A BSc for me!

Results for MU120 TMA03, M263 TMA03 and how much I hate proof

2008-05-11T17:06:00.005+01:00

I got these results a few weeks ago, MU120 came in at 92%, which was a bit unexpected to be honest as my work rate on the units for this TMA was very low. If I had studied harder it probably wouldn't have taken so long to complete though!

M263 came in at 78% which is my lowest grade so far, however this course is getting TOUGH!! I really am having THE toughest time getting my head around proof. I checked in to the forums on FirstClass the other day and fortunately I don't appear to be the only person finding it hard. On looking at previous exam papers it has barely featured, and where it has you can choose an alternate question so I am not stressing too much..... well enough to spend £5 on passed papers!

(There was a tutorial yesterday to go over proof and recursion, however I was unable to attend, but to be honest I haven't found tutorials that great, we basically sit there and go through examples, and if you don't grasp the concept in the first place it isn't much help!)

I really don't want to throw this course away on the exam, I am determined to get a reasonable score, although I'm not sure if I have done enough assignment wise to get a distinction?? can anyone enlighten me??

On a separate note, my employers have been asking how much they need to budget for 2008/2009 studies and this has got me into the mindset of picking next years courses. I definitely don't plan on studying 90 credits in a year again! But I do find it exciting deciding what to study next. I think it will end up being Java Courses M256 and M257 but the interesting stuff seems to be at level 3 with courses such as Artificial Intelligence really catching my eye.

I'd be interested to hear what others have planned for next year?? For now though I am back to the books..... finish off these Java Classes on M255, which I will say over and over again is the most interesting and enjoyable course I have studied so far!

Yaldex Tutorial M150

2008-04-22T19:23:00.006+01:00

Alrighty

So I have been banging on about this Yaldex video.....

Here it is!

Specifically aimed at M150 students for the debugging features which will save hours during M150 TMA's.

Apologies for the audio, recorded on a laptop with a mic built into the screen, did my best with what I had. The video is a little small so an alternative copy can be found HERE.

Software can be found HERE

Simon

MU120 TMA03 and M255 TMA01 results

2008-04-22T17:16:00.004+01:00

I have had the results back for MU120 TMA03 and M255 TMA01;

MU120 TMA03 = 92%
M255 TMA01 = 87%

I am pleased with the MU120 score but was hoping for a higher score in M255. I left my marks slip in the last question, which involved an implementation of a piece of software to handle video rentals and asked you to improve it. I missed marks for my lack of accessor statements, which is my own fault and fairly obvious on retrospect.

The blog has seen a rise in hits since the OU published the Microsoft Dreamspark offer on Student home, seems people are benefiting from the info which is great!

I recorded the video for the Yaldex tutorial but I am not happy with the sound quality, I will try and remove some of the noise etc and get it up this week.

1 Year old

2008-04-11T12:07:00.002+01:00

So i'm currently at the gym waiting for the better half to shower and thought I'd update the blog. I am glad to say the last week is over, which saw three assignment deadlines all come together and required some serious last minute time management (never again!). I can hopefully work on those Yaldex videos this weekend which will hopefully help a number of students study some of the level 1 OU Computing courses.

Whilst starting this blog i realised that it has been almost a year since it was first set up (13th April 2007) and I started to realise how much has changed in a year, both inside and outside my OU life, i'm quickly approaching my third year of a 5 year degree (fingers crossed) and I really do wonder where the time goes, answers on the back of a postcard......

Thats enough reminicing for today, i'm off home to indulge in some mario kart wii.

MU120 TMA03, M263 TMA03, M255 TMA01 and Javascript video tutorials!

2008-04-03T19:27:00.003+01:00

Its been almost a month to the day since my last blog post, which is very poor on my part, but is due to a combination of life and work and 3 assignments all falling at the same time.

I worked hard on Mu120, which although only being a level one course, I seem to be spending plenty of time on the questions come assignment time (maths never was my strong point). Coupled with the fact that my priorities are definitely toward getting high marks in M263 and M255 my actual study of the MU120 modules has slipped a lot in the last 6 weeks, meaning a lot of catch up and skimming during the assignment period.

The other two assignments are almost at completion, and even though I am only one assignment deep I have come to the conclusion already that M255 is definitely my favourite course so far, one which I recommend to any one interested in studying computing with the OU.

I'll post the scores when I know them.

