eSTEeM is providing a mechanism for professional development through practice-based scholarship within a mentored community. Much of our work is organised on a project basis with project management aimed at the delivery of new educational outcomes and scholarship outputs.
eSTEeM supports a rolling portfolio of approx. 80 active scholarship projects under a number of themes which include:
Access, Participation and Success
Innovative assessment
Online/onscreen STEM practice
Supporting students
Technologies for STEM learning
To learn more about our projects, please click on the project titles or use the search feature below by entering keywords. To search by the name of a project leader, please use the 'Filter by Project Leader' tab on the right-hand side of this page.
The search found 264 result(s)
Search results
Alice Fraser-McDonald
In the conventional HE sector, there is often an established pathway for the progression of undergraduate and taught postgraduate students to postgraduate research within the same institution.
February 2024 to July 2025
Fiona Gleed
The Engineering profession offers intellectually and financially rewarding careers, with skills in high demand globally. However, women are significantly under-represented, with female students making up 18% of first year Engineering undergraduates in UK HE1 .
November 2023 to March 2024
Chris Douce
It has been 20 years since the university published Supporting Open Learners: Reader , and the accompanying publication, Supporting Open Learners: Theoretical Reader for its tutors. These booklets offer practical guidance about many aspects of the role as a tutor.
November 2023 to July 2024
Andy Diament Gemma Warriner
Students on SM123 Physics and space learn programming in Python across the module. Some find it straightforward, others very difficult.
December 2023 to December 2024
Emma Champion
Previous scholarship has shown that students with extensions have poorer outcomes on modules and that extensions are used by a higher proportion of students within Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) groups.
February 2024 to December 2024
Judith Croston
Two key barriers to student success in advanced physics and astronomy modules are (i) the abstract nature of key concepts that are far removed from everyday life, and (ii) the use of complex maths formalism that can obscure physical interpretation.
August 2024 to July 2026
Cath Brown Catherine Onions Charlotte Hancox
Post-pandemic, students’ live attendance at online tutorials has declined significantly but it is not uncommon to see hundreds of views of recordings.
June 2024 to June 2027
Eleanor Crabb Nicola McIntyre Cath Brown
Science students need to develop a level of competence in mathematics to succeed in their studies. However, Open University students in chemistry, biology and health sciences may well be unaware of the need for mathematical skills prior to embarking on their studies, and given the open entry pol
June 2024 to December 2026
Oli Howson
At the moment M269 students work entirely within the Jupyter infrastructure. Notetaking is not built in to Jupyter, although a rudimentary plugin has been developed for students to do so.
July 2024 to December 2025
Sally Jordan Jonathan Nylk Becca Whitehead
The project seeks to extend earlier investigations into the factors that enable students to do themselves justice in remote online exams in physics and related subjects, by encouraging them to attempt the exam in the first place and to complete a reasonable number of questions to an appropriate l
June 2024 to September 2025