Feb7
Block 4 and the ECA – how was T320 in the end?
It was in Block 4 that it really became a disadvantage to be taking the course in its first year, though I still think T320 (especially the e-business aspect) was one of the most interesting OU courses I’ve done.
The course was being offered over a compressed timescale (6 months instead of 9), and Block 4 coincided almost entirely with the school holidays, and required about twice as much computer based practical work as any of the other blocks. This made it very difficult to get all the practicals done in time to begin the project. Worse still, whereas all the other blocks had a TMA at the end, block 4 went straight into the ECA instead, with no opportunity to bring together the Block 4 material and get some feedback on whether we’d understood it properly, but a strong knock-on effect of the block 4 work on the final grade and, for many people, their degree grade.
So I stayed up late, I took days off work, my husband took days off work to mind the kids, and I struggled with the BPEL, but however much I tried I still can’t say I really understood it. There was also an unfortunate mix up, with new versions being issued of the ECA and work files when the first set were decided to be too difficult(!). So, along with several other people, I was trying to use the second set of files with the second version of the ECA, when it should have been the third set of files, which confused things more. I tried starting again with the practicals, and it took me until the last two days to figure out my problem with the wrong set of files. Briefly, right at the end I think I finally got it, but by then I was so tired and stressed I forgot it again afterwards.
In the end, I got the BPEL diagram finished, but didn’t get most of the testing done. After all that, I was surprised to find it was my report that was the weakest part of my ECA (probably needed more of that BPEL time!), though thankfully the XML, WSDL and Transaction Cost Analysis went well. And somehow, I did get the distinction I needed for my degree grade 
I see the OU is now offering T320 as a full length course, and I think that is a much better idea. On the whole, I thought this course was great, and in contrast to most reviewers I massively preferred Block 1, with its focus on e-business concepts rather than technical implementations, so perhaps that is where I will go with this in future
ayman Says:
dear madam
thanks for sharing your memories about T320 with us
i wish you pass it with grade A
my name is ayman from KSA , Arab open university riyadh Branch
i have just finished T224 course in the new plan , T320 is expected to be in my plan the next semester ..
the problem we have no tutorial or Tma or any previous information about the course just 4-pages pdf file
so can please give some resources of your course such as TMA , electronic books if you have and so on
thanks in advance
admin Says:
Hi Ayman, a lot of the course resources can be found through my Links posts. The main thing I’d recommend if possible if to install and become familiar with Eclipse and Active BPEL Designer, so that you aren’t trying to sort out technical problems when you need the time for learning the course content. Best of luck with T320 – I found it difficult but very worthwhile for the extra business perspectives you can gain from it
Lily Says:
would you be interested in selling your T320 course material through http://www.universitybooksearch.co.uk/?
admin Says:
Hi Lily, there was a DVD so I suppose I could sell that but most of the course material was just printed out
Lily Says:
Hi, thanks for the response – when you say printed out, you mean there was some course material but not in printed form? There are other OU courses that are “online only”… Anyway, I’m sure people would be interested in the DVD. What kind of stuff was on it? The programming exercises or just the IDE?