Supporting students

The Mathematics and Statistics Community of Learners

The Mathematics and Statistics Study Site was created in September 2017 and was one of a number of pilot study sites in the OU. Many of the resources on the site have grown out of smaller scholarship projects.

Evaluating the level 1 engineering tutors resource

Reusability is a key concept for educators. For many of the associate lectures at the Open University, the group tuition policy has resulted in repetition of tutorial structure and delivery with ALs across clusters giving similar tutorials on the same topics at similar times.

Summer Series of Journal Clubs: an opportunity to develop employability skills and a sense of community amongst students in secure environments

In keeping with the ethos ‘open to all’, The Open University (OU) has provided higher education opportunities to students in secure environments (SiSE) for over 40 years, currently reaching over 150 secure environments (Open University, 2020).

Evaluating student perspectives of different types of learning events provided on SDK228, a level 2 LHCS module

SDK228, Science of the mind: Investigating mental health was a level two interdisciplinary Life, Health and Chemical Science (LHCS) module that attracted students from a variety of backgrounds including health and natural sciences, health and social care, nursing, psychology and counselling.

STEM ISSS - where are we now? Evaluating awareness, usage and effectiveness of individual student support sessions

Our distance learning students study in isolation and are an increasingly diverse cohort, many with disabilities and balancing work, family and caring commitments alongside study workload, with many students opting to study at high intensity with potential overlap between J and B presentations.

Usage of Early Alerts Indicators on two level 1 modules

The Open University (UK) has developed two systems of predictive modelling to identify students at risk.

Early start MU123

A flexible start programme was introduced in July- September 2018 for the MU123 18J presentation. There was a high take up from students with just under 200 students participating, which was 43% of those offered a place, and this meant that the programme was full to capacity.

Perceptions, Expectations and Experience of Group Tuition: towards a shared understanding amongst stakeholders (part II: the student perspective)

Winner of the 6th eSTEeM Scholarship Projects of the Year Award 2023.

An investigation into how STEM students use learning resources in different formats, and how this use develops over time

Winner of the 4th eSTEeM Scholarship Projects of the Year Award 2021 under the category - Enhancing the Student Experience.

An overall summary of our findings would be that:-

Supporting Degree Apprenticeship students: Tutors’ and Students’ perspectives

Recently the UK government has initiated various initiatives and strategies to address the need for increased STEM skills in the workplace.