B870 / BXY870: Managing in a changing world

This module will encourage students to develop, as well as challenge, their current knowledge and skills in order to deal with contemporary and rapidly changing areas of management and marketing. Using both independent and collaborative approaches to learning, the module will enable students to integrate and understand ways of managing these core business functions in the face of globalisation, technological advancements and recent economic, social and political upheavals.

Online school tutor role

The Online version of the school provides an equivalent and alternative learning experience for students who are unable to attend a residential venue or prefer the online option. In the case of the 22E schools, all options will be online only.

Students will be asked to undertake some preparatory work in advance of the residential school, which will be available to them on the module VLE. Their residential school activities will provide them with significant support to develop their plans for their EMA. The residential school will also contribute to students’ skills in a variety of ways, especially concerning; enhancing their collaborative abilities; developing and refining their effective use of academic language; and developing their understanding of how the integrative inter-disciplinary focus of unit 3 can be beneficial in critical thinking and problem- solving practices.

There will be a choice of date options for students. There will be two short schools that will run for three days with synchronous sessions on all three days of the school. There will also be a long school that will run for 12 days asynchronously with a small number of synchronous sessions. The Online school covers the same ground as the face-to-face school (with a few exceptions), but all discussions and activities are conducted online.

Your role as a tutor is more that of a facilitator than a teacher. You will support a group of students in sessions by setting up the activity, drawing this together through TGF discussions, ensuring students participate in the tasks, and conducting synchronous discussion sessions. You should expect to comment on the group’s performance, and you will report to an online Module Director about progress, achievements, and problems.

Complete guidance and details of your tasks and role will be given to you in advance, including a tutor briefing that you will be invited to attend shortly before the schools start.

To tutor the online version, you will need access to a computer that matches the OUBS specification with a broadband connection. You can check the computer specification at Personal Computing for OU Study - B870.

You will be required to log on and contribute every day, for up to two hours a day for the period of the long school. For the short school, you will be required to be online for most of the three days. Single synchronous sessions for both schools may last longer.  You will need to spend some time preparing one week before the start of the school, for example, by introducing yourself to your student group.”

Residential school tutor qualifications

You should have:

• experience of facilitating individuals' learning through small group activities
• experience of management development and learning
• current or relevant management experience or proven results of management consultancy / research in major organisations.

Online school tutor qualifications

In addition to the qualifications for the residential school set out above, you must have demonstrable experience in online teaching or e-moderation in any context, e.g. online module tuition of OU Business School student groups or other work such as project management in a virtual environment.

You'll be committed to and believe in the online environment as an effective means of tuition and learning and will be able to promote the medium and the success of virtual groups as a key management skill for students.

All residential school appointments

Preference will be given to OUBS academic staff, B870 module tutors and others who have successfully tutored previously.