LostVault

I don't know whether this would be of any use to anyone, and I'd appreciate some feedback...

I've already posted elsewhere that my pal in Tamms is not allowed to attend any educational programmes and correspondence courses are very expensive (tell me about it - I've just completed my Masters via an Aussie university).

Anyway, I noticed that the Open University (UK government-funded distance learning university) has put some of its units online for anyone to use. You don't even have to register.

Yeah, online study is obviously useless for our pals, but I know LVers are no strangers to the art of cut'n'paste. The unit I looked at ('The Art of Delacroix') looked pretty easy to stick into Word. I'm not really into art appreciation, but the subject matter seemed quite well thought out. The courses are self-study with various levels, and the answers to the questions are given. I thought I could send the answers to my pal after he's completed each section. Or maybe 'mark' his work!

On the minus side, there are no credits or qualifications given for completing the courses. However, I thought they might give my pal a head start when he does finally get to attend classes and - of course - help to alleviate the crushing boredom of solitary confinement. There's also a heck of a lot of material to print out. There's also the risk that the prison might object, but I can't see why - I'm helping to rehabilitate a prisoner with no cost to Illinois taxpayers.

Anyway, here's the link. I'd be interested to hear if people think this is a good idea or not: http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/

Congratulations on your Masters

I think it's a great idea... I've been doing something a *bit* like that with my Oregon pal -he asked me to test him!-, but I hadn't thought of the Open University (seems the 25 years since I left London are taking their toll! ).

So I think it's an excellent idea and don't see any reason why it shouldn't pass the mail room barrier!

Just one thing though: considering most facilities don't allow more than X pages per letter / X printouts per letter, you might have to really do some serious pasting...

Great idea!
I truly love the Open University and was considering doing some courses myself through them... however the one I wanted I could not do while living outside the UK..... should have signed up for it while I was still there!!!

Thanks, guys! Now I know why the standard of English on this forum is so excellent...

Anyway, in the true spirit of 'Britishness', the Openlearn website has been down all day. *sigh!*

But it does have a list of links to other websites which - not being British - actually work properly! The American sites are probably more suitable for our pals, anyway. The number of courses available is mind-blowing! MIT even lets you download the entire course as a zip file, which is handy for those with limited internet access. It's all free, but in some cases you need to purchase the textbooks.

Here's the link: http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/about-us/our-story.php

Well, I'm off to enrol myself on 'International Multilateral Negotiations' and 'Elementary Statistics'. Happy browsing!

Ouarda, thanks for that link. I'm planning on going to university and those courses will help me get into a "school" mindset again, since its been so so long since I've been to school.

nice find, will come in handy thanks