Access, Participation and Success

Evaluating the increase in student wellbeing brought about by informal online sessions and computer generated worked examples on a level 3 pure maths module

Issue: student well-being and anxiety. Accessibility of tutorial type resources.

Many students experiencing problems with abstract mathematics either already experience maths anxiety or develop it. They can also lack self-efficacy and mathematical resilience.

Understanding factors influencing BAME students’ achievements within Engineering and Innovation

Students from BAME groups appear to perform less well than their white counterparts across all modules in E&I.

Understanding the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic attainment gap at the OU by means of quantitative and qualitative data analytics

Highly Commended at the 6th eSTEeM Scholarship Projects of the Year Awards 2023.

Exploring the extent of maths anxiety within the STEM Faculty at The Open University

Winner of the 6th Best Poster Competition at the 10th eSTEeM Annual Conference, 30 June -1 July 2021.

Understanding the mental health attainment gap in Design modules

Winner of the 7th eSTEeM Scholarship Projects of the Year Award 2024.

Retention and attainment of students with a mental health disability on Design modules is poor compared to other qualifications in Engineering and Innovation, STEM.

Investigation into running course specific taster tutorials within prisons for non-OU students

Students in Secure Environments (SiSE) can typically have different issues to other students from pre-registration through to the end of their studies.

Evaluation of D-flag students accessibility to and use of online tutorials and forums in L2 modules

It remains the case that despite different initiatives to encourage tutorial attendance, few students attend live online tutorials in LHCS.

Investigating the motivations of female students choosing an open versus named qualification

UK universities (including the OU) have continued to struggle to recruit women to certain subjects within STEM despite best efforts to address this gender imbalance. In 2017, the OU introduced a ‘BSc (Hons) Combined STEM’ degree (R28) alongside its single and joint honours degrees in STEM.

SiSE only tutor groups and the effect on SiSE students and their tutors

Normally at the Open University Students in Secure Environments (SiSE) are allocated in small numbers to standard tutor groups to form mixed groups of 20 students, of whom 1 or 2 would typically be SiSE students.

Improving and evaluating inclusivity in group project work for distance-learning engineering students

Projects and teamwork are the predominant context in which most engineers work. Providing supported learning experience of such contexts supports employability for our students.