The Class
The students coming into the course are expected not to have any formal education in computing. A degree which consists largely or wholly of computing subjects would normally prohibit a student being accepted onto the MSc IT programme. In reality, the previous experience of the students is extremely diverse and common experience includes:
- No experience at all. The student has no knowledge of how a computer works, what programming is like or how a database is structured.
- No formal training. The student hasn't much computing education, but has explored aspects of computing such as the use of spreadsheets, desktop database systems or even a little programming. Perhaps this occurred in the context of a job.
- Significant computing education The student has taken a degree with a significant number of courses in computing, but not enough to act as a basis for our advanced Masters programmes. Sometimes, these students have been admitted to other programmes, but have struggled and transfer into IT.
This means that students come with varying levels of experience and expectation and that the early exercises, at least, cause equivalently varying levels of difficulty to the class. By the end of the first semester, we expect it to be hard for everybody.
The MRes BioInformatics class can be equally diverse, although all are expected to have a degree in Biology. Once again, the reality is that while the bulk of the class has little computing training, one or two will be much more experienced. It is normal that the best students on this programme match the best in the IT programme.