Completing a Master’s degree takes a lot of work, effort and cost a bit of money. This article is just a summary of my experience at Tech Futures Lab. As well as how it differs from a traditional Master’s programme. There are a lot of pros in completing a Master’s at TFL. Here is my experience in a nutshell.
What is Tech Futures Lab?
Tech Futures Lab was established in 2016 by education futurist Frances Valintine (CNZM), Tech Futures Lab originally was apart of Unitec Institute of Technology and eventually broke of and became an independent private Institute.
Tech Futures Lab is also apart of the Mind Lab which was also founded by Frances Valintine in 2013. The Mind Lab was created to address the imbalance of what children were learning at school and the skills that the future requires by introducing them to collaborative, creative, hands-on digital discovery and problem-solving. The Mind Lab also provides post graduate certificates for Teachers and Educators. In this article, I will mainly be sharing my experience as a Tech Futures Lab student.
What programmes do they offer?
Tech Futures Lab offers mainly the Master of Technological Futures, when it was apart of Unitec Institute of Technology, this Master’s was originally called Master of Applied Practice (Technological Futures). The Master of Technological Futures was once a full time one years full programme has now changed and is now 18 months.
- Master of Technological Futures.
A 18 month part-time programme focussed on building contemporary skills and applying them to a self-defined project relevant to you and the future of work.
- Tech Futures Lab
- Postgraduate Certificate in Human Potential for the Digital Economy.
A 32 week, part-time programme designed to build the transferable, contemporary skills needed to lead and influence change.
-Tech Futures Lab
- Salesforce Certified Administrator.
- Learning Sprint: Product Management.
Pros of Tech Futures Lab
- Small classes which means that each student gets noticed, heard and it is an enhanced learning experience.
- Diverse cohort of students — one of my classmates was a medical doctor, another was apart of the World Economics Forum and another owned their own business.
- Networking opportunities — Network with founders of start-ups and established businesses.
- Immersion Phase — Workshops with various Organisations that touch a high level of IoT, Kaupapa Māori, Cybersecurity, AI, Agile and Design thinking.
- Advisor support.
- Business plan support.
- Weekly check ins and mentorship.
- Use of the Tech Futures Lab for meetings, study or networking.
- Various student discounts through your Student ID.
Recap of my Tech Futures Lab Experience
- Core Sessions Week 1 -6
- Project Plan Development Week 7–12
- Phase 1 Option A or Option B Starts
- Presentation for Phase 1
- Phase 2 Option A or Option B Starts
- Final Presentation for Phase 2
Week 1 started off with a range of speakers we had Greg the Founder of Blunt Umbrellas come in and talk about the journey of Blunt Umbrellas. I will keep this nice and short because I wrote pages of notes per speaker.
What I learnt from Greg from Blunt Umbrellas was:
Why the Umbrella?
- Great Challenge
- Plenty room for improvement
- Had a great market
80:20 Familiar and Innovative
- Complimentary skills
- Sharing the load
- Getting investors
- Quality control
- Pushing the product out — globally
- Retail — right retail
- Word of mouth
- Throw away culture — Repair
- Should be what you do
Making the boat go faster….
- Do less but do better!
- Living in a discomfort zone
- Scrum down together
- Don’t conform, strive for more, never give up
- OK to be a little bit shit
The final week we deep dived into AI with Dr Mahsa Mohaghegh from AUT and Tech Futures Lab. As well as a few other hands on workshops. I have been told that the programme varies depending on the cohort.
Reflection:
Compared to my bachelors degree, my master’s degree was challenging from a research standpoint. The bachelors in CS degree with Unitec was focused more on doing assignments and passing exams. In other words, rope learning. Now, I do feel that the exams prepare students who are planning on working in the technical side of tech. It is important in tech especially in Cybersecurity to do certifications and passing the certifications. This is where rope learning from undergraduate degrees are useful and can prepare students for future certifications.
The awesome part of Tech Futures Lab being an independent Graduate School, is the classes are smaller and you get more time answering questions with the workshop leads. However, you do not get the full benefits as if you were studying in a traditional Polytechnic or University. There are a lot of discounts students get by having an .ac or .edu email address. The support that traditional Polytechnic or University students get range from on site funding, student awards, scholarships or discounts. The discounts that would have been useful during the master’s would have been on software.
Another thing I was surprised about was how collaborative my master’s degree was. We had weekly check-ins in person and on skype with our cohort and other cohorts. This was followed by weekly to fortnightly check-ins with my advisor. The lovely thing about my wonderful advisor was, if I couldn’t see her in person, she would make the effort in calling me for about half an hour.
Final thoughts….
You will grow a lot during the year of doing the master’s programme. You will learn a lot about the topic that you are focusing on and about yourself. I do believe that this master’s degree is for those who want to leave traditional education and head towards more of an innovative programme.
Studying at TFL and getting your master’s degree is whatever you make it. It can be an awesome experience full of personal growth, challenges and friendships.