Due to the popularity of my post about the Yaldex 1st Javascript Editor last year (it has been my most hit page for the last few months) I am going to record some very basic video tutorials about using the software, particularly for debugging for all the M150 students bashing there head against a brick wall come assignment time. This should be done within the next week and will be posted on the blog.

Microsoft Dreamspark for Students! (Free Software!!)

2008-03-04T17:08:00.019Z

A very interesting topic came up today in the M263 Student Cafe on FirstClass. This was Microsoft's new programme called Dreamspark which basically is an extension to the Microsoft Academic Alliance programme which Microsoft runs for universities.

The Dreamspark programme is aimed specifically at developers and provides free fully licensed copies of Microsoft products such as Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition, Visual Studio 2005 Professional Edition, SQL Server Developer Edition and lots, lots more. Many of these products cost upwards of £500.00+ and as I'm sure many of you will be aware these are products that companies run s there development environments (mine certainly does). So whether its to learn to use the software, get a heads up on the environment or just get a license to a great piece of software make sure you take a look.

Below is a quick guide about how I went about getting my copy of Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition.

Visit the Dreamspark site HERE.

You will be greeted by the site above. Have a little look around at what is on offer and then click the get started button at the bottom of the page.

The following image will appear. As you can see it shows you all the products available for download, these range from Windows Server 2003 and Game Development, to copies of Visual Studio Professional, SQL Developer and Microsoft's Expression Studio Suite of Graphics and Web Design Products. Click on the product that you would like to download by selecting its image.

In this example I have chosen to download Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition. I am then asked to begin the verification process to confirm I am actually entitled to download the software (prove I'm a student).

Click the Sign In button and log in with your Windows Live ID. If you don't have one then just click where it says Sign up for a Windows Live ID.

Once you are signed in you will have to select your Country from the download list and select your University. As the OU does not appear to be registered for the programme at the moment (they may choose to in future) we are going to select ISIC from the drop down list of universities ( You must have an ISIC Card or an Open University NUS EXTRA card see my entries HERE and HERE if you need to get one).

When you have clicked Select and Continue you will be presented with this screen which will ask you to enter your ISIC Card number or your NUS Extra Card Number (Last 12 Digits). Input this data and click verify. (Please note that at the time of writing there is a validation issue with NUS Extra Card numbers which I have contacted Microsoft about, I will update the blog when this has been corrected.)

Now all you need to do is download your software, tick to accept the terms (read them first of course) and then click to download. Click the Get Key button in order to obtain your License of the product, which as far as I am aware is yours to keep. Once you have downloaded install the products and away you go.

Good luck! I hope you benefit from and enjoy using the software.

Simon

UPDATE: 06/03/2008

Response received from the Dreamspark Team.

Dear Student:

Thank you for contacting ISIC. We are thrilled that you are taking action with DreamSpark!

If you are a current NUS ISIC holde, please make sure to prefix an S before your last 12 digits.

For Example, if your NUS last 12 digits are 8010 1234 5678, make sure that you write the number like S801012345678...........

M263 TMA02 Results and M255 Tutorial

2008-02-24T19:10:00.003Z

Results are in, I scored 83% on this TMA which I am a bit disappointed with, mainly because I lost marks for misreading questions. I also went along to my first tutorial for M255 last Wednesday which I enjoyed, we covered the usual introductions and went through some OO ideas making our own definitions etc, working with members of the Tutor group along the way which was a good way to get to know people.

My tutor did comment on the course picking up speed after unit three so it will be interesting to see how I manage to cope with it all..

MU120 TMA02 Results

2008-02-18T11:08:00.002Z

Received this over the weekend which was a surprise as I had forgotten about it to be honest. I scored 96% which I am more than happy with.

I've taken this week off work to do some decorating etc but I'm hoping to get TMA03 and TMA04 completed and in the post so I can forget about this course for a while and concentrate on M263 and M255. Whether or not it happens though is a different thing altogether. I'll let you know how it goes...

M263 TMA02

2008-02-06T19:37:00.000Z

Last weekend saw the completion of TMA02 for M263, taking me to the half way point in the course which I am please about as I haven't found any concept so far overly difficult to understand. I hear the next few units on Proof etc are more complicated but we'll see.

The TMA was quite a long one, consisting of 8 questions and taking a decent amount of time to complete. The TMA had a large volume of coding surrounding it, which I enjoyed doing (when the workpad was playing along) however, the OU like you to include all source code in the TMA document as well as seperate text files, which leads to a decent sized document for submission.

I assume its an anti-plaigarism tactic, allowing there software to scan the contents of the .doc file while the Tutor marking the assignment can run the source code from text.

