Be ready to learn by experimentation and creation.
You need not have any prior programming experience to enroll in the course Program,
since several courses are on the beginning level. However, some of our courses will
have specified prerequisite skills. These skills can be learned by taking another
OST course, or you may already posess the prerequisite skills. If you
are unsure, contact us and we'll help you with this.
Windows 95 or MacOS 8.0, or newer. Windows XP or MacOS X preferred. Linux RedHat and Debian ok (see below).
Internet Connection
At least a 28.8 kbps modem, or faster.
Browser
Firefox 2.xx, Safari 3.xx, or Internet Explorer 7.xx, or NEWER. Popup windows and cookies
must be enabled in your web browser. Your browser must also support Java applets.
Note
Students have had success using the Linux operating system and Mozilla on a
variety of platforms, such as RedHat and Debian. If you use a lesser-known flavor
of Linux, be sure to thoroughly try out the Learning Sandbox to make sure it works for you.
If by chance it doesn't, simply let us know within 7 days for a full refund.
When you enroll in any course, you will be assigned an
account on the OST server with which to experiment and build your
online professional portfolio. The base lab fee for this account is
$9.95 PER MONTH, and is constant no matter how many courses you take using this account.
Certain courses may require additional options for your account, so your
lab fee may be higher than $9.95 per month:
Linux/Unix System Administration courses incur an additional $9.95/month fee, for the addition of
a Virtual Root Server account.
Eclipse-based courses incur an additional $5.00/month fee, for the addition of a virtual Windows terminal server which serves Eclipse.
PHP and XML courses have an additional parsing tool added to the account, but do not currently incur an extra fee.
Your lab account is available to you 24 hours a day, for as long as you do not cancel your account.
Many students keep their OST lab account in between and beyond their coursework, for additional
practice, or to have an online portfolio to show employers.
If paying by monthly credit card subscription, your lab fee will automatically be
charged to your card each month. When finished with all the courses you plan to take,
you can keep the account active without doing anything further.
You can also pay for 3, 6, or 12 months in advance, by credit card, invoice, or purchase order.
Whatever you decide to prepay is up to you, and is nonrefundable. If your account is still open at the end
of the lab fee period, you'll receive an email invoice with the option of paying for more lab fee.
Completion of your coursework does not automatically close your account.
Since we have no way of knowing if you plan to take more courses, or if you'd like to keep your
coursework as an online portfolio or to continue using the tools, we leave it up to you to cancel
your account through the following interface:
Only new students who have never before taken an OST course are eligible to be referred -- no retroactive referrals.
Referers cannot refer themselves or anyone in their households.
New students can be referred by only one referer.
When a referred student enrolls, he/she should enter the email of the referer exactly as it is stored
in the OST system in the Referral Email field, which is in Step 1: Your Selected Courses.
Alternatively, referers are also given a special URL to post on websites or social networking pages.
When this link is clicked, the user is stored as a potential referral -- if that user enrolls,
the referral is logged appropriately.
Once the student enrolls, the referer should see a new entry in his/her My Referrals section of the OST Referral Page (or in the case of referring students, the Student Start Page).
Referral credit is granted to the referer ONLY after the referred student enrolls successfully, and ONLY if the
new student does not withdraw with a refund. For this reason, all referrals are listed as "pending" in the Student Start
Page until the 7-day refund period has passed.
Also on the Student Start Page will be a link to download and print a W-9 tax form from the IRS.
Due to U.S. tax laws, payments cannot be submitted to the referer until he/she fills out this form and faxes it to OST Attn: Georgia M. at the following fax number: 707-829-0104.
Payments cannot be made to foreign banks. If your bank is outside the U.S., please contact Georgia at
707-827-7187 or oreilly@oreillyschool.com to make alternate arrangements.
Payments are made on a monthly basis, via check to the referer's Shipping Information stored with OST.
Untracked, 1st-class U.S. Mail will be used.
Payment amounts for each referral may vary from month to month; however, credit for students referred will always
correspond to the payment amount that is in effect on the day of that student's enrollment.
OST reserves the right to cancel a referral account if the method of referrals is deemed to be
inappropriate, or if spamming has occurred.
