Practising Life-Long Learning

It just happens that I began my Masters of Information Technology (MIT) (Executive Program) at the University of Melbourne at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. With all the uncertainty and turbulent times, one thing remained consistent. My studies continued unhindered with remote delivery and the Universities student learning management system working flawlessly.?

This post is to acknowledge and offer my gratitude to all the outstanding professors, associate professors, senior lecturers, consultants, teacher aids and anyone else who supported the delivery of this program.

The MIT program exceeded my expectations, providing timely and applicable real-world knowledge that developed my critical thinking, research, and analytical reasoning capabilities. Furthermore, the assessment-based program offered numerous opportunities to practice these skills and hone my writing capability.

Listed below are all the course subjects I completed with the educators that made it possible. Thank you for contributing to my personal development and growth.?

Business Analytics and Decision Making

• Associate Professor Dr Sean Maynard
• Richard Ng
• Nick Howard

Enterprise Architecture Applications

• Associate Professor Dr Sherah Kurnia
• Ms Leila Meretian Esfahani

Cyber Security Management

• Associate Professor Dr Atif Ahmad
• Dr Piya Shedden

Technopreneurship and Innovation

• Sam Pitruzzello
• Alex Chapman

Managing Information Systems

• Associate Professor Dr Sherah Kurnia

Emerging Technologies in Organisations

• Senior Lecturer Dr Charlynn Miller

Outsourcing and Contracting

• Dr Jongkil (Jay) Jeong
• Dr Sara Cullen

Summary of Learnings

1) Words Matter - We are in a time where the youth seek immediate gratification and success, questioning the value of our educational institutions as centres of learning. Yet, every day, I experience poor verbal and written communication by business professionals at all levels. Stringing a bed of tautologies, idioms, catchphrases, and analogies building a facade of perceived professionalism that is remiss of substance. More disturbing is the ignorance of such practices. My key learning is to be cognizant of my words to convey ideas.

2) Exercise Thought - Thought takes energy and is anything but simple, although hugely gratifying. Furthermore, it's like any muscle in the body, and it needs to be exercised to develop. It needs to be stressed to recover and grow, which can only be achieved if practised. My key learnings are questioning, thinking, and reflecting more, over accepting dogma.

3) Don't Stop - Human beings are intelligent and attribute complex behavioural drivers, but we are attracted to taking the easy path where possible. That is careless with words forming our sentences and avoiding effort in thought over the quick mindless response. My final learning encapsulates and extends my first two learnings by continually investing in my personal development. Seek and plan the next knowledge gap you want to fill and do it sustainably considering both time and money. Today, we have many learning opportunities with many free or almost free options. All we need is to recognise the value and offer our time.?

P.S. I have just enrolled and started my CISM course.