This article is available to download in an alternative format at the bottom of this page.
The following section presents a list of websites and services that we use at OCA to facilitate online study.
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OCA Email Account (google.com) - Your OCA Email Account is a Google Account that is managed by OCA. Through your OCA Email Account you can access your student emails, sign into OCA provided websites and utilise Google’s suite of applications.
Note that your OCA Email Account is created for you prior to Induction and details are provided in the Welcome Email issued on your start date.
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OCA Learn (learn.oca.ac.uk) - You will often hear OCA Learn referred to as the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment), this is the site where you will find your course, department space and information repositories like the Student Handbook, OCA Library and Tech Support.
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OCA Spaces (spaces.oca.ac.uk) - This is OCA’s blogging platform that you will use to post your work. Your blog is referred to as a ‘learning log’ as you will ‘log’ all of the exercises, assignments and research you complete.
OCA Spaces is WordPress-based, so you may already be familiar with the interface if you have used WordPress before.
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Padlet (padlet.com/oca) - You will find references to this site during your Induction and throughout your studies. Padlet allows you to create virtual boards, think of them as a bulletin board or mood board, to visually share your work and collaborate with your peers.
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Google Meet (meet.google.com) - Google Meet provides hosting for meetings to enable you to join events related to your course, complete group work, access seminars and meet with your tutor and peers.
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Google Integrated Applications (drive.google.com) - When signed into your OCA Email Account, you can access Google Drive (cloud-based storage similar to Microsoft's OneDrive) along with a suite of applications. These include Google Docs, Google Slides and Google Sheets - these applications can be used as a more reliable alternative to Microsoft Office 365.
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Microsoft Office 365 (m365.cloud.microsoft) - As an OCA student, upon completing your Induction your account will be issued with an Office 365 license to enable you to access Office applications online, as well as download and install applications on your device.
- Panopto (media.oca.ac.uk) - This is the video management service that we use at OCA; Panopto can be used to record, upload, edit and share media. When you come across a video within your course, it will generally be hosted by Panopto.
Tech Top Tip: If you would like to keep the links above saved for future reference, don’t forget to bookmark them. To find out more, see the How can I bookmark a webpage using Google Chrome? article.
Next Section | 3. Before You Start - OCA Email Account →