuals and did the assignments themselves. The MOPS course is interesting enough but when you're doing the work in isolation it certainly is tedious.

Oscail are not a particularly efficient organisation to deal with. Although I had never heard that they had no companies actually pursuing graduates of the MOPS MSc. (aargh !! I must get on to them about this !) I think a masters qualification of this nature would still provide good leverage in your own job or when going for another one. But if you're hoping to be head-hunted on the basis of a new qualification obviously this is a bit of a disaster. I'm quite sure though that Oscail don't push their courses with employers with any more effort than goes into administering them, which is a great shame because largely the course content is pretty good and DCU is a well thought of establishment. But I couldn't in good conscience encourage anyone to use Oscail with their current online learning system in place. Although some of the staff are really lovely people and extremely nice to deal with, overall their systems are just badly run or just not good enough.

On a positive note for yourself, as I recall the only maths were in the introductory module and some basic accountancy, nothing too difficult for someone who has completed a BSc.


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## ontour

Also did the MOPS course a couple of years back but yet to complete thesis...interrupted for a couple of years by work related travel.

Found the course very interesting and not that difficult.  The loss of the tutorials would change a lot though as we had a reasonably good collaborative approach.  If I was starting again and it was purely online, I would not do it as so much of what you learn in postgraduate education is from the people around you.

So the recommendation is to have a look at www.nightcourses.com.
One thing to consider is if there is any professional qualifications related to the job you may want to do rather than a college education course


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## irishkiwi197

Hi, I know this is not directly linked to your original query, however, I just noticed a lot of the comments coming back to you about distance edu through dcu, I applied for the bachelor of arts degree and due to start this online the end of this month, but having read your comments I am having a rethink, anyone got any comments from colleague/friends about the distance edu arts degree??


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