I began to heavily anotate my course handbook with examples of any ideas I was finding myself referencing directly from the cours texts during the TMA. (My one fear with this course is that there is going to be an awful lot to remember for the exam). We are allowed to take the course handbook into the exam so it makes sense to clarify any ideas that you know you may forget by exam time directly next to there reference in the handbook, and I would definitely recommend people do it whilst working through TMA's as they cover all of the Key Ideas of the course.

Thats all for now, hopefully I will be able to report back a decent TMA score shortly, for now I need to crack on with my amphibious worlds (M255).

M255 Materials Arrived

2008-01-29T20:21:00.000Z

Finally the M255 course materials arrived this morning, just in the nick of time!

They were accompanied by a letter from my course tutor outlining his role and how we will interact as a tutor group which is something I have never had from an OU tutor before and it is quite reassuring that he is on top of whats going on (we've all experienced the tutors who are not so...)

I've got the software installed which consists of the Java SDK, an IDE called BlueJ and the M255 specific study materials. I haven't had a chance to play around with them yet as I have to get TMA02 completed for M263 by the weekend. One things for sure, the next few months will be interesting, if not least from a time managment perspective.

New Course - MT264 Designing applications with Visual Basic

2008-01-24T20:37:00.000Z

I have just had a 30 min study break whilst working through some of my M263 course materials this evening and decided to take a look at the courses I would like to study next year. I noticed that under computing there is a new level 2 course called "MT264 Designing applications with Visual Basic" which is due for its first presentation in September 2008.

The over view of the course suggests users will be programming using VB.Net and building applications from a basic foundation through to database linked levels. I can't help but wonder if the OU, by dipping its toe in a technology used widely across industry (referring to the dot net framework), is beginning to change direction from very much a Java focused syllabus to a more Microsoft oriented syllabus going forward.

I am going to phone the OU up tomorrow and see what qualifications this course will count towards because the description is not very clear, and it may just swing my decision of what to study in 2008/2009.

I'll let you know how it goes.

UPDATE 29/01/2008 - I received an answerphone message on Monday 28th from a member of the IT Faculty down in Milton Keyenes, my message appears to have got slightly lost in translation. I was told that this course can be studied as any other course can (my query related to B29 computing degree specifically, which has a relatively strict study path). I will have to return the call this week and see if I can squeeze some more specific information out, otherwise it will be a case of wait and see.

Simon

MU120 TMA02

2008-01-19T09:12:00.000Z

Although this isn't due for a few weeks I have spent the last few days working on TMA02 for MU120. I finally wrapped it up last night and I will submit it to my tutor at todays tutorial.

I haven't been giving MU120 as much time as I should, focusing most of my time on M263 as it counts towards my degree classification, but knowing that I'm starting M255 Object Oriented Programming with Java next week I thought I best get my work in order.

Maths has never been my strong point, however the TMA was fairly straight forward with the algebra sections taking up the majority of my time.

I would say that the OU teaching materials are first class at explaining mathematical topics such as algebra, and are a big step up from the way topics were presented to me at secondary school.

Maybe the government should look at licencing materials?

iTunes University (iTunes U)

2008-01-07T16:27:00.000Z

I have been looking to broaden my learning whilst studying with the OU without having to worry about assignments and deadlines and over the past week I have come across iTunes U.

To put it simply, this is a place in the iTunes store where Universities can place video and audio from recorded lectures online and allow their students to download them on their PC or Mac. From here the audio can be listened to or alternatively moved direct to an iPod or CD for listening (whilst driving to and from work in my case).

Although this is intended for students of the Universities the materials and lectures are available freely to anyone in the world.

The range of subjects is incredible and best of all it is free of charge! Two particularly interesting courses I have been watching/listening to are computer science based from Stanford University and Berkeley University, which are two of the most prestigious establishments in the field of Computing. The topics are interesting and discussed from many angles with some of the best lecturers in their respective fields explaining ideas from the basics through to advanced levels. Many of the courses have video or slides which can also be downloaded which liven up the topics even more.

Many lectures can be subscribed to as Podcasts which download each week as the lectures become available online allowing you to follow the course, or alternatively you may only download lectures of specific interest to you. With each lecture lasting approximately 80 minutes they can hopefully improve the time spent in traffic on a day to day basis.

I would recommend this service to anyone as it doesn't cost a thing, requires no real commitment and will definitely engage your brain and provide a good background to topics that you may come across in more detail with your OU Studies.

