The Open University Mac Compatibility List
KEY TO STAR RATINGS
* The course cannot be studied on a Macintosh.** Highly incompatible, but may be run on a Mac via emulation/virtualization software.
*** Contains many Mac compatible elements, but requires emulation or a PC for some key tasks.
**** Effectively Mac compatible, containing only minor conversion or installation problems.
***** The course is entirely Mac compatible and accessible.
Please help us to stay current by adding your own experiences to the list below.
Simply fill out the Questionnaire for your course, even if the course is already listed,
as you may be able to update the information, or add some observations of your own.
It's your experience that makes this list possible and helps others!
| Course Code
|
Course
name |
Rating
|
Comments
|
OS
|
Year
Studied |
| AAZX300
|
Europe:
Culture and Identity in a Contested Continent |
***** |
I did
the online version of AA300 on a mac and had no problems. I already had
the FirstClass software installed so that there were no problems with
accessing my tutor group. The ETMA-system worked fine with
Firefox - I've never tried it with Safari though. My tutor never
had any problems with my TMAs which were created on MS Office for Max
X. One has to remember to download the marked assignments as .zip-files
and not the default .exe. The Course documents were PDFs - so no
problems also. |
OSX |
2005 |
| AA306 |
Shakespeare:
Text and Performance |
***** | Very little computer
content at all, and what there was was fully Mac-compatible. Use
of technology was restricted to emails from tutor, eTMAs (submission in
RTF format is fine), audio CDs, and ordinary audiovisual DVDs.
Access to the OU online library is useful (but not essential).
There wasn't even a requirement to use FirstClass. |
OSX |
2008 |
| AA311 |
Reading
Political Philosophy |
***** | There is no specific computer
requirement for this course. The FC conference is a useful facility
which can be readily accessed by Mac. |
OSX OS9 |
2003 |
| AA314 |
Studies
in Music 1750-2000: Interpretation and Analysis |
***** | There are no barriers to
studying or to teaching with a Mac. Because students may have to
submit annotated pages of scores, submission is by hard copy only with
hard PT3. Materials are books, CDs and video tape. |
OSX OS9 |
2006 |
| AA315 |
Renaissance
Art Reconsidered |
** | I had to use Microsoft 'Word'
for each assignment. I have this application on my Mac but not on
the lap-top which has windows only. I could therefore send each
TMA to the website, but had a lot of problems reading the marked
assignment. I could not access my tutor's comments. |
OSX |
2007 |
| AZX103 |
Introduction
to the Humanities |
***** | "Online course, with course
materials delivered as hardcopy. eTMA system and FirstClass are
essential - but both work fine with Mac (remembering to download eTMA
feedback as "Standard ZIP" and not "Self-extracting ZIP").
Assignments should be submitted as Word docs, but I believe RTF is
accepted as an alternative if you don't have Office and can't save in
Word format. " "Downloaded firstclass for mac from an external site. Submit etmas, which are s"aved as rtf, and receive rtf in return. All works fine :)" "I managed to get FirstClass (v 8.1) running OK on my iMac with OS X, no real glitches at all, just not a very sexy UI! eTMAs were also successful, provided the replies were downloaded as ZIPs not self-extracting EXE's(!) The web interface has also been improved. Overall AZX103 was fully covered by the Mac, particularly as this was the 'online' version." |
OSX |
2005 - 2006 |
| A172 | Start Writing Essays | ***** | ETMAs can be sent in .rtf if you don't have Word. | OSX |
2005 |
| A173 |
Writing
Family History |
***** | This course is fine with a MAC.
Tutorials are held on-line, and the 5 blocks of the course appear on a
specially created website. (You can print the blocks off if you need
to, but to get full benefit of the links it's best to do them on line.)
There is a printed anthology, and a CD. eTMAs are submitted but
remember to collect them using standard zip not self extracting. |
OSX |
2006 |
| A174 | Start Writing Fiction | ***** | Finished
A174 July 2007. I had absolutely no problem with this course on the
Mac. I used a combination of Firefox and the OU website, FC software
for Mac and Office for Mac for embedded tutor comments. The experience
was entirely hassle free. |
OSX | 2007 |
| A175 |
Start
Writing Poetry |
***** | No problems - as with the other
Start Writing courses. |
OSX |
2007 |
| A177 |
Introduction
to Shakespeare |
***** | Online course, with course
materials delivered as hardcopy. eTMA system and FirstClass are
essential - but both work fine with Mac (remembering to download eTMA
feedback as "Standard ZIP" and not "Self-extracting ZIP").
