Xamk enforces new change

[wow]

Interesting. I have a bunch of credits from them that I never got evaluated. I know previously people have said it's hard to get a transcript in a format evaluators like if you aren't currently enrolled. I'm not even sure if I will need the evaluation, but now I'm wondering if I should sign up for some class that I can get into and seek the evaluation just so that I have it for possible future needs.

[wow]

Can you register for anything other than the Video Game one for free still?  After August, will they start charging for those who don't finish the free programs?

I could not sign up for anything else, but the business course I was approved before the change is active. To be on the safe side, I will plan on finishing it while I still can.

I finished a MOOC from U Helsinki yesterday and for now Helsinki hasn’t announced any changes. There's some open online courses in the fall season I'd like to take from them.

From what I read on the video games page, if you sign up before August 31st, you have until December 31st to complete the course if you don't live in Finland. They didn't say anything about charging a fee after August 30 first. The issue Is that they can't accept non-Finnish students/non-residents after August 31.

https://koulutuskalenteri.xamk.fi/en/ope...-creation/

[cro-magnon]

A few of the game dev courses will remain free.
Others, however, will be only accessible with a paid 'IVGC+' subscription.
There are also plans to add more premium courses later, probably next year.
At the moment, you can claim a free pass for the paid tier content. The pass lasts until the end of 2024.
Importantly, you must be enrolled (via Xamk Pulse) and claim it on Teachable before September 1st.
All the info and the claim link is here: https://cambridge-academy-of-gaming-and-...hip-bundle
I highly recommend joining the official IVGC Discord server if you have questions or need any help regarding the courses. There are like 10k students hanging out there. You can also open a ticket if you need support from course staff, and it's also where announcements are posted about live lectures/meetings held on MS Teams which usually allow some time for questions.

Also, I think it's not entirely clear at the moment whether the IVGC courses will still give you ECTS in 2025, and who would be eligible to get them. There is mention of 'credits' and a 'certificate' but no mention of ECTS or a formal transcript of records. I'm guessing this wording is a precaution in case Xamk will not be able to grant ECTS to foreigners from next year onwards.

[wow]

A few of the game dev courses will remain free.
Others, however, will be only accessible with a paid 'IVGC+' subscription.

I tried responding to this but my phone deleted my response. So here's the short version:
From what I understand reading the x a m k website, people without Finland ID numbers cannot register for the course (or any course) through xamk open university after August 31st, whether they pay a fee or not. They also can't register for any xamk open university course that starts after August 31st, even if they try to sign up before then.
The video games courses have other sponsors besides xamk open university, so people without Finland ID numbers may be able to sign up for it through those other partners (but not xamk open university) after September 1st.

[cro-magnon]

Yes, you got most of it right. To clarify further:
Registration for all Xamk Pulse courses other than IVGC is already closed to people without Finnish ID.
Registration for IVGC closes on August 31st. It's the only course that doesn't require you to fill in Finnish ID if you pick a different country of residence on the registration form.
It's important to sign up for both the course (via Xamk Pulse) and the IVGC+ free bundle (via Teachable) before September 1st. According to what we were told by the course leader, this will allow access to all the current IVGC course offering as before until the end of 2024, and you still get the transcript of records from Xamk (and the ECTS that come with it) for the courses you complete until the end of December, which is when your study right with Xamk will expire. If you do not sign up for the Teachable bundle in time, you will supposedly only have access to a few of the IVGC courses, not the full 35 ECTS offering. Nobody really knows with any degree of confidence what exactly will happen in 2025. They're still figuring this stuff out, and the Finnish government is making it difficult.
At this point it's not a 100% confirmed if people registering for IVGC courses from September onwards will at all be eligible for Xamk ECTS credits. Xamk will still be running the course. However, the process for enrolment will likely change. Xamk Pulse will be for Finnish residents only, while IVGC will continue to accept people from all around the world, perhaps through a separate website.
So, if you want to do any of the IVGC stuff for credit, you may want to do it now, as it may or may not be the last chance.

That's the information I collected for now, but the situation is evolving dynamically.

[wow]

Thanks for the explanation!
When I looked at the x a m k website, it looked like people could still register for the "English in business" class according to the language on that page. But I can't confirm that because it's geared towards English language learners so I didn't try to sign up.
Though now I might to try to sign up for it so I can get access to peppi. Will report back if I attempt that.

[cro-magnon]

Well, I didn't check every single course on Xamk Pulse but the ones I checked used what looked like a standard form that had Finnish ID listed as a required field regardless of the country of residence you selected. The only exception to this was IVGC, which uses a different form where the Finnish ID requirement disappears when you select a different country. I'm not sure, there may be other courses that are still using the old form. When I took the sports nutrition course earlier this year, the Finnish ID wasn't required, and now you can't enrol in that course without Finnish ID.

Also, I think you shouldn't need to enrol in a course just to get a transcript of other courses you completed. At some other Finnish unis I interacted with, as long as you have completed coursework on file, you usually can contact the ICT, open university coordinator, student services department or some such and have them reactivate your student account so that you can log into Peppi and generate your transcript of records, or they can generate a digitally signed transcript for you and send it to you via email if you request it. The latter actually seems to be how the vast majority of IVGC students normally get their transcripts, as they don't even get access to Xamk's student systems, unlike some of us here who have enrolled in other 'proper' Xamk Pulse courses in the past. And they get none of the other benefits that us regular open university students are entitled to. I'm still making good use of the MS Office 365 license I got from Xamk, lol.

[wow]

Well, I didn't check every single course on Xamk Pulse but the ones I checked used what looked like a standard form that had Finnish ID listed as a required field regardless of the country of residence you selected. The only exception to this was IVGC, which uses a different form where the Finnish ID requirement disappears when you select a different country. I'm not sure, there may be other courses that are still using the old form. When I took the sports nutrition course earlier this year, the Finnish ID wasn't required, and now you can't enrol in that course without Finnish ID.

Also, I think you shouldn't need to enrol in a course just to get a transcript of other courses you completed. At some other Finnish unis I interacted with, as long as you have completed coursework on file, you usually can contact the ICT, open university coordinator, student services department or some such and have them reactivate your student account so that you can log into Peppi and generate your transcript of records, or they can generate a digitally signed transcript for you and send it to you via email if you request it. The latter actually seems to be how the vast majority of IVGC students normally get their transcripts, as they don't even get access to Xamk's student systems, unlike some of us here who have enrolled in other 'proper' Xamk Pulse courses in the past. And they get none of the other benefits that us regular open university students are entitled to. I'm still making good use of the MS Office 365 license I got from Xamk, lol.

Ah, okay. Thanks very much for explaining that. The process for getting the transcript described on the wiki seemed more complicated. Which reminds me--we (generic) should probably update the wiki to indicate that most people can't take/won't be able to take classes there anymore but can access transcript in the ways you described. (Oraybe I should be the one to do it! I considered updating it last night with the information posted here so far but got confuddled.)