DT840 Introduction

Description: Hi everyone My name is Ian Hocking and I will be your tutor on course DT840. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all of you. For those who have completed an OU course before, I hope everything is familiar and straightforward. If not, or you're new to the OU and aren't sure what's going on, don't hesitate to email me and I'll try to help, but first check through your documentation to make sure the question isn't answered there. As for me, my background is in psychology and my phd in psycholinguistics. I've taught most aspects of general psychology and published on artificial intelligence, cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. I'm also an Associate Tutor and the University of Christ Church Canterbury. I've been teaching DT840 for four years now, which I guess makes me an old hand! Let me briefly emphasise your immediate support services (for more general services beyond the scope of this course, such as careers advice, computer advice, etc., please log into the OU homepage www.open.ac.uk and follow the links to the resources you require). Course DT840 makes use of the 'firstclass' conference and emailing system, the details of which are included in your welcome pack. Once you're up and running on firstclass, you need make sure you visit it regularly): 1. 'DT840 Student Forum' : 'DT840 O9K Common Room'- for student chat about this course (DT840 students only) But the most important conference is: 2. DT840 09K R07 ih778 TG - this is our tutor group conference, so we can