Assignments should be submitted as Word docs, but I believe RTF is
accepted as an alternative if you don't have Office and can't save in
Word format. |
OSX |
2005 |
| A178 |
Perspectives
on Leonardo da Vinci |
***** | Online course, with
course materials delivered as hardcopy. eTMA system and
FirstClass are essential - but both work fine with Mac (remembering to
download eTMA feedback as "Standard ZIP" and not "Self-extracting
ZIP"). Assignments should be submitted as Word docs, but I
believe RTF is accepted as an alternative if you don't have Office and
can't save in Word format. My tutor was actually a Mac user
himself! |
OSX |
2005 |
| A200 |
History
- Medieval to Modern |
***** | Had no problems at all, as the
eTMA's on this course (as well as previous one A103) were downloadable
as "zip files" as well as (Windows) "exe" files |
OSX |
2008 |
| A210 | Approaching literature | ***** | Its a literature course (obviously) and requires a lot of reading and use of a video and audio cassettes. There is no PC specific elements to the course so it can be successfully completed by a Macuser. | OSX | 2005 |
| A211 |
Philosophy
and the Human Situation. |
***** | There is no specific computer
requirement for this course. The FC conference is a useful facility
which can be readily accessed by Mac. |
OSX OS9 |
2003 |
| A214 |
Understanding
Music: Elements, Techniques and Styles. |
***** | There is no specific computer
requirement for this course. The FC conference is a useful facility
which can be readily accessed by Mac. |
OSX OS9 |
2005 |
| A215 |
Creative
Writing |
***** ***** |
(2 comments) This course is completely compatible with Mac. All teaching material is in print or audio CD and tutorials & student feedback are done through First Class, so should work fine. Just make sure that your eTMA files are saved as .rtf before sending, as the tutor won't be able to deal with Mac Word files in their marking up software. When you get the comments back from your tutor, you may want to open the files from your software program, rather than double clicking on the file, as this did not seem to work. Overall, I found this course to be 100% Mac-Compatible. The course text is provided both in paper and PDF format, with audio material provided on standard CDs, so no problems there. The course website was cross-browser compatible and I was able to take part in online tutorials using a Mac-compatible version of First Class client that I downloaded from the First Class website. eTMAs could be submitted in .rtf format, but my tutor did have a tendency to convert it to .doc format and use MS Word's embedded comments feature when returning it to me after marking. This worked out fine for me as I use NeoOffice (a free "Office" suite that can handle .doc and embedded comments pretty well), but I recommend getting NeoOffice or something similar (if you haven't already) to handle .doc files, just in case your tutor chooses to embed feedback in the same way. As usual, make sure to download returned eTMAs as a standard ZIP file and all should be well. |
OSX OSX |
2006 2008 |
| A218 |
Medicine
and Society in Europe 1500-1930 |
*** | By far the most course stuff is
paper based, no OS problems. There is a CD Rom, produced with
Macromedia Director and saved in MS-Windows only format. The material
from this CD forms ~10% of TMA/exam content. So you better have access
to a PC with rights to install some of the CD content. Please keep in mind: OU could solve this problem without much effort ... but they never promised anything. |
OSX |
2006 |
| A251 |
World
Archaeology |
***** | The course materials all worked
well on mac osx, the dvd's worked perfectly as well. |
OSX |
2008 |
| A363 |
Advanced
Creative Writing |
***** | Like the other creative writing
courses this course is fully Mac-compatible. For the 2nd
TMA,Scriptwriting, tutors preferred a submission in .doc. I would say
it's easier to write this in Word (MacVersion) as the correct format is
a critical component, OU specific, and time consuming. All course
materials CDs, DVD, mp3s, coursebook as .pdf etc. are completely
accessible with a Mac. Using FC Client from the start will make using the Tutor Group forums for TMA3 (Critique) much easier. |
OSX |
2009 |
| B120 |
An
introduction to business |
***** | No problems experienced with the
eTMA, First Class or any of the work :) |
OSX |
2009 |
| B820 |
Strategy
|
***** | No bespoke OU software so only
compatability issues are firstclass and the e-TMA system. All worked
fine for me save one TMA where diagrams prepared in MS Powerpoint were
not viewable by the tutor. Not sure if this was a Mac compatability
issue or a problem with my tutors PC. Lesson: stick to doing diargams
for TMAs in Word. |
OSX |
2005/ 2006 |
| B822 |
Creativity
Innovation and Change |
***** | I have studied all my courses on
a Mac since 2000 including a Diploma in Information Technology. I just
searched the www to find the Mac equivalent of any of the software
include First Class. Now I just access everything via the web. |
OSX |
2007 |
| DB123 |
Personal
Finance |
*** | The DVD-ROM will not display
material from the OU server. It did briefly until the latest operating
system came along which the OU does not support. So back to square
one! The financial tools can be accessed from a standard browser
(Safari) but the names of the tools could be more user-friendly. |
OSX |
2008 |
| DD100 |
An
Introduction to the Social Sciences: Understanding Social Change
|
***** ***** ***** |
(3 comments) No problems at all - the only one would be that one cannot obtain the Firstclass software from the OU website but must download it e.g. at Versiontracker. The course comes (at least came!) on tapes and videotapes, so no computer is needed at all. The course material could be downloaded from the course website as pdf-files. The course continues to be fully Mac compliant. The supporting material is now on CD and DVD, rather than audio and video tape, but there are no compatability problems. Had No Problems at all. |
OSX OSX OSX |
2005 2008 2008 |
| DD202 |
Economics
and Economic Change |
*** | SPSS as supplied is
Windows-only. A Mac version is available for purchase from SPSS. SPSS
may work under Bootcamp or Parallels but I haven't tried. Most CD tutorials work in Firefox but the "review your learning" ones don't. These, however, do work in Safari (3.0). TMAs can be submitted electronically if they're in RTF format and created using Word for OS X and saved as Word 2007 document. |
OSX |
2008 |
| DD303 |
Cognitive
Psychology |
* *** |
(2 comments) This course uses E-Prime software which does not seem to work on VPC, so needs a PC. SPSS provided only in Win version (although Mac version exists) and E-Prime is Win-only. Both run well using Boot Camp or Parallels on an Intel Mac. |
OSX OSX |
2005 2007 |
| DD307 |
Social
Psychology |
***** | DVDs provided run under Apple's
DVD Player. A voice recorder is recommended for the project - Mac-compatible USB versions are easily available (eg, Olympus WS-series) although there is no strict need to put the recordings on a computer except as a back-up |
OSX |
2007 |
| DSE212 | Exploring Psychology | ** | Used VPC emulator for SPSS. Worked OK. | OSX | 2003 |
| DT840 |
Introduction
to research: basic skills and survey methods |
**** | No elements have been
impossible, there are Mac versions of the required software i.e.
