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Accessibility statement
All of this module’s study materials are online. Online materials are composed of pages of text with images, video clips (with transcripts), labcasts (live and recorded laboratory broadcasts), diagrams, interactive media, animations, multiple-choice self-assessed quizzes, plus live experimental work carried out online via the OpenSTEM Laboratory and interactive Python programming facilitated through our OpenComputing Lab. Online materials also include links to external resources, online forums and online tutorial rooms.
If you’re using printed materials as part of reasonable adjustments to support your studies, note that printed versions of online materials are unavailable for this module.
This module provides a range of learning events, including online tutorials delivered within your tutor group and across the module, and interactive labcasts that introduce the practical components and provide a live demonstration of the equipment you will be using. Although not compulsory, attendance at tutorials will help you to consolidate your learning.
You will be required to work with other students and this is assessed. This includes working together with fellow learners on a project/task as well as looking at, and commenting on, others’ work (notably within the team project), and reflecting on others’ comments on your work. Alternative approaches may be available, and you should contact us as soon as possible to discuss your needs.
Online practical work, including some collaborative work, forms a required assessment component (an alternative learning experience may be available; contact us as soon as possible to discuss your needs). Remote experiments in physics and space (SXPS288) introduces you to the use of an online laboratory (the OpenSTEM Laboratory) and to writing and running code through the OpenComputing Lab.
Mathematical and scientific symbols and expressions are used throughout the module and you will be required to use such notation within assessment.
The study materials contain a considerable number of diagrams, graphs and photographs. Reading, interpreting and producing examples of these is an important part of the study of this module and is assessed. Figure descriptions are provided for some figures, particularly those that are essential study items.
You will be required to search for, and make use of, third-party material online and this is assessed. You will be expected to use the Open University Library, and help is available there on accessing study-related information.
In this module, you’ll work with specialist reading material such as mathematical notation and computer code (Python scripts). We’ll present these online, as downloadable PDFs, via third-party online material and/or via bespoke/third-party software.
This module has tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) and an end-of-module assessment (EMA) that you must submit via the online TMA/EMA service, and interactive Computer-Marked Assignments (iCMAs) completed online. Some assessment includes online collaborative group work, including experiments and a group report.
You will receive feedback from your tutor on your submitted Tutor-Marked Assignments (TMAs). This will help you to reflect on your TMA performance. You should refer to it to help you prepare for your next assignment.
All Open University modules are structured according to a set timetable, so strong time-management skills are essential to stay on track. You will be supported throughout the module in developing these skills to help you succeed. During the final six weeks of the module, when EMA group work takes place, you will need to actively engage online to collaborate with your peers.
This module uses specialist symbols that are not covered by standard accessibility tools. The module materials and assessment ask you to use the following specialist software/symbols: Word Equation editor or LaTeX, and may not be fully accessible as a result. Specialist image analysis software (e.g. AstroImageJ) and information retrieval from third-party websites (e.g. astronomical catalogues and databases such as StarALT and VisieR) may also not be fully accessible.
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