If you pay via credit card, your payment will be processed in seconds via our secure server, and
your enrollment will be completed immediately.
If you pay by check, money order, or purchase order, you will need to allow 2-3 weeks
from the time you send payment for your enrollment to be completed. Once payment is received, your enrollment status
will be set to "active", and you'll receive an email with instructions on how to begin your course.
Purchase Order/Voucher Instructions: When you register via purchase order, your Student interface
will offer a space to add a Purchase Order number to your invoice. This way, you'll be able to print out the
invoice immediately, with the P.O. number already filled in per your company's requirements. Just print, give to your
Accounts Payable department, and as soon as payment is received, your enrollment will be set to "active" and you'll
be able to begin your courses.
You can choose your preferred method of payment when you register
online.
We use Verisign to process your credit card payment. Verisign is
a respected leader in e-commerce, and they use the very latest technology
to verify your transactions.
https://www.verisign.com
Still nervous? Give Georgia a call, and she'll process your enrollment over the phone.
800-998-9938 x.7187 or 707-827-7187
All of our courses are completely Online and Self-Paced.
This means there are NO class schedules, and you may enroll in a course at
any time and take as long as you need to finish it.
Your learning takes place using
our Web-based software called the Learning Sandbox®.
You will go through lessons, experiment with the
examples, and try your own programming all in the same place.
All quizzes and projects are handed in online, also in the same place.
You can also monitor your progress and see your graded files online, through
an "interactive syllabus." Everything is self-contained and personalized for you to practice, make mistakes, and
get help from your instructor.
The OST Sandbox is the heart of the O'Reilly
Learning experience. The Sandbox is a combination of learning materials
and a convenient, fully functional set of REAL technology tools in which to practice your new skills as you go.
You can go through lessons in the top half, and try
out the code in the bottom half. Or, you can maximize the workspace and
work on your own creation. With one click, you will publish your work directly
to your own lab account on our server, making it available for viewing by anyone on the Web--handy for showing employers or potential employers the results of your hard work.
All Perl debugging, C/C++ and Java compiling, XML and PHP translation, and HTML/JavaScript rendering can be done with one
click. Both SQL and Unix/Linux SSH interfaces are also incorporated into
the Learning Sandbox®, and System Administration students can use these interfaces to access their own
root servers.
You
need only a Web Browser to use it--no need to download anything.
We designed the Sandbox to maximize learning, and to
minimize the technological complications that often stop the learning process
cold before it starts.
Click on "ENTER" in your course list. The Learning Sandbox® should open.
Once the Sandbox is loaded, click on "My Stuff".
You'll be asked to log in using your Sandbox Login and password. IMPORTANT! Use your Sandbox Login, NOT your
email address!
From there, you may access your files, course lessons, quizzes,
objectives, and monitor your progress.
Your Instructor will thoroughly evaluate your quizzes and projects, and will help you with
any questions or problems you may have. You will keep in email contact
with your Instructor throughout your course.
You should expect to receive feedback from your mentor within 3 business
days of handing in each quiz or objective, although often you will
receive feedback much sooner than that. Your instructor will generally get back to you within 24 hours if possible.
Many students find the relationship with their Instructor to be one of the most enjoyable aspects of the courses. Think of having a lab all to yourself with a personal tutor!
You can complete the course at any time, as quickly or slowly as you like. As long as you do not cancel your
account, and continue to pay your lab fees, you'll always have access to ALL your coursework, tools, and files, to
complete at your leisure.
Although each course may vary depending on your experience leading up to enrollment, you can expect to work
approximately 40 hours on each course that you take.
On your syllabus, you might see a "suggested time frame" in which you can complete
the course. This time frame--"deadline"--is for your benefit as a motivational tool
and does not have to be followed.
If you enroll in more than one course at a time, you are NOT expected to take them concurrently.
You can take them in any order you like.
If you find that your courses are sequenced differently than how you plan to take them, just let your instructor know --
we'll be happy to reorder them for you.
To successfully complete a course, you must successfully complete
every quiz and project within the course.
To successfully complete a quiz, you must answer each question with
insight and explanation.
