A few days ago. I got an email inviting me to attend an 'informative but relaxed' online event on Monday 15th September with representatives from the three science schools. It said it will be an opportunity to 'explore the resources available on the Science Subject site and other school sites as well as discussing other helpful ways to prepare for the module'. There are three of these events being held, one for each of the three undergraduate levels and I was invited to attend the level 2 variant, although there is nothing to stop me attending the others I suppose. The Student Support Team and the Careers and Employability Service will also be involved, so it is probably the OU doing a tick box exercise.
This is week -3 (minus 3) and the S283 module website opens in a few days time on Tuesday 9th, which is the most important news of the week. I was a bit disappointed that the course chair Prof. David Rothery hasn't done his Introduction to S283 video this year, but I think he has his hands full with the BepiColombo mission, as well as working on the replacement for S283 provisionally titled S287 Planetary Science. Another thing of note is that Prof. Andrew Norton, the Undergraduate Qualification Lead retired over the summer. He has done so much for the School of Physical Sciences over the years that I can't help thinking that the astrophysics and associated courses offered by the OU will never quite be the same as they used to be.