4.1 Introduction Working with others online requires some skills that are not always obvious when you first start using email and computer conferencing. Here are some basic rules of good practice about Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) that we recommend to all students when they begin using conferencing. These are collectively known as ‘netiquette’.
2.2 Evaluating web resources One of the good things about the Web is also one of its drawbacks – anybody can publish anything. This means that the Web is an amasing source of information and is full of fascinating resources. However, in order to get to useful information you may have to work your way through lots of irrelevant material. Even when you think you have found something relevant, how do you know it is reliable, and how can you judge the quality, accuracy and bias of what you find? Most publicatio
1.2 Guidance on note taking When taking notes the first thing you have to consider is what the notes are going to be used for, since notes taken for one purpose may not be suitable for another. Here are some possibilities: to help you understand the information; to help you remember the information; to help you explain the information to someone else; to highlight the points that will be useful in an assignment;
Introduction This unit is from our archive and it is an adapted extract from Networked living: exploring information and communication technologies (T175) which is no longer in presentation. If you wish to study formally at The Open University, you may wish to explore the courses we offer in this curriculum area. This unit will help you to develop the study skills involved in readi
7.3 Components The term component has been used since software engineering emerged as a discipline in 1968, and it reflects the analogy with other engineering disciplines. Like electronic devices that have pins and are connected with wires, software components are seen as independent software artefacts that can be used unchanged to build larger systems. In most systems, it is usually easy to identify parts that are common to a number of applications. Each system may itself be considered a set o
6.5 Classes In the hotel system, each room is different and may have a different occupant. However all rooms are the same in that each has a room name and a rate, for example, and each may have an occupant. If something did not have a room name and a rate, it would not count as a hotel room. Thus we generally talk about objects in terms of general classifications. Instead of repeatedly saying that the objects representing rooms 201 and 302 have names, can be ensuite or not and have a rate, we define the
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3.2 FTP The acronym FTP stands for the File Transfer Protocol. It provides the facility whereby files can be downloaded into a computer from another computer in the internet. Although there are a number of utilities for file transfer most users now employ browsers for this via FTP links. There are a number of utilities which enable you to load anything from clip art to the latest updates for operating systems. Many of these utilities are very primitive: they use a simple command line int
Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. Unit image: Courtesy of banlon1964 Flickr [accessed 27 October 2006] All other material within this unit originated at the Open University 1. Join the 200,000 students currently studying with The Open University.
3.1 What is revision? Revision is not, as the word suggests, simply 'looking again' at the material covered in a course - it is a more active task. It involves organising material and finding ways of remembering it, that suit your own particular learning style. Although the time you set aside for revision is important, the approach you adopt and the techniques you use to revise are more vital. Sometimes the thought of having to revise can seem daunting, but be reassured, revision skills and techniques can be learn
3.2.2 What problems might you have with getting feedback? Only you can answer this. However, you might think that you will not find it easy to ask someone else to be a mentor and give you feedback about your own qualities, knowledge or skills. There may be all sorts of reasons for this. You might not feel that you know anyone that you would trust to give you feedback in a way in which you would find helpful. Acting as a feedback giver can put someone in such a powerful position that you might feel uncomfortable. You might feel that you do not know a
3.2.1 Why can it be useful? It is possible to argue that getting feedback from other people is useful because it gives a perspective that would not, otherwise, be available to us. There are many different theories that suggest there are aspects of ourselves of which we are only dimly aware. You may well have heard of Sigmund Freud’s idea that our minds are made up of both conscious and unconscious elements. Freud argued that the working of the unconscious part of the mind is almost impossible to access. However, these
3.2 Getting feedback from other people We recognise that getting feedback from another person and integrating theory can pose real difficulties. Getting feedback from someone might pose personal difficulties and it is never easy to relate theory and personal experience. Let’s take getting feedback to start with in order to see why this may be useful as well as looking at what difficulties it may cause. Hopefully, this exploration will suggest some ways of dealing with these possible difficulties.
References 2.7 Conclusion This section has asked you to do a great deal of work on gathering evidence about what qualities, knowledge and skills you already have. There are two main reasons why this is important if you are going to use learning in order to achieve change. First, it is really important for you to have the self-confidence to know that you can achieve change. The activities in this section have been designed to provide you with opportunities to build up this much clearer picture. Another important aspect 1.2 What's going on – learning online In the following few pages we will look at some underlying principles of learning, and of learning computing skills in particular. This section is divided into two parts: your learning style; computing with confidence. 1.1.10 Installing Adobe Reader Adobe Reader is available here. If you do not yet have Adobe Reader installed in your machine, you can download the software at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2_allversions.html. When you have installed the Adobe Reader you will be able to open the learning_styles.pdf file that you saved on your computer in the previous activity. Use My Computer to locate this file, which you saved on your computer's hard disk. If you followed my earlier instructions exa 1.1.1 How to do it In this unit we aim to give you some first-hand experience of learning online. You will carry out some activities during which we hope you will learn some useful skills. Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions )and is used under a Creative Commons licence. All other materials included in this unit are derived from content originated at the Open University. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources 11 Conclusion Just as we have advised earlier, we are not going to introduce any new ideas in this concluding section. We are using it to reinforce what we think our main points are. Writing essays or reports can be time-consuming; individual assignments tend to focus in depth on specific topics rather than fostering a wider sense of the whole course. However, three or four or more assignments will bring benefits as linkages start to become apparent and the total programme of written work help