Take a look, there are plenty of topics from all the different faculties at these prestigious Universities (I haven't had a chance to check if any British Universities have adopted the service yet but if not I'm sure it won't be long).

All the best and a Happy New Year

Simon

M263 TMA01

2007-12-18T17:03:00.000Z

Results are in! A respectable 90%, silly mistakes as ever to lose the marks, will I ever learn?! One thing I have learnt is to go by your instincts, if you believe the logic in your answer is right go with it! (Unfortunately due to not trusting myself I have amended answers only to lose marks).

The second bit of good news is I have a completion date of Friday for my new house which is quick so I'm going to have a busy christmas break.

I have also tried the 'Blog readability test' which was brought to my attention by Simon Knights and Ian Macey which rated the education level required to read my blog as High School.... so your all safe ;-) ..... for now.

Merry Christmas

Simon

MU120 TMA01 Results

2007-12-15T17:12:00.000Z

I have finally got my TMA01 Results for MU120 with a score of 97%. I am really pleased with this score and hopefully I can keep it up. Just need to find out the results for CMA42 now which was submitted last week and went quite well.

Incase I dont get the M263 TMA01 results before the christmas break may I take this opportunity to wish you all a merry christmas. Put your feet up and make sure you enjoy your break from studying!

Simon

M263 TMA01 Pt2, MU120 TMA01 Pt2

2007-12-02T14:45:00.000Z

So....

It has been a fair old while since I have had an opportunity to update the blog. I have recently made an offer on my first house and have been spending all my time (and salary) in places like ikea and B&Q.

I finally finished this last thursday and got it submitted, it was quite a step up from TMA01 Pt1 which filled about a page of A4! I did enjoy it though and although it was more time consuming than I had expected the questions were workable and interesting/engaging so it wasn't all that painful. I just need to wait for the results now, fingers crossed it goes well.

A few weeks ago I submitted TMA01 Pt2 for MU120 by post (you have no choice unfortunately) but i still haven't had any reply/grade yet. I think i need to get onto my tutor to see if she definitely received it, I would like to think I would have been told if they thought that I had blown my deadline.... but equally I could pick up the phone and check that it got there. In future I think I will make sure I send these things recorded delivery so I have peace of mind.

Christmas is fast approaching (where does the time go??) and and I have one more CMA to submit before the christmas break, which I can use to work on the next TMA's. Hopefully before then I will be able to post my results for TMA01.

M263 and MU120 TMA 01 Pt 1 Results

2007-11-03T10:30:00.000Z

I had both of these back this week and scored 95% on both. I am fairly happy with the results but the mistakes I did make were silly mistakes.

On Mu120 I made mistakes when listing a Calculator input procedure not including the enter key where it should have been, which was an easy mark given away.

In M263 there was a question surrounding the Character 'g' and the string "G". The course text does state that strings and characters are completely different however there was a piece in the text that said a single character string is identical to an individual character (I'm not at home at the moment so don't have the resources to hand). This lead to confusion and the loss of a mark but thats my fault for not just sticking with the overall idea the course text was presenting.

All in all though not a bad start and if i can keep up the grades I will be happy come May/June Time.

FirstClass for Mac Users!

2007-10-27T11:30:00.001+01:00

Hi all

Just thought I'd post something that I tried out just now and worked perfectly. Firstclass for MAC!

Whilst booting into my windows XP partition on bootcamp today to log into first class I noticed on the splash screen the address for the firstclass website. Now I always thought that firstclass was an internal product of the Open University, but apparently not!

If you go to this site "First Class Downloads" you can view the first class international clients. If you then go down to English UK you can see the windows and MacOSX versions. Click MacOSX you will be taken to a page to download the MACOSX universal binary of FirstClass version 9. Download it and install it.

Once installation is complete you can launch the application and you will see this screen.

You need to click Setup in the bottom right hand corner and you will be presented with this screen.

Fill in your OU server, which you will find on your windows version of Firstclass I believe it is either oufcnt1.open.ac.uk or oufcnt2.open.ac.uk so try either and see how you get on. At the top fill in your student number and password as you would normally to log into first class or the open university website then click save.

You will be back at the main screen. Click the green arrow next to the password field or hit enter on the keyboard. And Voila!! You have firstclass on your mac. See my desktop below.

