T180 Living with the Net:
Using Computing to Enrich your Life

Why I chose this course

Having finished M381 I started feeling the withdrawal symptoms so I needed something to counteract them. T180 was a 10 point course running from October to December. It seemed fairly harmless, as I had worked on BT’s CampusWorld for a year using Perl to generate HTML 2.0 pages (see My Career); at the same time I hoped it would introduce me to other aspects of the Internet I had had no acquaintance with, such as Instant Messaging.

Course Content

  • Learning online: How to use the Internet to learn online; learning styles.
  • Email and conferencing: Synchronous and asynchronous communication; email systems, the OU’s FirstClass – an email and conferencing system provided by the OU.
  • Blogging: Blogging and Wikis; Movable type: the blogging system provided by the OU.
  • Keeping safe on the Net: Types of malware and how to protect oneself against them; Spams and Cookies; how to protect children online.
  • Instant Messaging: Using BuddySpace, the Instant Messaging system provided by the OU.
  • Information on the Web: Searching for information on the Web and how to evaluate it.
  • Publishing a web page: How to construct a website; how to use the WYSWYG editor (Composer) and FTP system provided by the OU.
  • Discussion groups and chat rooms: Types of discussion Groups; Netiquette.
  • Information, music and more: Types of music systems; multimedia; copywrite.
  • eBay and online shopping: Exploring ebay; advantages and pitfalls of online shopping