Firstclass (the Mac interface is a lot better than the Windows
version). The only need to use Windows is to run SPSS which I have
loaded up on a Windows partition via Bootcamp. No problems otherwise
everything runs just fine |
OSX |
2008 |
| DU301 |
A
world of whose making |
*** | My Mac doesn't seem to be
able to 'read' the course CD's which have tutorials on Interpreting
Data and also Concept Mapper information. |
OSX |
2008 |
| DZX222 |
Exploring Psychology Online Project
|
*** | You need First Class for this
course, SPSS is also used which needs a pc but it does work on vitual
pc which is what I used. You also need to have something that can open
word documents and powerpoint presentations |
OSX |
2006 |
| D830 |
Ecology,
Justice and Citizenship |
***** | As of 2003, this course had no
computer-related requirements that could not be met with a Mac running
OS9 or later -- I participated in all associated First Class
conferences and accessed web-based materials on my lime iBook, no
problem. |
OS9 |
2003 |
| ED209 |
Child
Development |
*** | Am currently about half way
through studying this course, which has been rewritten this year.
The main problem I have encountered is getting the focus software to
run, because the Mac installation application has been removed from the
software. It is still relatively easy to navigate through the
files, however some exercises, e.g. coding, had to be done at work on a
PC. The course is certainly do-able on a Mac though as the coding exercises were explained in a transcript that could be accessed. I'd give it 3.5 stars really. |
OSX |
2006 |
| EK310 | Research
with Children and Young People |
*** | Parts of the course were okay on my iBook, audio accessible via iTunes and video clips worked for the most part, although not entirely smoothly. Could not get Focus programme to run either on iBook or Powerbook G4, even with Virtual PC. Focus is a necessary part of TMA05, so had to resort to Windoze. | OSX | 2005 |
| E131 |
working
with young people |
***** | The audio/visual material for
this course comes on a DVD and so there was no problem accessing it or
using the Etma system. |
OSX |
2008 |
| E301 |
The
Art of English |
**** | The CD-Rom interface for the
additional material for the course (audio and video files) only works
for a PC. It's easily possible to get around that as all the files are
in html, avi, mp3, or other web-compatible format. So one can copy the
files from the CD and read/hear/watch them on the program of one's
choice. It is a bit of a drag to assign them to the correct chapter and
study week though as they are all located in one big directory and the
names are not meaningful. It's possible though with some
patience. |
OSX |
2006 |
| E303 |
English
Grammar in Context |
** | Activities CD-ROM required
Virtual PC. Concordancer CD-ROM was not compatible, used another computer to run the program. |
OSX |
2006 |
| H808 |
Online
& Distance Education |
***** | Course is entirely online and
makes extensive use of FirstClass client. No Windows only elements at
all. |
OSX |
2007 |
| H808 |
The
eLearning Professional |
**** | Detailed comments here. |
OSX |
2008 |
| KZX100 | Understanding
Health and Social Care - Online version |
***** | Require MS Office - I could find no alternative which supported both kinds of comments on coursework. You need to know how to make screen grabs and zip files. Explicit instructions are given for Windows machines - you need to know how to perform the same things on your Mac - or know how to find out. Requires firstclass which you must install yourself. | OSX | 2005 |
| K100 | Understanding Health and Social Care | ***** | The
OUSA K100 conference is using FirstClass and was very supportive in
2005. First Class I had to download from www.firstclass.com, which
worked fine. No other software was required. |
OSX | 2005 |
| K203 |
Working
for Health |
***** | Paper, audio CD and DVD ... no
problems |
OSX |
2007 |
| K221 | Perspectives
on complementary and alternative medicine |
**** | Theres an installer for the course CD which wont work on a Mac but all this means is that when you come to do the exercises which involve viewing files off the CD you simply have to look through the CD and find the file yourself - no major hardship. | OSX | 2005 |
| K223 |
Knowledge
Information and Care |
*** | The software is badly done using
OS 10.4. All the course material is provided on CD aiming to be used
with a browser - it turns out that InternetExplorer is meant as
browser. Student are supposed to note down via the OU software, but to
reopen notes won't work all the time. To access notes using independent
software isn't possible. More than one out of ten links don't work. No
compatibility with Adobe Reader 7. Even using version 6 isn't
reliable... all this and more is citicised by windows users as well. I work around this by taking notes with decent software and opening additional files from desktop. |
OSX |
2006 |
| K260 |
Death
& Dying |
***** | No Problems |
OSX |
2005 |
| L130 |
Auftakt: get ahead in German |
** | Could so easily have been made
completely platform independent. The installers for the DVD
software are EXEs that only copy files and set up a series of webpages
for access to the DVD material. If you have access to a windows
machine, you can just about copy the installation over to the mac, then
fiddle with the settings in the installed files, then bodge firefox or
whatever to make the mildly broken HTML work. But it's tricky,
and it doesn't really work properly on a mac unless you have bootcamp
etc installed. |
OSX |
2007 |
| L196 |
Welsh
1: Croeso |
*** | I will be teaching on this
course this year and am a lifelong Mac user. I will check to see
what is available on the Mac. Lyceum is essential and this will
be the real test - otherwise I will have to use one of the PCs at home
(gifts from IT friends) The litany of sad cases of lack of support is tragic and we deserve fuller support from now on. |
OSX |
2008 |
| L310 (was L210 + L302) |
Mises
au Point, Reflexions |
