h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

so here we are, I've done my level ones and now on to level 2.

And the site has opened, but the website is a mess, the things I need to work with (offline sometimes because of travelling) aren't available as PDFs and I'm in severe danger of throwing my teddy out of the pram.

I'm regretting sigining up now

things can only get better?

write and tell them that they're not very user-friendly. Probably loads of other people will do the same and if the Open University doesn't have to sort that out, I don't know who does.

Definitely get in touch with them, and I'm sure they'll do all they can.

I found the OU to have the best customer service of literally anybody I've ever dealt with. I know it's a big statement, but it's true by a mile.

they're not being very helpful. And it doesn't help that our facebook group is full of people saying "well *I* don't have a problem with it" so it seems I'm the only one

but it's seriously making me want to stop it. I can't access the online stuff when I'm travelling, all I want is freaking PDFs - it doesn't seem that much to ask.

any chance of turning screen dumps into pdf's?

Well, *I* don't have a problem with it!

Seriously, though, what exactly are you having difficulty with? My course website (U214 Worlds of English) went online this morning. All the files I need are available as PDFs, so I downloaded Book 1 and the assignment booklet to take on holiday with us. (We'll be gone for four weeks and my first TMA is due within two weeks of us getting back.)

One glaring omission from my course website is 'Alternative Formats'. My previous courses have had transcripts of audio and video files available online so that students could refer to them instead of trying to transcribe direct from the DVDs. Those transcripts aren't there, and the transcripts that appear as you watch a video clip are a narrow column of text that it's hard to select from. All is not lost, though. I've just checked the DVD and the transcripts are available as Word 97-2003 documents. If this is your problem area, Sho, check your course DVDs. Anything else, let me know and I'll check how my course website is handling it - if at all!

apparently the course books are available as PDFs but I can't find them

but all the other info has been available as PDFs for my other courses, but not this. It's driving me crazy. The transcripts are the same: no PDF and difficult to read. It's not really rocket science.

I tried to do PDF dumps, but I am having an issue with the cute writer, can anyone point me at a good download version of that?

oh and no DVDs
the books are lost in the post, and someone found the PDFs and mailed them to me - but there should be a clear link on the page, if there is then I'm just too stupid but i'm sure (from emails I've received) that I'm not the only one having problems.

Course materials lost in the post I can't help with. The link for PDF files of course notes is (or should be) 'Study resources' - look for a column headed 'Resources' on the right-hand side of your course website home page. Similarly, your assignment booklet will be found under 'Assessment resources', listed in the same place.

The OU used to send out copies of the assignment booklet with the course materials. That changed last year, when I had to download my assignment booklet from the web for the first time. Ask the person who emailed the PDF files to send you copies of the DVD transcripts. As I said, these can be found on the DVD. Mine were in D:\content\docs - yours should be somewhere similar.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the course.

yes - I know that. And either I can't find them or they are not there, I click the Study Resources link and... no PDFs of books.

Apparently I have to scroll through the weekly planner, find the book names and search (that's how I found one of them) but that is totally mental.

As for the booklet... it drove everyone mental, it's available to print, but only for individual TMAs and then not as a PDF. One of our facebook group c & p everything into a word doc and shared it around, but that also can't be the answer.

but the biggest problem for me is: I can't spend 5 hours hunting for this stuff, it should be there and be obvious. And so far there are plenty of people who agree with me that it's not obvious and a complete mess

I don't know what's going on with your course, Sho. Right now, I'm on my course website, posting a reply on the welcome forum. In all the courses I've done, I've never had the problems you're experiencing. Hope they manage to sort things out.

which one are you doing now? (yours always sound so interesting!)

I'm just starting DD203 (politics) which looks interesting too...

Like I said earlier, I'm doing U214 Worlds of English. The module looks at the history of the English language, how it's used around the world, the effects of technology on it, amongst other things.

Saying you're studying 'politics' doesn't do the course justice. I've had a look at the module description and only one thing puts me off doing it - examination! I did one at the end of my previous module and I didn't enjoy the experience. I've decided to avoid modules with exams, which means I'll have to give up my plans to do a BA in English Language and Literature.

oh sorry, missed that you mentioned it. That looks really interesting - I was going to look at the English courses, but then the PPE thing grabbed me.

I don't mind the exams, I think, I have picked courses that don't have a summer school.

I realise that you post this several years ago - but I just wondered if you still had a copy of the assignment booklet for U214 on your computer that you could email me. I am starting the Year 2 course in October and would really like to get started before then. I realise, of course that the assignments may change - but at least it would give me some ideas about what to read over the summer. I have asked the OU but they say they can't send one out until September - even though I have paid for the course already!!!

Thanks if you can help.

I kept my OU stuff on Dropbox. I checked it just now and it looks like I deleted my U214 documents. I'll look on my netbook tomorrow, just in case, but I suspect everything's gone. Sorry about that.