Acknowledgements Except for third party materials and otherwise stated (see terms and conditions), this content is made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Licence All materials in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. 1. Join the 200,000 students currently st
Introduction Enterprise systems are software applications that automate and integrate all many of the key business processes of an organisation. With some understanding of software development, you will learn about current development practices for this type of system and develop relevant skills to apply them to real-world problems. You will develop core skills in object-oriented analysis and design, allowing you to develop software that is fit for purpose, reusable and amenable to change. This unit
4.1 Introduction Many of you will already be familiar with event processing if you have developed visual interfaces with the later versions of Java. Developing such an interface consists of a number of steps: A visual object such as a button is placed in a container such as an applet or a
object.
2.4 The message passing idea Figure 1 shows the central idea behind the message passing paradigm. It involves an architecture in which clients and servers communicate using communication lines. In this model, in contrast with the others that are to be presented in this unit, the underlying structure of the network is visible via the communication media used to connect servers and clients and devices such as sockets, ports and server sockets which are involved in the transfer of a message from one computer to another.
Learning outcomes After studying this unit you should be able to: describe some of the architectural and programming paradigms used in distributed system development; describe message passing and the role of protocols within a message passing paradigm; introduce the concept of a distributed object; describe how event-based architectures are used within distributed system development; introduce one implementation of an event-based archite
2.1 What is a group? Our tendency to form groups is a pervasive aspect of organisational life. As well as formal groups, committees and teams, there are informal groups, cliques and cabals. Formal groups are used to organise and distribute work, pool information, devise plans, coordinate activities, increase commitment, negotiate, resolve conflicts and conduct inquests. Group working allows the pooling of people's individual skills and knowledge, and helps compensate for individual deficiencies. It has been
10.1 Media coverage of the MMR controversy Hargreaves, I., Lewis, J. and Speers, T. ‘Towards a better map: Science, the public and the media’, Economic and Social Research Council. Unlike the other two stories, the MMR coverage conforms to a more conventional news pattern in which a story breaks, generates discussion and debate, then fades away. Of the 561 stories on MMR recorded over a seven and a half month period, 56 percent of the entire sample appeared in one month between 28 January and 28 February. Coverage was
1.1.2 La mairie/l'hôtel de ville The French use both la mairie and l'hôtel de ville when referring to the town hall. In general, la mairie is used in smaller towns and villages. La mairie is also used to describe the range of functions and services headed by le maire (the mayor).
Curriculum framework in Scotland
In this unit you will find a discussion of the national curricula framework in Scotland. This is discussed in terms of the literacy curricula, and compared to the framework set up in England and Wales. First published on Fri, 29 Jul 2011 as Author(s):
Engaging with educational research
This free course, Engaging with educational research, introduces you to the theoretical toolkit that is an essential part of engaging in educational enquiry. You will consider the types of theories and what their role is in the research process. Two very influential research perspectives are examined to identify differences in ways we think about and study the social world.Author(s):
5 Units, significant figures and scientific notation Have you come across an assignment question or an exam question where you think everyone is setting out to make life as difficult as possible for you? You know which formula to use but none of the figures you have been given can be plugged in directly. Here is a question from an exam paper on a technology course: A simply supported square-section beam has a load of 5.0 kN hung from it centrally. The beam is const 4.2.2 Read the whole exam paper through carefully Students often describe feeling that everyone else starts writing confidently, straight away. Make sure you allow yourself at least 5 minutes to read calmly through the paper. It is tempting to grab at familiar questions, possibly even misreading them and turning them into the questions you want to answer. If you carefully and steadily unpack the questions, you will inevitably make a better selection. 3.11.2 Answering a question in exam conditions Write out a few exam questions on pieces of card, shuffle them and then pick out a question at random and try to answer it in the time the exam allows. Doing this can give you a sense of the amount you can reasonably write in an exam. You should also get an idea of whether or not you are being too ambitious about what you can cover within the time constraints of an exam. You should be wary of overshooting the timeslot for an exam answer, and not leaving enough time to complete the remaining a 3.10 Thinking about the exam It is worth noting the difference between exam answers and assignments. Inevitably, a much lengthier and more polished answer can be produced in an untimed assignment. In the short time available in the exam, you need to move quickly through your main points, without paying too much attention to your style. Examiners are fully aware of the constraints exams place on the writer. Focus on the question you have chosen, and underline or highlight the process words or instructions in the question. 9.2 What is reflection? Is reflection different to just thinking about your study? And how do we do it? Can someone teach you how to reflect or is it a matter of practice? Can everyone be reflective or are some students - and some people - more reflective than others? There is no clear definition of reflection or precise way of describing what we mean by a reflective learner. But we can discuss some characteristics of the process, and encourage you to develop your own preferred ways of developing it. Ref 9.1 Reflection and the four main phases of learning how to learn If your course encourages this approach to learning, or if you have read other material on learning how to learn, you may have come across the term 'reflection'. Maybe you have been encouraged to reflect on your learning or on your assignments. In this unit, we have deliberately not used the term until now. This is not because we think the term - or the process - is unimportant, but because it can seem vague and not particularly helpful to you as a learner. In fact, all the activities in this 6.2 Monitoring your performance As you move into actually doing the assignment, the emphasis on consciously trying to monitor how you are performing continues to be important. This involves checking your work while you are working on the task rather than waiting until you have almost completed it before you look back at what you have done. You may wonder why we place so much emphasis on monitoring what you are doing. The reason is that if you check regularly what and how you are doing and are aware of your progress a 1.2 What do we mean by learning how to learn? This activity will help you to explore what we mean by learning how to learn. Think back to an example of study you have done in the past, or any fairly structured learning opportunity you remember. Focus on a particular ac 1.1 Examples Each activity is followed by a discussion and examples of the responses of two students. Both students are studying Open University courses that will eventually count towards a degree. These are nine month distance learning courses. Course material is delivered to students by post, email or online. Their assignments are submitted by post or email, marked either by a computer or a tutor, and returned. Open University students are provided with a tutor, regular tutorials and guidance on c Learning outcomes The broad aim of this unit is to provide a framework for learning-based activities and reflective exercises. More specifically, it is designed to offer you the opportunity to: think about and understand how you learn; apply the ideas and activities in this unit to your own learning experiences; learn how to become a reflective learner.
Activity 1