**** | No problem using the Mac for
most of the course; the only problem was Lyceum access. I did one
of the online courses, and solved this by buying a PC ... I have
heard that it can be done using an emulator, but that it's not easy or
quick. If you're not doing an LZX online course, Lyceum is just a useful extra, but not essential to the course. |
OSX |
2003/ 2004 |
| L204 |
Viento
en Popa |
* | I've had some very unhelpful
responses from the OU when I asked how to access my ETMA feedback. A
very simple procedure, but I was simply told that the OU does not
support Mac users. Also, I have had significant problems trying to use
Lyceum, which means I can't engage in the online discussions. I can log
on, write in the dialogue, but when I try to speak either I can't be
heard or it crashes. A major disappointment. I tried running it
on parallel desktop but that didn't work either. Apparently other
people managed. |
OSX |
2008 |
| L211 |
Envol:
Upper Intermediate French |
** | The introduction of Elluminate
to replace Lyceum means that the previous problems with tutorials for
language courses are a thing of the past.... however... at the
same time as introducing a browser based conferencing tool that can be
used just as easily on a Mac as on a PC, the DVDs and CDs that are
crucial to the course (half of the content) have been replaced with
DVD-ROMs that require .exe files and therefore I have had to use
Parallels to access these instead. One step forward... two steps
back :-( |
OSX |
2009 |
| MST121 | Using Mathematics | ** ** *** |
(3
comments) Uses Windows software which ran very well using Virtual PC v3 within OS9. I had to use Virtual PC on my Mac OSX because the math software only came in windows version. Generally I can use my Mac for everything to do with my OU course - with the BIG exception of a programme called MATHCAD, which doesn't appear to have a Mac Version - but it seems to run okay on Windows using Parallels on Mac OS X Leopard. But it would be better in Mac native. |
OS9 OSX OSX |
2000 2007 2008 |
| MST209 |
Mathematical
Methods and Models |
*** | The software currently needed
for this course is Mathcad 2001i Professional, which needs Windows to
run, as does the Study-Map program that is provided for the course.
Both run perfectly well under XP/Vista in VMware, Parallels, or
Bootcamp. The videos provided can of course be watched under Mac OS. The most used program is actually First Class which runs perfectly well on Macs. Most of the work is done with pen and paper (and brain). We'll see what happens when the course switches to the ETMA system in the future. |
OSX |
2009 |
| MS221 | Exploring Mathematics | ** | Uses Windows software. It ran very well using Virtual PC v5 under OSX up to Jaguar. Panther onwards requires a more recent edition of Virtual PC which I have not used. | OSX OS9 | 2001 |
| MT262 |
Putting
Computer Systems to Work |
** | The course requires the use of
the C++ compiler Borland C++ Builder 5, of which there is no Mac
version. Some course files and updates are delivered in .exe format. I
ran the software using Virtual PC 6 (Windows XP) on an iBook G4, which
worked without problems although it was slow at times. |
OSX |
2006 |
| M150 | Data, Computing and Information | ***** ***** |
(2
comments) The Course notes are in PDF fomat on CD rom, the CD rom has an exe install file but the files can be copied manually. (then hotsynced to my PDA) Had No Problems at all. |
OSX OSX |
2004 2008 |
| M254 | Java Everywhere | *** | The
course uses Borland's JBuilder Foundation, which is available for Mac
OS X, and all the activities and TMAs can be completed on the Mac
version. I did all of my coding on my Mac, but did transfer the project to my PC before submitting any TMAs, just to be sure, but I really think this was overkill on my part! The only area of the course which will not work on the Mac is the final unit. This unit uses software that emulates the running of a mobile phone on your PC, so you can write Java applications which will run on a mobile. There is no Mac version of this sofware, so I had to do these activities on the PC. I wouldn't envisage a problem with running this under VirtualPC, as it isn't a very large application. |
OSX | 2005 |
| M255 |
Object-oriented
programming with Java |
**** | The course uses an IDE called
BlueJ - only Windows versions are provided but this can be downloaded
for free from www.bluej.org There are certain extensions provided by the OU which will need to be added. Tutor Percy Mett kindly offered the following information which was required to get the OU extensions functioning correctly Files should be placed as follows: ouwextension -> BlueJ/Contents/Resources/Java/extensions bsh-2.0b4.jar -> BlueJ/Contents/Resources/Java/userlib bsh-2.0b4.jar -> /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.5.0/Home/lib/ext ou.jar -> BlueJ/Contents/Resources/Java/userlib ou.jar -> /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/1.5.0/Home/lib/ext In addition, I had to use the Java Preferences application (search in Spotlight for this) to select the correct version of the JVM. The course needs you to use 1.5.0, this can be set by dragging the order of the available JVMs in the preferences application. Initially course projects were provided in a Windows .exe format, but a later update provided them in plain .zip format which I could open on my Mac no problem. LINK: http://www.bluej.org |
OSX |
2006 |
| M257 |
Putting
java to work |
***** | Never needed a PC. |
OSX |
2008 |
| M263 | The Building Blocks of Software | **** | The course uses a Java-based application called the Workpad for running and verifying code. As OS X handles Java natively, this application runs with no problems on recent Macs - instructions here. However, emulation or a PC is required to open the essential course update files delivered online via .exe file. Once opened, they can be accessed by Mac OS X. | OSX |
2005 |
| M337 |
Complex
Analysis |
***** | Three of the discs are CDs
containing audio files to replace cassettes that were used previously.