MU120 and M263 TMA01 PT1

2007-10-22T20:39:00.000+01:00

I have been hard at work on my MU120 TMA01 PT1 which I have completed today, I must admit this was more of a pain than I thought it would be! All was running well until I hit question 2 part D, where I got stuck on something which happened to be straightforward but took me a fair amount of time to solve. I can't discuss the question at the moment as the TMA deadline has not passed but section 1.7 in the calculator book should give people a good grounding in tackling the question.

Now the TMA is complete I have two gripes. The first is that I cannot submit it electronically, which isn't a massive issue but it is an annoyance as up until now I have submitted all my TMA's in this way. The OU put it down to Maths being much easier to work with on paper than on the PC, which after spending a good 5 minutes trying to find out how to use superscript for the squared symbol in Microsoft word I realised is probably true. My second gripe is that you cannot search the PDF texts for this course. I know a lot of students like to work from textbooks but I personally enjoy the freedom of PDFs and the ease of reference come TMA time. Unfortunately as I learned today the old nose in the book and search method has to be used now and again, this is because the MU120 texts are written using a special piece of software to deal with all the mathematical characters which when converted to PDF, is unsearchable (Arrgghh!).

My M263 TMA was handed in earlier last week and I found it fairly straight forward however some of the information in Unit 1 threw me a bit as they were using operators without fully explaining them. The text does stress that it will expand as the course continues and I hope it does, seems a lot of effort learning a new language for a year, you'd think they would continue using javascript which is used in other OU courses including the M150 course which so many people start there computing degrees with.

MU120 Tutorial 1 and M263

2007-10-13T17:24:00.000+01:00

I've just been to my first tutorial of this academic year. We went through the MU120 course materials and workloads/assignments and what is expected of us as students. Seems the same as previous years however my tutor did stress that MU120 is fairly time consuming for a 30 point course and don't judge your time based on previous study. Point noted!

The first part of TMA01 is due on the 22nd of October and as with all TMA's in MU120 needs to be submitted by snail mail. The Dark Ages! (Que medieval music).

This seems to be a bit of a pain as it will reduce the amount of time I have to write the TMA and check it before posting it, as in my past experiences I have been able to check a TMA a few times before submitting it via the eTMA system without to much worry of blowing a deadline. I guess I just have to plan it better.

The materials seem to be fine at the moment, and I'm keeping on track as far as studying goes.

On a different note I don't have a tutorial for M263 until November, and if I recall correctly its down in Exeter which is going to be a bit of a nightmare. I'm enjoying reading the materials for this course so far however it does seem to jump straight in at a fast pace and using technical terminology. It is a level 2 course though, I just hope we'll all be able to keep up!

NUS Extra card arrival!

2007-10-01T16:13:00.000+01:00

This is a follow up post to an entry I wrote last week surrounding the new NUS Extra card now available to all Open University Students. After a short time from application (Around 6 days) I received my NUS Extra Card on Saturday 29th September in the post as can be seen in the two photos attached.

As can be seen in this photo, the back of the card clearly shows the Open University Student Associations Logo on the back just under the signature strip.

After activating the card online which was a quick process I have already put it to use on Amazon to get an extra 5% off! At this rate I will recoup the cost of the card in no time at all. Roll on the discounts!

For note, whilst waiting for the card I received an e-mail saying as a security measure my card would be sent to my students union and I would be e-mailed when it was ready for collection. This is obviously a measure put in place to prevent abuse in traditional universities, however I am pleased to say that despite receiving this e-mail.... the card still arrived on my doorstep without any need to go to the OU for collection.

I hope the rest of you make the most of this great opportunity, whether it is for discounted meals, clothes or nights out reward your hard work and study with an NUS Extra Card. I know I will!

A New Design and OU Financial Support

2007-09-26T18:14:00.001+01:00

If your reading this blog entry hopefully you will have noticed that the website has changed. I have added a new design layout and although there have been a few teething issues I am fairly happy with the results. I hope everyone likes it, its a lot simpler and easier on the eye than the previous design but still engaging enough to keep you coming back.

I was asked by a colleague recently what type of financial support the OU offer students and as I advised them I thought that it would be useful information to add to this blog.

This is the Second year that the Open University have assisted me financially with my studies and they have been of great benefit! The OU provide a wide range of grants and financial support to a huge amount of students and if you are considering studying anything from as much as a whole degree to as little as one course but you are not sure if you can afford it they provide ready reckoner's online which will give you an idea as to what support is available.

It is also worth noting that as well as financial support, the Open University have the Open University Student Budget Account or OUSBA which provide ways of spreading the cost of your studies by paying course fees over the year at a low rate of interest.

