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This guide is for people who have already figured out how to send messages with FirstClass but want to know some of the tricks of the trade. If you're an absolute beginner and don't know where to start at all, I'd suggest you have a look at the OU LTS page about Getting started with First Class or else the Centrinity page. Polly Pollard's Page and Pauline Curtis' site are well worth a look too.There's also a firstclass-related yahoo group. Nobody uses it though. Can't think why...
What is FirstClass Good For?
How Can I Customise FirstClass?
Is It All Just Course-Related Conferencing or What???
How Do You Change an Icon Attached to a Message?
What's my Firstclass E-mail address?
How Can I Spot a Chatbot on FC?
Who are the Moderators and Why?
How Do I Reply With Quoted Text?
English Isn't My First Language...
What is FirstClass Good For?
I'm going to assume, for this first bit, that you've never used FirstClass before. If you have, well, skip it and go on to the next bit.
FirstClass is an all-purpose tool for online learning, released by a Canadian company called Softarc. It was originally released in 1990 for the Mac, but later came to be more popular on Windows systems. At the time of writing, the latest version is version 8, but you may still be using version 7 which is fine too. It is useful for conferencing (If you've used e-mail, conferencing is a bit like that but the emails go to the whole group instead of just one person), ordinary email and IRC (Internet Relay Chat) which is where you and one (or more) other student(s) can 'converse' in real time with all the typographical errors that implies!
It can be a bit fiddly to set up but luckily the OU, in its wisdom, has provided a useful guide.
Incidentally, when you set up FirstClass, you'll probably want to install some of the other software on there. Winzip is useful but don't bother if you are using WindowsXP, since the technology is already included in XP's basic functions. Quicktime can be handy, as can Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you don't already have a virus checker then install Kaspersky. Make no mistake - You DO Need a Virus Scanner. You DO. OK? YOU DO!!! I don't recommend you use the OU's version of Internet Explorer since it includes browser branding, which is very irritating (If you've already done this you can remove the branding by following these instructions.)
How Can I Customise FirstClass?
Many people, when they first install FirstClass don't really get the most out of it. For example, I didn't realise for a long time that there was a way of setting up my own colour scheme and attaching a 'signature' to each message I sent to save a lot of unnecessary typing. To get at the customisation options, open First Class and click on edit>preferences. This will allow you to do a whole load of things, such as changing the sound scheme, picking a new background for the program, specifying a location for files downloaded from the system (they're currently buried deep in c:/program files/firstclass/downloads which is no good at all!), and setting a favourite typeface/colour. Clicking View>Change View Properties' will give you a few other options too. For example, you can set the background picture for the firstclass desktop. To do this, you'll need to have a suitable image in a folder called "images" in your firstclass folder (either in "My Documents" or "Program Files" depending on how you've got it set up) then go to View>Change View Properties, click the background tab, tick the box marked "use background picture" and select your pic from the drop-down menu.
While you're at it, why not set up a résumé? You can do this by clicking file>open>résumé: you can use this to show others a few details about yourself and a picture or two as well if you like. If you want to see someone else's res, click on their name in any open message. You can only do this if the person is on the same server as you though.
Is It All Just Course-Related Conferencing or What???
Another nifty feature not always found by the new user is the 'social' area of the OU system. For example, when I was in the business school (B200), people there were fairly technophobe and seldom logged on. As a result, we all just stuck to our tutor group conference and nothing else. In fact, if you open FirstClass and click on the OU shield>OU Students' Association>OUSA Signpost, you get a complete list of all the conferences available, covering everything from sleep apnoea to Star Trek, and from rude jokes to relational databases. You may need to click on 'Name' at the top of the window to get the names of the conferences into alphabetical order. Some of the ones to look out for are Muppetania (where old jokes go to die), Chat and International Affairs (a sort of online insane asylum for doctrinaire types who actually think that their mad opinions count for something - and I know because I used to hang out there myself, before the medication kicked in). The other conference you should look for is Tech Café which is not an OUSA conference, so to find it you'll need to click on OU Shield>technology>technology café. If you ever have any technical problems (e.g., with your computer, of course!) there'll be someone there who can sort you out!
When you find a conference you like, right-click on it with your mouse and choose 'add to desktop' so it'll be easier to find next time.
How Can I Stop that "Service News" Window Popping Up?
It only pops up when there are unread messages in it, so all you need to do is right-click on the "Service News" icon on your desktop, select "Mark as Read" and it will go away. Alternatively, you could read the messages of course, but nobody ever does that!
And How do you Change the Icon Attached to the Message?
Easy. Just click on the envelope icon in the top left-hand corner of the window and it'll show you dozens to choose from. You can do something similar for the icons on your firstclass desktop too: right click, choose "properties" and alter the name of the conference and the icon attached. It makes everything look much prettier!
What's My Firstclass E-mail Address?
<yourstudentID>@student.open.ac.uk. For example, if your ID (the one you use to log in to the FC system) is pp127, then you will be pp127@student.open.ac.uk. If you have any doubt about this, send a message to your off-FC email account and the email address will be visible at the top of the message
Who are the Moderators, and Why?
In tutor group conferences, the moderator is usually the tutor. However, in the OUSA social conferences and course conferences, the moderating is done by unpaid volunteers, who are just students with no lives. I'm used to be one, until th law came down on me, so I know what I'm on about. Anyway, there are codes of conduct to be followed on the system and the OU has to follow certain rules for its own license to use the academic network, so if your message gets unapproved or removed by a moderator, it is usually because it has contravened one of these rules. If you want to know why, email the moderator and ask (you can find out who the moderator of your conference by right clicking on it and choosing "permissions"). Usually it'll be something like copyright infringement, divulging answers to a TMA, promoting a website or other service in which you have a financial interest, or just being rude or aggressive.
Of course, all these rules are open to interpretation and obviously there will be times when you disagree with the mod. You may be in the right and you may not be. By all means complain, but try not to be an arse about it, OK? To the best of my knowledge, nobody ever achieved anything by giving a mod a hard time.
How Can I Spot a Chatbot on FirstClass?
There are - as far as I know - three AI chatbots currently operating on FC; two on server 2 and one on server 1. They're easy to spot because they post very often (because, of course, they don't have to be anywhere else), they tend to follow netiquette carefully because of their programming and lack of human emotions, and they tend to post stereotypical responses such as anodyne messages of sympathy, answers to tech questions or urls. I won't tell you "who" they are, but see if you can work it out! Mail me if you think you've sussed it and I'll tell you.
People who have taken the right courses can usually unmask a chatbot by exposing the weaknesses in its humour algorithms.
How Do I Reply With Quoted Text?
Another Easy One: Just highlight the text you want to quote and click the reply button.
Where's My Course Conference?
It should appear sometime before the course starts but if you've just registered, don't be surprised if it isn't there yet. If the start date is approaching, try emailing LTS, or calling them (haha!) and asking them whaddup?
English isn't My First Language
Since you're studying at a british university I guess your English must be exceptionally good, but if you are interested, it is possible to get foreign-language versions of FirstClass. the only thing to watch out for is that some of them are only available in older versions - e.g., i tried to download a portuguese version the other day but they only had FC 5, which is notoriously weak in its security aspect.
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