When you insert the CD the mac just opens straight into iTunes and you
play the tracks. The final disk is a DVD (the OU previously used a
video) and this opens directly into DVD player and shows various
aspects of Complex Analysis as demonstrated by some type of
mathematical software ( may have been MathCad). It is NOT software for
the student to use - just a video on DVD. No emulation is needed.
|
OSX |
2007 |
| M359 |
Relational
Databases: Theory and Practice |
**** | This course uses SQLAnywhere9
from Sybase. The following link is to the registration page for a free
licence:- http://www.ianywhere.com/downloads/software/sql_anywhere_intro.html You can then download the software and documentation, which is the same version as the Windows version used on the course CD. Mount the downloaded image and read the installation instructions in welcome.pdf in the SQLAnywhere9 folder. You need to set up the Data Source names as defined in the course Software Guide. Unfortunately the two java applications on the CD do not run correctly and I was unable to edit the jar files. The underlying databases can be inspected in Sybase or run in Windows. They are only used in the early part of the course and are not critical. The course starts on 3 Feb 07 so I will update this if I encounter any problems during the course. |
OSX |
2007 |
| M366 |
Natural
and Artificial Intelligence |
*** | This new course (as of 2008)
still persists in the needless OU habit of wrapping cross-platform Java
software in Windows executable installers. That said, the great
majority of course software can be run natively in OS X The course consists of four separate applications:- NetLogo JavaNNS SB-MASE and a purpose-made media reader/player java app from the OU. A Mac-native version of NetLogo is available online for free, though you must not use the latest version. Some of the course models do not work with versions greater than 3.1.5. JavaNNS runs natively from the CD - simply drag the files from the CD to your desktop and double-click JavaNNS.jar. SB-MASE is also available for platform-independent download - simply follow the instructions in the included manual to start the app via the Terminal.app. Only the OU's own software cannot be started on the Mac (unsurprisingly). However, this media reader is wholly unnecessary, as all pages and files are included on the install CD, and could easily have been written in HTML. Simply access each media file or document as needed. |
OSX |
2009 |
| M882 |
Managing
the Software Enterprise |
*** | The majority of the course
materials are books/pdfs. The assigments can be completed with
OpenOffice/NeoOffice or any wordprocessor that produces .doc files. There are simulations which require MS Windows (.exe files). These run happily on XP running on VirtualBox on OSX. Using the simulation software and taking screenshots is a requirement for completing one of the questions on one TMA. |
OSX |
2009 |
| M885 |
Analysis
and design of enterprise systems |
*** | All written material,
assignments and forum can easily be used on MacOS X. The CASE tool
supplied (Max UML) requires a Windows environment (Win XP preferable).
I have not experienced any problem using it with an Emulator
(Parallels). An possible alternative would be to use a UML 2.0
diagramming to for MacOS. This option was accepted by course tutors. |
OSX |
2007 |
| M889 |
Computer
Forensics and Investigations |
** | I was able to use my OS X for
FirstClass and Web Browsing as well as Scrivener and Word for Mac 2008
for preparing eTMAs but the actual forensic work had to be done with
CaseNotes under emulation and the Helix CD would not boot on a Mac (and
many PCs too) but the latest version does. The course deals only
with Windows Forensics so a good knowledge of the Windows OS is
helpful. The Course Team seemed to be somewhat unaware that
people used non-Windows computers. |
OSX |
2008 |
| SD226 | Biological
Psychology |
** *** |
(2
comments) "Used VPC emulator for SPSS. Worked OK." "I tutor the course and have never been a student on it but it has some components - digital microscope and the stats test program - that are essential but can be done off-line via Parallels, VMWare etc. These and some useful but non-essential audio-visual material work best when properly installed but most other stuff on the course CD can be accessed a bit via just searching the folders of the CD and clicking on filetypes your Mac can open. For the fairly determined, the digital microscope slides (.swf) can be identified from their name as to rat, slide number, drug, and opened by clicking on them (using Real Player), and the tTest seems to be a stand-alone .exe that could presumably be run on a PC at the local library. eTMAs of course can be sent from raw Macs, and tutors can mark SD226 eTMAs using Mike Hay's java tool. " |
OSX OSX |
2004 2009 |
| SDK125 |
Introducing
Health Sciences: A Case Study Approach |
* | All course material that could
be downloaded (as well as in print) worked well on a Mac through
Preview. However, the DVD didn't work at all. Transcripts can be
accessed, videos are rarely work, although possible to get the audio
files for them into iTunes. The software for the interactive elements
not for Mac, although it didn't work on the PC anyway! Assessments
possible on a Mac - CMAs need to be done in Firefox, TMAs require
Microsoft word/excel. |
OSX |
2007 |
| SK121 |
Understanding
Cardiovascular Diseases |
* | This course requires the use of
a DVD which provides various animations and other resources which are
integral to the course. This cannot be used on a mac at all. |
OSX |
2008 |
| SXG390 |
The
Geohazards Project Course |
**** | Completely possible to study
this on a Mac, since the course is built around your own project work.