For more info please see the OUSBA website

If you earn under £30K and live in the England and Northern Ireland you should be entitled to financial support. The OU rate this out so if you earn under say £15k you should be eligible for a full course grant, between £16K - £26k you should be eligible for a partial course grant, these figures are approximate and change yearly. The amount of grant you will receive depends on how many credits you study and other contributing factors. Please see the OU Financial Support Site for full details.

The general Financial Support Site for the OU can be found below:

Financial Support Site for Open University UK

As can be seen on the financial support site, depending on where you live (England & Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland etc) there are different support structures in place. The amount of Support you may be eligible for depends on your country of residence. Ready Reckoner's for each country can be found below:

England and Northern Ireland Financial Support Calculator
Wales Financial Support Calculator
Scotland Financial Support Calculator

As well as support for fees, the OU provide other support such as Computer Grants to use towards the purchase of a PC or Laptop for Study, Grants for Internet Fees when used for Study etc. However, it is worth nothing that these grants tend to be offered on a first come first served basis. Judging by the leaflets and letters I get each year a lot of the funds available for these grants are not used up.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

2007-09-21T17:24:00.001+01:00

Excuse the corny title to this blog post, however I have just been reading the OUSA Sesame mailing that seems to come around every so often and to my amazement the OUSA have managed to secure a great deal for OU students. Effective immediately OU students can register for the NUS Extra Card for £10!

This card gives you masses of benefits and also includes the ISIC card which retails at £9 on its own and up util now was the only worthwhile benefits card available to OU students. Those of you who read the blog will know what the ISIC card consists of, for more information or to register for an NUS Extra Card you need to check www.nusextra.co.uk The registration can be done online (i have just completed it!) all you require is a photo to be either uploaded or taken via your webcam in real time and your PI (Personal Identifier) number, this is the number the OU knows you by and can be found on most pieces of correspondence you receive or in the OU student home online.

Check the website for more info on the discounts available, the card is valid until september 2008 so the earlier you sign up the longer the benefits last.

Postponed M255 until Febraury

2007-09-06T19:05:00.000+01:00

Well,
after working my way through the MU120 mathematics preperatory materials and hearing that M263 is predominantly maths based course I have chosen to postpone M255 until Febraury. To be honest I know maths isn't necessarily my strongest point and to give myself the fairest chance of passing my courses to a good standard (M263 counts towards degree classification) I want to be able to dedicate all my time to M263 and MU120.

It was a bit of a relief to get it sorted, as the last 3 weeks I have spent alot of time worrying about my workload and the thought of my first two courses which contain final exams running directly in parallel. I hope I have made the right decision... time will tell though.

M150 Preperatory Material and the TI-83 Calculator and the New iMac

2007-08-09T18:59:00.000+01:00

Here we go!

So I am now back from 5 weeks backpacking my way around Europe which was great fun and extremely interesting. I was looking forward to getting stuck into another year of OU study and found the M150 preperatory units pack on my doorstep upon my return.

I have been working my way through these materials and in particular the diagnostic quiz. This is a quiz that the OU ask you to work through to find any areas in your basic mathematical knowledge that may need refreshing before the course commences. I have found the quiz fairly easy going and any questions I have found challenging have been easily understood after reading through the examples and answers provided in the answer booklet. The introductory pack is fairly chunky and I would definitely suggest students tackle it sooner rather than later as it is a good way to brush up on your maths skills.

Also whilst reading the introductory materials you are advised to buy the TI-83 calculator for the course. It retails at around £88 however the OU have negotiated deals with a company to provide it at a discount which can be paid all in one or over 10 monthly installments. As I don't have £88 on me (Just purchased the new iMac) I set about looking for a pc emulated version of the calculator. I found two pieces of software, VTI and Tilem which both do excellent jobs of replicating the calculator with full clickable skin on my PC. This will be useful as it delays the inevitable purchase of the calculator until I can afford it but I imagine that it will also allow me to easily take screen shots of the calculator to place into my TMA's over the year. There is a good website called www.ticalc.org which provides information on alll things TI related and is definitely worth a look.

Moving on, as I have already said I have just purchased the new iMac, although I do plan to install windows xp on it via bootcamp and parallels desktop, I am interested to see the sort of support that the OU may provide to Mac users. I appreciate that the inhouse software such as firstclass may be windows bound for time to come but things like course materials will hopefully be available to both Mac's and PC's.

I am still waiting for the study materials for my other courses and will update as they arrive.