Desktop

Your Desktop

All users will see the following icons on their FirstClass desktop.

Each icon is a link to a conference, Address Book or Calendar to open any of them just double click on the icon.

Tip - What is a Conference

Your Mailbox is your personal area. It is the storage place for all of your personal electronic mail (e-mail or mail). It contains copies of everything you have received and sent. These messages may be addressed to individuals, a group of people or to a conference, but they all appear in the mailbox.

Your Address Book gives you the ability to create a shorthand name for addressing outgoing messages. It also allows you to store personal information and contact details for the people you choose to include in your address book.

Your FirstClass Calendar can be used in the same way as a paper calendar or a personal diary/organiser. You can also share your calendar with other users on the FirstClass system.

OU Service News - This conference is used to announce important User information such as new facilities and server downtimes - please check this conference regularly.

The OU Service News conference will auto open if there are any messages that you have not read inside the conference to prompt you to read them.

Inside the OU Service News conference are some subconferences, including:

- Conditions of Use - this contains the most up-to-date versions of the OU Conditions of Use and Code of Conduct for FirstClass (These will automatically open for you to read when you first access your FirstClass account.)

The Complaints Procedure can also be found in this conference.

- New FirstClass Software - this is where new versions of the software will be posted for downloading as they become available.

- Networked Conferences - this contains a selection of national/international conferences from Usenet News conferences.

- LTS Applications - This conference currently contains two applications:

Disk Quota Viewer - allows you to check how much disk space you have used.

Missing Conferences - allows you to restore the Open University, LTS Helpdesk and Practice Conference conferences if you have deleted them in error.

LTS Helpdesk - This conference can be used to post questions asking for help on various topics, these are then answered by staff from the Learning and Teaching Solutions (LTS) Helpdesk or the FirstClass Administrators.

There are several subconferences within the LTS Helpdesk conference, so that queries on similar topics can be grouped together.

The LTS Helpdesk conference and FAQs are reserved for announcements from Helpdesk staff, so you cannot send messages to the 'top-level' conferences yourself.

Open University - is the 'virtual campus'. It contains a wide variety of generally accessible conferences. Within the campus are conferences for the different faculties, OU Students Association and various other faculties; most of these conferences will open to reveal subconferences.

You will not see course specific conferences within this area, as these are private to students and staff on a particular course.

Practice Conference - this conference is an area provided for learning to use FirstClass; it is not for general discussion. Please read the message 'What this conference is for' before use.

Course-related Conferences - Users may also see a conference(s) specifically for the course(s) they are associated with. Course-related conferences will have the appropriate course code in their name.

Many conferences will have a Welcome, Spirit of Conference or About this conference message in them explaining their purpose. It will probably be the first message in the conference, so you may have to scroll down the list of messages to find it.

Back to the top >>