Welcome to the SCiLAB blog!

by Dr Jacqueline Baxter, Dr Ruslan Ramanau and Kate Bunker

This blog is run by the Centre for Innovation in Legal and Business Education (SCiLAB) at the Open University Business School. Here at the Open University we have been successfully educating students in an online environment for the last 50 years. Our centre has a wealth of expertise in online teaching and learning pedagogy.

The blog will talk about issues and research that relate to online teaching, specifically in business and law. Here you will find a wide range of articles from our researchers and our teachers. The format and content of the posts will vary: some will be aimed at practical issues relating to teaching and learning, and their solutions. Some will report on recent research in particular areas, such as for example: can skills be taught online? How do you go about designing online learning?

Who are we?

The centre is directed by Dr Jacqueline Baxter – Associate Professor in Public Policy and Management. Dr Baxter has a wealth of experience in online teaching and learning at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. She presently chairs one of the Open University’s largest modules, B100- an introduction to business and management, which has over 3,000 students currently studying. She is assisted by Deputy Director Dr Ruslan Ramanau – lecturer in e-learning. Both Dr Baxter and Dr Ramanau have published and taught extensively in the area of online learning in business and management. Our Operations Manager, Kate Bunker, oversees the blog as well as handling all day to day management of the centre, including communications, events and research.

An invitation to blog

We welcome blog posts from anyone with an interest in online teaching and learning particularly but not solely in the area of business and management. At present we are particularly interested in blog posts from those just getting to grips with teaching and learning online, as a direct result of the COVID-19 virus.

Over the next few months we will be publishing blogs aimed at supporting those in higher education, further education and secondary sectors that are having to learn about teaching online.

If you are interested in contributing please get in touch with Kate Bunker in the first instance with the title and brief description of what you would like to write about.

With very best wishes from Dr Jacqueline Baxter, Dr Ruslan Ramanau, and Kate Bunker.