To successfully complete a project, you must create with a
professional portfolio in mind, making sure to present your project attractively and creatively while keeping content informative and relevant.
We believe you cannot learn a skill without making mistakes and trying again.
If your Mentor finds your quiz or project below the standards stated above
(open to his/her own interpretation), he/she will ask you to improve the
quiz or project. Generally an "A" or "B" grade must be achieved to continue.
If, after submitting three or four
times, your quiz or project is still unsatisfactory,
the Instructor may allow you to hand in the assignment again, may invoke his/her right to charge you an
Extension fee, or in the most extreme cases(such as caught cheating or thoughtless guessing
over many redos), may choose to fail you. Since 1997, we've found that 99.9% of our students are busy, hardworking
individuals who are devoted to learning skills; therefore, we've only been forced to charge an extension fee
only a very few times.
You will find your instructor to be very understanding of difficulties you are having, and encouraging in a Socratic
way until you master the skill being learned.
There are several ways in which you can communicate your questions or ideas
to your instructor.
You can always email your Instructor at learn@useractive.com, or if you are having system or
enrollment problems, support@oreillyschool.com. Your message will automatically be routed to your own instructor.
You should expect a return
email within 2 business days, although often you will receive a response within the same day.
When you log in, you can use the Contact tab contained within
the Learning Sandbox to ask your Instructor questions.
When you hand in an assignment, you can use the "Comments" section to
communicate with your Instructor. Many students like this method of communication, since it accompanies the files being handed in.
A phone call can be scheduled at the discretion of your Instructor, if you need to talk to him/her real-time. However, most students find this unnecessary with the amount of communication that can be accomplished via the other methods.
Passing each course will earn you Continuing Education Units, or CEUs.
CEUs are NOT the same as Undergraduate or Graduate credit, but are simply
a measure of continuing education. CEUs are mainly used by employers
(especially schools) who advance their employees' careers based on the
number of CEUs earned. CEUs are also a positive resume addition.
These CEUs are issued by the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Office of Continuing Education, sponsored by the U of I Computer Science Department.
Each course is worth 4 CEUs, except for XML, which counts for 6 CEUs,
and Java, which counts for 6 CEUs.
In the University definition, one CEU equals approximately 10 hours of student work.
Upon satisfactory completion of all courses in a Certificate Series, you will be eligible to
receive a Certificate of Professional Development from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Office of Continuning Education.
The challenge of earning this certificate, coupled with the worldwide
recognition of UIUC as a top-ranked institution, will ensure that
your accomplishment shines on your resume.
When you pass a course, your interactive syllabus will give you the
opportunity to request a CEU letter.
CEU letters are not sent unless requested.
When you complete a certificate series, be sure to request all the CEU letters. Once you request all the CEU letters, the certificate is automatically requested for you.
The address you specified in your registration will be used for the CEU
letters and certificates.
Certificates take additional time to process, so please allow 6-8 weeks
for your certificate to arrive.
Your Lab Account is like a beefed-up hosting account, and contains the following:
100 megabytes of web space
A secondary domain name, such as "https://yourname.userworld.com"
Full CGI privileges
Compiling/Debugging privileges
FTP access
SQL privileges
Telnet privileges for Unix
This account will continue after Program completion, as long as you do not
cancel it. You are responsible for paying your monthly lab fee until you cancel
your account. This way, your portfolio can stay online for as long as you want, and your account remains ready for new courses and tool access. To cancel your account, you must visit:
https://oreillyschool.com/student/
To change your account information, such as password, domain, credit card information, etc., log into:
You may withdraw from a course online, at any time.
However, the deadline for withdrawing a course with a refund is
7 days from the day of enrollment. If you paid by check/money order,
the "day of enrollment" refers to the day that your enrollment account becomes active.
Additionally, if half or more of the assignments within your course have been handed in by you
and graded by your Instructor,
a full refund is no longer possible, even within the 7 days.
As long as you are enrolled in a course, you must keep your OST
account.
If you close your account while enrolled in courses, you will
be withdrawn from your courses and lose any progress towards a certificate.
You are responsible for cancelling your account.
If paying via monthly lab fee subscription, monthly charges will continue to be assessed until you close your account.