On his retirement from the Open University, Emeritus Professor John Butcher reflects on the importance of openness.
Recently, on reaching the age of 67 in October 2023, I retired from the Open University as Professor of Inclusive Teaching in Higher Education. My final responsibility was to chair the Academic Committee which had governance oversight of the Open qualification and to which the Open Board of Studies reported. At the end of the meeting, at the point at which thanks were being generously expressed by colleagues, it was suggested I might formulate some personal reflections to be disseminated through the ‘Open blog’. I was happy to agree. Continue reading “Openness matters”
Dr Simon Scott is Associate Professor in the School of Liberal Arts, at the University of Birmingham. He is the school’s lead on interdisciplinarity and has convened modules on multidisciplinarity, interdisciplinarity, and transdisciplinarity. He is currently editing a book on Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching: Pedagogies and Practice. His research is in two areas: on the study of interdisciplinarity, and interdisciplinary research on shame. Dr Scott was recently a Guest Lecturer at an Open University online seminar, ‘Facilitating reflection on interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary study’, and he discusses that seminar here. 
