How is the study week structured

This is something I would have liked to know before the University of Sussex MSc in Quantum Technology Applications and Management course, so in case you’re wanting to know the same….you’re in the right place!

Each week is usefully broken down into 3 segments:

1. Explore
2. Apply
3. Consolidate

And how you map that onto your own structure is up to you (although there are live sessions/office hours each week that are fixed – these though are recorded to watch/re-watch later if you can’t make the appointed time).

Here’s how the upcoming week looks, and how I map it to my week…

Explore

As you might expect, here’s where the preparatory reading for the week comes. You also get the objectives and what you can expect to learn for the week.

The four icons in the screenshot above cover i) intro, ii) preparation, iii) study and iv) essential reading. Some weeks there is a useful quiz to help you check your knowledge/learning.

In the study section is a text lecture covering the narrative of the topic. Essential reading so far has always been interesting. Sometimes it’s reading from the web, other times from books (which, as a student, are accessible online; although there can be restrictions on number of concurrent readers).

I think it would be helpful if the course identified the key book as something you might want to purchase – I’ve really benefited from having a paper copy of one book that is referenced in a number of the weeks)

It’s useful to have a tool that you can take notes on all the material. I have to admit to being old school here and using a physical notebook. That’s because I learn better physically writing things down – I guess it’s the slower pace than typing.

Typically, I’m aiming to tackle the explore parts on Sunday evenings, when I’m either travelling back from somewhere or relaxing at home. Then I quickly re-read the content as well as my notes on Monday evenings at a cafe.

Apply

Here’s the area where you’re expected to apply the explore section of the week.

So far it’s split into one live session/office hours format, and some sample questions to walk through which seem to have an element of online discussion required with fellows on the course.

We’ve had one live session and one office hours so far (week 1 and 2), and week three I see has a live session. The times for these come out at the start of the course roughly being a live session one week and office hours the next. Though it is not the same time or day each week – which is a pain for scheduling if you have other commitments Especially the early weeks when I know I have trouble rescheduling work meetings at short notice; the later weeks are a little easier as I’ve time to juggle things.

Live sessions seem to go through some content; office hours format is more drop in and ask questions and/or go through model answers to some of the questions set.

The second part of the apply grouping is tasks. So far, this has been to answer questions in a discussion forum. You only see the discussion once you have contributed. This by far seems the least used functionality so far. Model answers are given in a follow up office hours session.

I’ve been snatching time as and when I can for this. I have to confess, I haven’t done the discussions yet mainly due to timing, but, you know, you get the model answer anyway. Additionally, they mention the task questions should help with the assignments…I’ve not noticed that much overlap yet (at least in terms of questions and answers).

Consolidate

This section is really a direct link to the assignment 2 portfolio (at least for this first module). I can see why, the questions help consolidate your knowledge gained in that week’s study. In that assignment there are 13 questions, of which 2-3 are specific to each week of study.

Week 3, for example, has 3 questions. I’m not going to give the details away 🙂 But, it’s interesting to see a high level idea:

• there’s one question on showing some operators are Hermitian,
• one about calculating the probability of finding the electron in a hydrogen atom at a couple of defined places and
• a third on justifying why several given wave functions are suitable as wave functions.

If you’d have asked me a couple of weeks ago, I would have said I have no idea about any of the above. Now I’m pretty comfortable that 1 and 3 I could do (I’ve been reading a little ahead) though I need to study this week hard to crack the electron in a hydrogen atom question!

Some weeks there is a useful quiz to help you check your knowledge/learning.

I’m trying to get these done on a week by week basis. Firstly it does feel important to help consolidate (and sometimes search/learn more). Secondly, I can’t imagine leaving these until the last minute (submission for assignment 2 is the Monday after the module ends)!

There’s also a 1st assignment on this module due after week 4. It also helps consolidate knowledge – but there’s a tonne of maths in it; mainly integrations to find probability density functions and normalise them; using them and applying simple operators (finding the expectation position of a particle given a wave function, the most likely position etc)

It’s a huge ramp up from doing “nothing” before the course – but even though I’m just starting week 3, when I reflect back on what I know now compared to 2 weeks ago, I’m content.