Welcome!
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**Important News** Open University announces a commitment to
support Macs for future OU study
On March 14th 2008, the Open
University sent a message to all students via the internal online
StudentHome facility which announced a commitment to support Macs at
some point in the future, though present policy would remain in place
until such time. This message also included for the first time an
acknowledgement of - and a web link to - these web pages.
This website acknowledges such action as a very welcome - albeit indirect - recognition of the role played by countless Mac-using students at the university over recent years, who have supported their fellow students when no university support has been offered, and no support alternatives suggested. We thank the university for this tacit acknowledgement. Mac-using students should be supported - and it is fortunate for the OU that there have been those willing to give their own free time to support mac users when official OU channels have turned Mac students away. We remain hopeful that - some day - the work on this website will be superceded by those employed to do the task, who work for a university proud to be founded on the principles of open access for all. In the meantime the students of OUSA Mac General will continue their work here and at the university, providing peer help and support to the many (and increasing) Mac-using students who need it. We welcome any help the university is able to offer us - by linking to this site and the OUSA Mac General conference on FirstClass, by informing students about the peer support we offer, and particularly by helping us to address the many small technical - but perfectly solveable - course access issues which plague Mac users at the OU every day. Acknowledgement and recognition is a very welcome first step. It is hoped that we might now receive more constructive help for our work going forward - and that the Open University might now finally listen to our problems, and help us to solve them. |
This site is a resource for students using Apple Macintosh computers studying, or intending to study, at the Open University in the U.K. - a world leader in distance learning.The site was constructed by members of the Open University FirstClass conference OUSA Mac General. The site's central feature is the Mac General Compatibility List - an updated list of current OU courses rated by their compatibility for study using Apple computers, submitted by students with first-hand experience of the course.
Why a compatibility list?
Current Open University computer policy dictates that study can only be supported for students running the Windows operating system. Students using any other computer platform do so at their own risk, and cannot receive technical support. That said, the Open University contains many students who do use other systems on many courses - and whilst they are not officially supported, there is a vibrant 'peer support' community which contributes to the many online conferences that comprise the Open University's online 'campus'. OUSA Mac General is one such conference - formed to offer help and peer support for users of Macs at the OU.But there is a catch. Mac users who may be thinking of studying a particular course at the Open University have no way of knowing exactly how compatible a course may be using their Apple computer until they enrol. The Open University provides no information in this regard - and even if a student is already enrolled at the university, finding compatibility details can be frustrating. Course compatibility questions form one of the chief enquiries to Mac General. The compatibility list is a simple attempt to provide some answers. We hope it will be a help to prospective Mac-using students as well as current OU studiers.
Other Features
The site includes a Questionnaire page, to allow Mac-using
students to submit their first-hand knowledge of courses studied to the
list. Other pages offer advice on submitting
work electronically to the university, installing the OU conferencing software, using
the Windows operating system on a
Mac, and sourcing OU provided online
applications for use on Macs. A new feature from April 2008 will be the News page - which will feature announcements and responses to matters of interest concerning Mac-using OU students.
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OU
Tutors and Staff using Macs
Though these pages are primarily for the use of students, we very much
welcome mac-using Open University staff members, and value their input
and comments. There are many such people at the university, and much of
this site's contents will be of interest to those working on the 'other
side of the desk'. The help of individual tutors has been instrumental
to the survival of the Mac in the OU in these recent years, and any
advice they can give is invaluable.Of particular interest to tutors is the ability to use the Mac for marking the electronic assessments (or eTMAs) that are sent in by students. We are delighted to tell you that - thanks to excellent work by Associate Lecturer Mike Hay - there is a version of the eTMA handler software available for Macintosh! For further information, and to download his software, please visit Mike's site here. |