The course DVD is simply a series of HTML files (and PDFs), which work
fine. All TMAs have to be submitted via the eTMA system, so the normal
conversion to DOC/XLS format applies, as does the ability to ZIP files
in a Windows-friendly format. Bibliography software is recommended to
manage you references - EndNote being recommended. Plenty of other
Mac-compatible options: I started with Bookends, but finished up using
Zotero, which is cross-platform. Final ECA needs to go snail-mail, so
no problems here. I did the whole course using NeoOffice, using YemuZip
to ZIP up my TMAs. |
OSX |
2008 |
| SXR208 |
Observing
the Universe |
*** | 95% of the course can be done
natively on the Mac (Intel), but a recent addition to the pre-school
assessment is the successful completion of a telescope simulator, which
is Windows only (.msi file). Up to an extra 15 marks is added to your
TMA01 score, so quite valuable! May be possible to run in Parallels
etc., but I have not tested this. I had to suffer the indignity of
digging out my old WinXP machine... |
OSX |
2008 |
| S103 |
Discovering
Science |
** | I've been using Virtual PC
version 7 on a G4 powerbook running OSX version 10.3. First Class works fine. The problem is that the sound on multimedia sections of the course DVD is very jittery with very long gaps between sentences making them unuseable. I followed advice in our first class conference and installed Quicktime version 6 from the course DVD onto the virtual PC. No change though. |
OSX |
2006 |
| S104 |
Exploring Science |
***** | This note is specifically about
the new MyStuff web app. Don't bother trying to use it in Safari
(on either a mac or a pc), as the text editing toolbar does not
appear. All works fine and dandy with Firefox though. |
OSX |
2008/9 |
| S151 |
Maths
For Science |
*** | CDRom would not run properly -
EXE files - although transcripts were readable. However, I would say
that the contents were helpful, rather than crucial. OK, "very
helpful". The Online Assessment (and Practice Assessment) worked fine: I clicked on the Internet Explorer button despite using Safari, the Java applet installed OK. Completed the ECA (over several sessions) and submitted it successfully. Only problem came when trying to use the Printout All Questions function, which failed to work and crashed Safari! Not to worry, I just read them as they came. Same problem reported on the course conference by a Mac user with Firefox browser. I did not try the trial Practice Assessment which may be in effect for the next course. |
OSX |
2005-6 |
| S189 |
Understanding
the Weather |
* | I am experiencing problems
accessing a DVD that is fundamental to this course. The DVD is a
catalogue of photos and a spreadsheet containing the captions and text
relevant to the photos. Using my Mac, I can access each photo or caption independently and individually (much too time consuming) but it does not run as a slide show with comments etc available at the same time. |
OSX |
2008 |
| S207 |
Physical
World |
** | Course CD's worked reasonably
well via Virtual PC 6. The only problem I had was having to wait several minutes for the S207 Windows programs to load from the CD before I could use them. Start too soon and the program would crash - this may be normal Windows behaviour! |
OSX |
2005 |
| S216 |
Environmental
Science |
** | Interactive DVD materials
require Windows but generally ran OK on a Power PC eMac under emulation
(Guest PC, Windows 98). Video was a bit jittery at times, and I ended
up viewing the files in Quicktime from OSX. |
OSX |
2006 |
| S250 |
Science
in Context |
*** | Course software runs in VPC7.
However, VPC cannot play DVD video sequences, so have to view them via
OSX and superdrive. |
OSX |
2006 |
| S260 |
Geology
|
**** ** * |
(3 comments) "The video part of the DVD works on MAC, but the interactive part ie environmental panorama and rock library does not. I have now installed Parallels and Win XP on my Macbook. It would seem that the course works fine under Parallels emulation." "Materials require Windows but work OK on a PowerPC eMac under emulation (Guest PC, Windows 98). Oddly, one of the DVDs shows someone demonstrating the course software on OS9, though the Mac software seems to be unavailable." Interactive DVDs form an essential part of the course and are totally PC specific. Indeed my works supplied laptop can not run the interactive sections but only the Video |
OSX OSX OSX |
2006 2007 2008 |
| S282 |
Astronomy
|
*** | Some (optional) activities use
supplied Windows applications (which run on VirtualPC). OpenOffice or
Excel is required for some activities and TMAs. |
OSX |
2006 |
| S339 |
Understanding
the Continents |
*** | Excellent course. DVDs run OK on
pure Mac, but number of activities including the rock library and
microscope need to be run under Parallels emulation. |
OSX |
2008 |
| S369 |
Geological
record of environmental change |
**** | The video part of the DVD works on MAC, but the interactive part ie environmental panorama and rock library does not. I have now installed Parallels and Win XP on my Macbook. It would seem that the course works fine under Parallels emulation. | OSX |
2007 |
| S381 |
The
Energetic Universe |
*** | I had to use Parallels
extensively, though much of the spreadsheet work was fine to do via
either NeoOffice or Office for Mac. |
OSX |
2008 |
| TA212 |
The
Technology of Music |
*** | To cut a very long story short,
I have tried writing a TMA in: NeoOffice Word for Mac (MS Office X) Pages (Apple iWork 08) and also AbiWord (which was unsuitable for anything but the most basic text based documents). In all of these packages, I saved .doc files containing equations and graphics, and checked them in Word on a Windows platform. Surprisingly, the most compatible software was NeoOffice. Documents produced in Word for Mac had no graphics when opened on the Windows platform. Adobe Audition is required for the course, and there is NO Mac version (although it may become available as part of Adobe CS at some point in the future). This can be run under Windows running in Virtual PC/Parallels/BootCamp. |
OSX |
2008 |
| TT280 |
Web
Basics: Design, Development and Management |
***** | can be done using any flavour of
MacOS with no problems and no need to use VirtualPC. You just
need a standards-compliant browser (I recommend Firefox for OS X), a
decent text editor (I recommend BBEdit), and something which can
produce RTF or DOC files (TextEdit on Mac OS X will do RTF). See General notes here. |
OSX OS9 |
2004 |
| TT281 |
The
Client Side of Application Development |
***** | can be done using any flavour of
MacOS with no problems and no need to use VirtualPC. You just
need a standards-compliant browser (I recommend Firefox for OS X), a
decent text editor (I recommend BBEdit), and something which can
produce RTF or DOC files (TextEdit on Mac OS X will do RTF). See General notes here. |
OSX OS9 |
2004 |
| TT282 |
The
Server-side of Application Development |
*** | can probably be done on Mac if
you're willing to use the OU's provided server to test your stuff in
rather than trying to run it locally. You probably could install
a web server in VirtualPC and the ASP module, but working with Virtual
