This course is presented on the world wide web and tutorials are conducted through the internet. It is designed to develop basic skills such as operating common software applications (word-processors, spreadsheets, e-mail), understanding the computer industry and working with the web, including searching the internet effectively and writing your own web pages.

The course's aims are to:

• Give one an introduction to computers and the internet.

• Help one to develop the new skills of studying and communicating with online media, and so prepare one for higher-level study in the Open University and elsewhere.

• Help one to become a confident user of a personal computer both as a tool in itself and as a communication device.

• Give one experience working collaboratively at a distance using e-mail, conferencing and other online tools.

• Teach fundamental computer and internet principles.

• Give one a good understanding of the evolution of the personal computer and the internet.

• Encourage one to reflect on his/her learning processes in order to become a more effective learner.

Skills one can expect to acquire from the course are:

• How to operate a personal computer and common types of software.

• How to communicate with electronic mail and online conferencing.

• How to search for material on the world wide web, and evaluate the reliability and quality of what you find.

• How to manage large quantities of information.

• How to write and publish web pages and manage a small website.

• How to work in a team on a collaborative project.

This is a Level 1 course, which makes intellectual demands appropriate to the first year of undergraduate study.

 
 
 
Summary
The course tackles the problem of how to get a computer to do something useful. It sets out to analyse problems and design solutions in such a way that a computer can be used to carry out the solution. The course develops skills in analysis and design, and there is also a lot of practical programming in the widely used C++ language, using non-object and object-oriented approaches. It includes elementary work with Windows™ programming.
 

Description
The course shows you how to get a computer to do things that are both useful and challenging: to solve problems for which there is no ready-made software application. It is based on practical work of two kinds. Discussion of problems leads to designs for their solution. Interwoven with the analysis and design are activities in which the designs are turned into practical computer programs that are tested and modified as necessary. The design aspect includes the concepts and techniques that are required for developing successful software through teamwork, though the problems tackled are suitable for individuals working alone. The team ideas require a modular approach to design that is helpful at the testing and correction stage. The practical programming work is built round the language C++, together with a modern programming environment. Both the design and the programming work include traditional and object-oriented approaches.

The course deals with concepts and skills useful in a wide range of computer applications. Although the main emphasis is on problems that can be solved with a personal computer, many of the ideas are equally applicable to larger systems and also to the small systems in domestic appliances. The course is organized in four blocks. The early blocks develop ideas and techniques that are as widely applicable as possible and make little special use of the Windows environment. Later on, ideas applicable to the Windows environment are introduced. At this point the work becomes visually rather more interesting, but of slightly more restricted application.

This is a Level 2 course, which makes intellectual demands appropriate to the second and third years of an ordinary computingegree.
 
 

The course's aims are to:

    Teach one how to reason about computing systems, how to understand and design solutions to computing problems, how to exploit network computing, and how to work in groups using electronic conferencing. It teaches programming skills for constructing software. It also teaches analytical skills to enable one to look at a problem and determine what software components would be required to produce a new computer-based solution. It explores some of the choices that have to be made in software development, including those influenced by ethical and social issues.

Skills one can expect to acquire from the course are:

    The course takes an object-oriented view of software development, which means that all software is considered as a collection of objects that interact by sending messages to each other and reacting to the answers to the messages. These ideas are at the forefront of modern software development. The language Smalltalk has been chosen for programming. Smalltalk is a pure object-oriented language that reinforces fundamental object-oriented principles. Most of the teaching material is a combination of print, computer-based text and practical work. Course materials will illustrate the application of software development techniques to a variety of large-scale case studies, and highlight general issues such as computer security and human-computer interaction. Interactive multimedia is used to present concepts of object and network computing.  Practical programming experience in the widely used C++ language, using non-object and object-oriented approaches. Also included, elementary work with Windows & trade programming as well.

    This is a Level 2 course, which makes intellectual demands appropriate to the second and third years of an ordinary computingegree.

The course's aims are to:

    Investigate how large items of software are produced, from analysis through design to implementation. It builds on M206 Computing: an object-oriented approach, examining state-of-the-art topics such as Java programming and the Unified Modelling Language (UML) for the analysis and design of applications, frameworks and patterns, and looks at the principles underlying concurrent systems. The course is based on three set books and includes a significant amount of practical work.

Skills one can expect to acquire from the course are:

    The course teaches several state-of-the-art topics about large, distributed software systems and how they are developed. The topics include Java programming, analysis and design of application software using UML (Unified Modelling Language), frameworks and patterns, and concurrency. The topics concentrate on solving the problems that arise in the development of large distributed systems, and are illustrated by a case study. Operating systems are examples of large software systems; they are investigated in some detail and used to develop an understanding of the ideas behind concurrency.

    There is a significant amount of practical work, using software tools including an integrated development environment (IDE) for developing Java applications, and a tool that supports the use of UML.

    This is a Level 3 course, which makes intellectual demands appropriate to the final year of an honours degree.