The OU and Scotland’s Colleges’ Collaborative Teaching Partnership: An Evaluation

• Project Team: Gerry MooneyJanet ColeIain Macpherson Steven McGeeverKhadija Patel
• Subject Discipline: Social Sciences and Global Studies
• Theme: Employability/CareersEquality, diversity and inclusionOnline and blended tuition
• Project Aim: Enables more students to achieve their study goalsEnhances employability and career progressionImproves and enhance the learning experience of studentsPromotes equality diversity and inclusion including reduction of degree awarding gap
• Status: Complete
• Date: January 2020 to January 2022

The primary purpose of the proposed project was to:

Capture the experiences of students, tutors and partnership managers (both OU and College) and to evaluate the impacts of these Collaborative Teaching Partnership in three of Scotland’s Colleges: Ayrshire, City of Glasgow and Fife.

The objectives of the project were to:

1. Record student and tutor experiences of the OU/College partnerships
2. Evaluate the study achievements of OU partnership students
3. Evaluate retention levels
4. Investigate what employability skills (if any) are developed through the specific tuition/learning patterns
5. Capture the learning experience of partnership students
6. Investigate the composition of partnership student cohorts
7. Capture the teaching experience with lessons for other modes of curriculum delivery, and for the blended learning approach

Among the key questions the proposed project addressed:

• What is working well in the partnership in terms of achievement, retention, employability skills, inclusion, teaching and learning experiences?
• What impact does greater frequency of face to face tuition have on the blended learning model?
• What problems are there in the partnership in terms of achievement, retention, employability skills, inclusion, teaching and learning experiences?
• What lessons are to be learned to further develop and to improve these partnerships?