PC is pretty slow and, if you have a G5, you'll need the latest version
of Virtual PC from Microsoft. You'll need an ssh/sftp flient and
a decent text editor. See General notes here. |
OSX |
2004 |
| TT380 |
Databases
within Website Design |
*** | I know it uses ColdFusion and
there is a ColdFusion (free) developer's package available for OS
X. It also needs a database. I'm not sure what they're
using, but I'd imagine you can get away with mySQL again. If not,
Oracle has a developer version (free) but the install is hairy as
there's no real installer for it. See General notes here. |
OSX |
2004 |
| TT381 |
Open
Source Development Tools |
**** | can be done on Mac handily if
you're using Mac OS X. The course CD-ROM even includes PHP/mySQL
but you're better off getting Mark Liyanage's packages (see http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/)
for Apache 1.3.x which are newer than what's on the CD-ROM for the Mac
(the Mac software on the CD-ROM is waaaaay out of date for some of the
stuff). Note that TT381 uses PHP 4.3.x and not the brand new PHP
5.x If you're using OS 9, again it can still be done, but you'll
have to rely on using the provided OU server to test/develop your
applications. MySQL for OS X is shipped on the TT381 CD-ROM but
can also be installed using instructions from Mark Liyanage (see http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/mysql/).
You'll also need an ssh/ftp client and a decent text editor. See General notes here. |
OSX OS9 |
2004 |
| TT382 |
Web
Server Management, Performance and Tuning |
***** | This uses Apache
2.x. There are no Apache versions for Mac OS 9. Mac
OS X (Panther) ships with Apache 1.3.x out of the box. Server
Logistics has a package installer for Apache 2.x for OS X (Panther+)
(See http://www.serverlogistics.com/apache2.php).
Note: I haven't tried this myself. Server Logistics also has a
PHP installer designed to work with Apache 2.x under OS X (see http://www.serverlogistics.com/php4.php
). See General notes here. |
OSX |
2004 |
| TU870 |
Development:
context and practice |
***** | As of 2002, this course had no
computer-related requirements that could not be met with a Mac running
OS9 or later -- I participated in all associated First Class
conferences and accessed web-based materials on my lime iBook, no
problem. |
OS9 |
2002 |
| TU874 |
The
Development Management Project |
***** | As of 2005, this course had no
computer-related requirements that could not be met with a Mac running
OS9 or later -- I participated in all associated First Class
conferences, submitted my papers via the web and accessed web-based
materials on my lime iBook, no problem. |
OS9 |
2005 |
| TUXX871 |
Development: context and
practice |
**** | The course is the online
equivalent of TU871 but uses the same DVD's and CDRoms. They did not
run with the autorun feature and the folders were not always helpfully
labelled but I didn't have too much difficulty running the clips once
they were located using Quicktime. The only difficulties I had was opening up my returned TMA but the helpful folks in the OU Mac Forum explained how to do it. The other issue I had with a TMA was a graph embedded using excel did not show all the axes labels - fortunately it did not affect my results. Apparently saving as jpegs before embedding them in a file is an alternative. |
OSX |
2009 |
| TYU872 |
Institutional
Development: Conflicts, Values and Meanings |
***** | As of 2003, this course had no
computer-related requirements that could not be met with a Mac running
OS9 or later -- I participated in all associated First Class
conferences and accessed web-based materials on my lime iBook, no
problem. |
OS9 |
2004 |
| T121 |
Information
and Communication Technologies at Work |
**** | Have had few problems tutoring
this course using Mac. There is a FirstClass client for Mac which is excellent and can be downloaded from the FirstClass website (firstclass.com). Microsoft's Mac Office software is almost fully compatible with the Windows version, but graphics embedded in Office documents (particularly Powerpoint) may be incompatible; check that your tutor can read a document with images in (e.g. copy/paste a chart from Excel). OpenOffice runs well enough on Mac also. The Mac's native Preview application is faster than Adobe Reader, but Adobe is available. Firefox is a great browser, but there may occasionally be things that won't run except in Internet Explorer on Windows. Stuffit Expander will read Zip files. You do need something (e.g. Stuffit) which will create zip files. Don't forget that BootCamp or Parallels enable you to run Windows on your Intel Mac. Hope this helps! I haven't tried the more advanced learning support environments such as Lyceum or Elluminate; working on it! |
OSX |
2008 |
| T175 |
Exploring
Information & Communication Technologies |
**** | Before I enrolled on the course,
I did communicate with the course team. John Woodthorpe was very
helpful. The course is (so far) MAC friendly - but you do lose some
functionality - but it has been easy to work around. |
OSX |
2006 |
| T183 | Design and the Web | ** **** |
(2
comments) Not able to download essential course material (exercises) via Mac. Had to use VirtualPC. Not always able to access relevant browser via Mac (latest edition of IE not available on Mac). Some images used in course exercise which should be Bitmap actually downloaded as GIF and difficult to get into MS Paint as part of the exercises (this may not have been an exclusively Mac problem). See General notes here. -------------------------------------------------------- I used NVU, FirstClass and OpenOffice 3.0 for the Mac, and all worked fine. The only point when I had to use a Windows PC were for some of the visual illusions and visual effects demonstrations in Lesson 4, supplied on the T183 Course CDROM. |
OSX OSX |
2005 2008 |
| T189 |
Digital
Photography |
**** | Installed DivX to read the DVD,
used iPhoto and my own Photoshop Elements for OS X, Adobe Reader |
OSX |
2007 |
| T211 |
Design
and Designing |
*** | See detailed comments |
OSX OS9 |
2005 |
| T214 |
Understanding
systems: making sense of complexity |
**** | Needed to find and
download (free) Mac version of NetLogo whose PC version is used by /
supplied with the course. Gets you a more up to date version than the
PC one in the course materials. |
OSX |
2008 |
| T224 |
Computers
and Processors |
**** | Though T224 software is
delivered (needlessly) in Windows executable form, the software used -
both versions of the simulated processors and the fetch-execute
sequence animation - are perfectly capable of being run in Mac OSX as
they are written in Java. Since the OU software team choose to ignore
the inherent cross-platform nature of this language, Mac users on T244
have therefore done their job for them and compiled a simple
application package for T244 to run on Mac OSX. Mac users needing to
install essential software for T244 on their Macs should therefore
contact this website, where they will be given all necessary
instructions. Alternatively, the OU T244 material should run perfectly in virtualisation or via Boot Camp. |
OSX |
2008 |
| T305 |
Digital
Communications |
* | Parallels saved the day for me.
