About us

FASSTEST (FASS Teaching Excellence and Scholarship of Teaching) is the Centre for Scholarship and Innovation in The Open University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). It was launched in October 2018 with the aim to bring together colleagues in the Arts and Social Sciences (and beyond) to promote, support and maximise the impact of the scholarship of teaching and learning. The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is the largest and most diverse at The Open University, with almost 50,000 students studying 37 different qualifications across 14 disciplines. The study of the Arts and Social Sciences deals with the full range of human experience. This intrinsically interdisciplinary approach means we are able to produce inspiring, cutting-edge scholarship and research that informs our world-class teaching.

Established in autumn 2018, FASSTEST promotes teaching excellence, innovation, scholarship and research in open and distance learning in the Arts and Social Sciences. By ‘scholarship’, we mean the scholarship of teaching and learning: the critical, scholarly evaluation of approaches to teaching and learning with the aim of providing a clear evidence base for good practice in higher education.

Our portfolio of projects and events includes work on innovative tuition and assessment, distance learning, online pedagogy, professional development, widening participation and supporting students. Our work aims to make student and practitioner voices heard, facilitate a dynamic and inclusive culture and support curriculum development in order to enhance students’ experiences and success.

Here at The Open University we can draw on particular expertise in online and distance education, and we are especially inspired by our university’s mission to be open to people, places and ideas. We are committed to placing innovation at the heart of teaching and learning and to exploring new and better ways to inspire and enable learning, opening up higher education to all, regardless of background or circumstances.