I'm not exactly impressed by not seeing any answer to our question in the Q&A forum on that matter. Surely we're my colleague and myself who asked the question were not the first in 21 years to ask this?

I mean, maybe the subject is so stable that there was literally nothing new in all this time but then you could make a point out of stating that somewhere in the material.

#LivUni #StudyLog

This week the next module kicks off (Multi-agent systems). I do look forward to this module but I am a bit surprised that the main textbook we'll be reading was written in 2002 (!)

2002?? Seriously, #LivUni

Next up: "Multi-Agent Systems"

I started reading up on the topic and I expect this to be just as fascinating.

I'm wondering how the timing will look like. This module starts in September in October it ends. That means that after one month of break we'll start the next (Robotics) in December? Uff.

That'll be a challenging ride...

#LivUni #StudyLog

CSCK503 "Machine Learning in Practice" was a 8 week long, fast paced practical introduction to machine learning and I can say I rather enjoyed it. The group assignment (training 3 models with the LAEI dataset & produce a video) was a bit of a pain (yes, I will keep bitching about group assignments until the very end of this degree.)

It helps that my colleagues are a lot of fun to work with though.

Today we got our grade for this. 69% which lands me at 65% for the module.

#LivUni #StudyLog

#introduction

Greetings from Frankfurt, Germany! I'm Dirk, old enough to recall when the internet sang the tune of fax machines...

In my professional realm, I helm a dynamic #DevRel team at Google and worked at Microsoft before that.

Beyond work, I dive into a fascinating world of AI with my #OnlineDegree at #LivUni, love creating #photography and #podcasting, design urban paradises in #CitiesSkylines, or challenge gravity with #bouldering.

Let's connect! 🚀

As much as I enjoy studying with #LivUni, it is kinda annoying that they do not add the starting dates and names of all modules to the student calendar. Instead they show up as soon as they're unlocked which kinda defeats the purpose of a study calendar inside the student dashboard 😕

Also, it means I have to look up the programme structure whenever I like to know what is still missing... <rantOver/>

The machine learning module ends today...
Overall it was well worth it. Every week walked us through a new set of #ML algorithms. For each we learned how to prepare the data, engineer the features and how to train these models. We were using skikit-learn and pandas in Google Colab or Jupyter Notebooks.

For the final (group) project we analyzed the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory which was a big and interesting dataset.

#StudyLog #LivUni

I got punished in my mid-module assignment because I did understand the instruction to include the python code for my solution wrong. I thought that it had to be copied into the appendix of the report. My tutor informed me that this was "just unacceptable". Hmpf.

Well, it happens. But it kinda pisses me off that activities in the module come with indicative solutions that are python code pasted into a PDF document.

#moodblast #livuni #studylog

Today our end of module assignment opened. We have 3 weeks to analyse data from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory using 3 different machine learning models and write up a report that explains our choice, show the implementation and outlines the results we get.

I was excited until I discovered that all dataset links we're supposed to download from land me on a 404. Sigh.

#LivUni #StudyLog #machinelearning #StudyExperience

My end of module essay on Transfomers received a 75% grade and I'm quite happy about that. Next up: Machine Learning in Practice! 🙂

Meanwhile I'm wondering if it is actually allowed to post my paper somewhere?

#studylog #livuni

Many discuss how #LLMs may write entire essays but completely miss what else they do

I just used chatGPT as a partner researching a paper. I asked questions, asked it to explain concepts, then went on to research deeper in Google Scholar, read papers in the #LivUni library system, collected references in Zotero (which generates them for me later)

I don't need someone to write essays for me. The true power lies in having a conversational research partner to help me think faster. #StudyLog

Discovered by accident that my discussion posts for my current module at the #LivUni were not graded because the system seem to think that I had made no attempt.

I though that my task was done after submitting to the forum (esp. since I got a turnitin ID when I did) but it looks like a separate submission may have been necessary? WTF?

ARGL. Hopefully my lecturer can help. I'd hate to stumble over stupid sh*t like this...

#studylog #StudyExperience

Our mid-module assignment will be a group work.

I HATE these things. There is a reason why I prefer self-directed online study over other forms: It normally allows me to work on my own time.

Group assignments break that pattern, especially with time zone or bank holiday issues that make availability a challenge.

Thus, I'm mildly annoyed but decided to embrace it anyhow and went ahead proposing structures, creating groups etc.

#studylog #ai #UoL #LivUni

This week we were asked to debate whether current developments will lead to intelligence superior to humans.

It is interesting to see how often my fellow students make the argument "humans train AIs, therefore AIs are limited by human intelligence".

If that would be true, how do we explain that we're even able to create systems that are as good as todays AIs? Each one of them supersedes human abilities by far already...

#studylog #UoL #LivUni #CompSci #AI #StudyExperience

Oh "great". I get to learn more about *sigh* blockchain...

In my opinion Linus Neumann summarised it very well in this talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8W-Ga1rK6I

I will try hard to keep an open mind though as it clearly IS a trend that needs some attention.

#UoL #LivUni #CompSci #StudyExperience

It is impressive how often the
#LivUni student support team is checking in. I got 3 phone calls to hear how I'm doing and several emails. Today my student support rep mailed me to cheer me on as the first "real" module is about to start tomorrow.

Pretty cool. I cannot remember that level of attention from my last degree but maybe I just forgot...

#UoL #LivUni #CompSci #StudyExperience

The induction module itself was very slow for my taste and quiet. My group consists of 100% men and none of them interacted on the module's forum beyond the mandatory welcome message they were asked to post as part of the first week's assignment.

However, the student support team was super engaged, I got called 3 times in these two weeks and every time was a very friendly conversation.

(3/3)

#LivUni #CompSci #StudyExperience

What did change since my last degree at #UoL is the student system. Back then it was some custom environment provided by Laureate, now it is based on Microsoft's O365. That means the overall user experience is solid and most students will have no problems with it.

The integration (or lack thereof) of the open forums and the student blog system is quite frustrating though. It's almost as if they don't care if it is really used for networking.

(2/3)

#UoL #LivUni #CompSci #StudyExperience

The induction module ended and I'm waiting for the next module to start next Tuesday. "Global Trends in Computer Science" - I fondly remember the module of the same name 7 years ago, I might dig up my old notes from then to see how much did change...
(1/2)