But it would have been nice to study using the OS X. |
OSX |
2007 |
| T308 |
Environmental
Monitoring, Modelling and Control |
** | The course has an interactive
DVD which won't run on a Mac. It is still possible to access most of
the resources on the DVD, but you do have to dig around a bit to find
what you need. The DVD contains a lot of spreadsheets which are crucial
to completing the course successfully - most of these are only
available in XLS format, although seemed to convert well. Normal
conversion issues apply to the TMAs, which have to be submitted via the
eTMA system. The final project is a paper submission. There's a bit of
software - SimaPro - which is supplied on the DVD and is not Mac
compatible. I didn't need to use it this year (mainly cos I skipped
that bit and it wasn't required for a TMA!), but this could be a
problem for other presentations. I did eventually load everything up on
my XP laptop, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything vital. |
OSX |
2008 |
| T320 |
eBusiness
Technologies |
*** | In addition to report writing,
several modules require the use of SW for creation / editing of XML
documents and web services. PC specific SW is provided: Eclipse, Apache Tomcat, and a modified BPEL editor based on Eclipse. Native mac alternatives exist for some SW (Eclipse, Tomcat), but require installation and setup. There is no Mac alternative for the modified BPEL editor. I used standalone Mac Eclipse for one module, then emulation (standard course sw, running on windows XP running on VirtualBox on OSX) for all of the tasks sucessfully. |
OSX |
2008 |
| T890 |
Technology
Policy and Innovation Research |
***** | As of 2005, this course
had no computer-related requirements that could not be met with a Mac
running OS9 or later -- I participated in all associated First Class
conferences and accessed the audio and web-based materials on my lime
iBook, no problem. |
OS9 |
2005 |
| U210 | The English Language: Past, Present and Future | ***** | No problems. | OSX | 2005 |
| U211 |
Exploring
the English Language |
*** * *** |
(3 comments) The use of DVD roms for a major part of this course are, at present, making the study it very difficult. I am investigating whether there is any way I can get them to run, which is how I've ended up on this website. The DVD material is totally incompatible with Mac (system OSX) and the use of a pc is a must to follow the course using the OU material. However, since the latest Macintosh machines employ Windows-friendly Word software, the assignments can easily be uploaded through the electronic TMA / ECA service, using Word files and not simply .rtf files. Since the Study DVDs only run on Winxx platforms, I've been running them in WinXP in Parallels. The nice thing here is that if you have the drive space on your mac, you can make a disc image of the DVD, and then attach it as a virtual DVD in Parallels. This has 2 advantages: (1) you don't have to put up with the constant drone of the spinning DVD drive whilst viewing material on screen, and (2) the disc image is easily accessible in OSX too, so you can watch the video material comfortably in QuickTime instead of having to try and watch it in Windows. |
OSX OSX OSX |
2008 2007 2008/9 |
| U212 | Childhood | ***** | Totally Mac friendly, all cd roms worked well and audio was easily accessible via iTunes. | OSX | 2004 |
| W100 |
Rules,
right and justice: An introduction to Law |
**** | Just a couple of consolidation
exercises required the use of Windows, though somebody at the Law
school sent me a PDF of those so I could see what they looked like.
They weren't necessary to complete the course, however. |
OSX |
2008 |
| W200 |
Understanding
Law |
***** | W200 so far is fine with the
Mac. I submitted a test eTMA in Word: Mac vX and this worked fine. I am
awaiting my first real eTMA result. |
OSX |
2008 |
| Y155 |
Another
Breakthrough To Maths, Science And Technology |
***** | Audio CDs and books only - no
problems here, once I'd had help to install FirstClass. |
OSX |
2005-6 |
| Y160 |
Making
sense of the arts |
***** | No problems with a Mac - the DVD
plays without a hitch, and you can submit TMAs on paper or via eTMA
system - recommended as a starting point. |
OSX |
2008 |
| Y163 |
Introduction
to Psychology |
**** | I've just finished the Y163
course, Introduction to Psychology. I didn't find it a
problem. There is a DVD supplied in the course materials
which wouldn't play on my Mac, so I used the DVD player on my TV
instead. I submitted the 2 TMAs and the ECA as hard copies. |
OSX |
2009 |