I've just finished this course myself, obviously not got my EMA marks back yet but I think I'll do fine in it. I have to say the course didn't teach me anything I didn't already know, but then I've been an amateur photographer for thirty five years and didn't honestly expect to learn much.
The skill level of the students varies hugely from absolute beginners who struggle to old pros like myself who can skim over much of it, as do the cameras people have, point and shoot to full sensor dslr.
They say 'some' computer knowledge is required, I'd go further than that, you need to be comfortable at the pc and you should try to get comfortable with Photoshop Elements as well. The only parts of the course you actually 'must' do are the CMA midway through and the EMA at the end (assignments) you don't need to do the activities in the modules or upload pictures if you don't want to, though it helps to do it if you want to get the best out of the course in a learning sense.
I found the course material to be a cross between simplistic and over complicated, with a smattering of ambiguous thrown in. The forums which are your main point of contact had quite a few "I'm confused" threads throughout.
In all the course was worth taking even for me as it got me some more degree credit and probably more importantly because I got to buy CS5 cheap. For someone who is a beginner plus to mid range camera user I reckon the course will give you more than it gave me, making you think more about what you're doing and helping you get the camera off auto everything settings.
Absolute beginners seemed to struggle a lot and some others too, those who perhaps didn't realise that this is a university course and as such you're expected to knuckle down and get on with it off your own bat, you need to put the hours in to get the most out of it.
