Lets talk some SENSE.

From what I have gathered, TU100 is a beginner's programming course. It is based on Sense programming environment which works hand in hand with the open-source SenseBoard hardware kit which is supplied along with the course material. SenseBoard looks like Arduino which is another open-source integrated development environment (IDE) and single-board micro-controller.

My curiosity took me to the OU Sense website. There are links on this web page for OU students registered for this course (this is where I went) and people who are interested in Sense (I haven’t yet checked the forums on this link). OU TU100 students need to log in, from where they are taken to the Sense installation web page. Everything on this web page is self explanatory.

The 'Sense installation link' takes you through a 6 steps process for setting up Sense/SenseBoard. There is an introductory video, information on the contents of the SenseBoard box sent by the OU, how to install the Sense software (it can be installed on Windows, Mac and Linux), connecting and testing of the hardware as well as an overview of the first few weeks of the course.

If you are impatient like myself, then you can go ahead and dive in the course material which you might already have received. I read somewhere that programmers are lazy people so this time around I will take my time just being curious and jump in when the course website opens on the 24th of January.