Exhibition: 50 Years of the OU Students Association

Home Computing

In the mid-1980s the great debate around home computing became of University wide concern, with many in agreement that if the OU was to remain in business as a technologically up to date university, it must teach computer science as a subject, and also take advantage of the computer as a teaching tool in other subjects. 

Whilst there was no dispute that this was a direction the University needed to move in, and that changes had to be made to make computing capacity available to students, the difficulty posed was that the rate of change in this field was so rapid, that any decision taken by the OU was always in danger of being obsolete before it could be implemented. For a time whilst the University hesitated, the rest of the world pressed ahead. 

Whilst the University made plans to move ahead with a home computing policy, in 1986 the Students Association came out squarely in opposition to the new policy, based on the reluctant principle that students on certain courses would be responsible for owning, or having good access to, the recommended microcomputer. 

During the Association’s Conference, this principle was rejected, and a call was made for the University to accept the financial responsibility for introducing new technology, and to investigate more thoroughly ‘sources of funding other than the already strained student purse’. 

The opposition was not to the computers themselves, but to the impositions of further costs on the students. Although ‘the potential for distance learning’ of home computers was recognised, it was insisted that ‘while the cost remains so far in excess of all other course-related costs, including tuition fees, the Association will not accept their essential use on any other course unless provided as a home kit.’ Sesame, May/June 1986 

William Butler, Vice-President Education at the time, outlined the choices facing the Association in responding to the OU’s current initiatives. The first was the stance of ‘not an inch’. A more constructive option was to welcome the use of computers where a genuine educational advantage could be seen, but to resist the financial burden being passed on to the students. 

Ad-hoc arrangements for home computing on the new D309 Cognitive Psychology course were also discussed, which included students having access to tutor computers whilst at day schools. 

By Summer 1991 the Students Association had introduced its own solution, OUSA Computing, to support students trying to navigate any home computing requirements. 

John Needham, who was the Association’s Permanent Secretary said, “From the outset the Students Association has been involved in the debate and decisions surrounding the introduction of the computers onto OU courses and the development of the University’s Home Computing Policy. 

The Association has tried to make the University aware of the implications of such an innovation, particularly in the problem area of access to the University by those who are not able to afford or have access to a computer. For a while these concerns have been partly mollified by the existence of a rental pool. It now appears that this lifeline is disappearing, and the student representatives will be looking at the issues hard. 

The reality is, however, that the computing policy is in place and many students have or are considering the purchase of a computer for the first time. OUSA’s concern now is to ensure that students can get the best deal, the best support and a guarantee that they have somewhere to go when things are not right. 

With the three requirements of quality, support and advice in mind OUSA have linked up with NUS Services to provide a computer sales service geared to the needs of students. The University have never accepted responsibility for recommending any particular machines or suppliers, leaving the inexperienced student to the multiplicity of offers that come through the post. The Students Association believes that its members must have confidence and hope that OUSA Computing with its backup service will provide that.” 

By supporting students in this way, the Association were able to help students mitigate the educational implications of a digital transition, that actually had a much wider impact than just their studies.