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Accessibility statement
Qualification dates
StartEnd
03 Oct 2026Mar 2027
03 Apr 2027Sept 2027
This is the second of two fundamental computer science modules. Building on Computing fundamentals 1 (TM110), it covers the foundations of modern software development, programming, and databases. We’ve interwoven these three themes to ensure you experience how they interact in practice. Starting from understanding and modelling software requirements, you’ll take your programming skills to the next level and learn how to interact with small and large datasets and databases. Your learning will culminate in a small project where you’ll put all your new skills into practice. Alongside, we’ll introduce you to the tools that support an industry-standard software development lifecycle.
This module doesn’t have independent blocks. Instead, you’ll continually develop your skills and (re)visit the module’s three themes of software development, programming, and databases. You’ll deepen and broaden your understanding each time you revisit a theme.
At the beginning of the module, we present the integrated development environment you’ll use throughout the module and how the industry-standard tools we use will help develop your learning. From there, we introduce the fundamental aspects of gathering, understanding, and analysing system requirements, while developing your core programming skills.
After establishing this core platform of skills, you’ll look at the software lifecycle and the supporting tools used. Using these tools as part of your learning processes, you’ll then examine the fundamentals of databases and how to access them from your own code. Next, using these database skills, you’ll learn how to test and debug software and how these concepts sit within the wider software development process.
The module’s focus then expands to look at the broader context of professional practice, ethics, automation, and socio-cultural issues. Based on this, you’ll look at the issues around data access and security, introducing you to the concepts of data cleaning and the fundamentals of how to write defensive and secure code.
Next, you’ll explore what happens when you share a database with multiple users, particularly the effects on security and data integrity. From there, we introduce the user, how to represent them, and how to include them into the data preparation and manipulation flow. Finally, you’ll look at the fundamentals of data visualisation and how to take content from the database to the final visualisation.
You can only study this module as part of one of the following qualifications:
You’ll be prepared if you’ve passed Computing fundamentals 1: concepts and Python programming (TM110). If you’ve not received your result, review your scores on TMA01 and TMA02; we recommend proceeding only if you’ve scored 40% or more on each.
Before starting TM113, you should briefly revise your learning from TM110. In particular, ensure you’re comfortable with algorithmic thinking.
You’ll get help and support from an assigned tutor throughout your module.
They’ll help by:
Online tutorials run throughout the module. While they’re not compulsory, we strongly encourage you to participate. Where possible, we’ll make recordings available.
Course work includes:
Your first assignment will include briefly chatting about your module progress with your tutor. Your second assignment will include a live code-review with your tutor of your submitted code.
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
Additionally, the website includes:
The OU strives to make all aspects of study accessible to everyone, and this Accessibility Statement outlines what studying TM113 involves. You should use this information to inform your study preparations and any discussions with us about how we can meet your needs.
To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our Disability support website.
Computing fundamentals 2: programming, databases, software engineering (TM113) starts twice a year – in October and April.
It will next start in October 2026 and April 2027.
We expect it to start for the last time in October 2032.
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