Education - OU Community Online

Speakers for Schools are offering state schools the opportunity to access a fantastic network of speakers who are willing to give inspirational talks to young people for free.

These speakers have kindly agreed to give at least one talk per annum in a state school and will address the big subjects: technological, scientific, political, economic, historical, cultural, artistic, ecological and ethical. They are people who will be able to explain the latest developments in areas such as business, cosmology, biology, medicine, linguistics, history, engineering, inter alia.

Speakers include: Honorary graduates Baroness Tessa Blackstone, Sir Peter Bonfield, Sir Christopher Bland, Sir William Castell, Evan Davis, Sir Richard Lambert and Martha Lane Fox. As well as David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Lord Sebastian Coe and other well know faces.

 For further information or to apply for a speaker, visit the Speaker4schools website: http://www.speakers4schools.org/

The figure is nearly double that of a year ago – with 70 per cent of visitors now downloading straight to mobile devices.

The BBC reported that the OU is now neck and neck with rival Stanford University, and ahead of universities such as Yale and Oxford.

Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, said: “Right from the start, the OU has always kept pace with the new technologies of the time and it is fascinating to see the development of the post personal computing stage of the OU on iTunes U.

“It is crucial for part-time students to be able to study when, where and how it suits them and we excel at finding new and better ways to enable students to study on the move.”

The OU is one of the biggest and most popular contributors to iTunes U, averaging 275,000 downloads a week. It regularly appears on the iTunes U Top Charts and has one of the widest ranging libraries, including both audio visual collections, and over 400 eBooks derived from our award winning OpenLearn site.

In July 2011, the OU’s The History of English in Ten Minutes collection which went straight to the iTunes U (UK) chart at number four after just four days. Shakespeare was the top OU download on iTunes U that month.

OU material on iTunes U gets a worldwide audience with 90 per cent of visitors to the site coming from outside the UK. An OU on iTunes U audience survey revealed that 96 per cent use the materials for learning.

The Open University first posted material on iTunes U in June 2008 and recorded 20 million iTunes U downloads in June 2010. In October 2010, the OU was one of the first three universities worldwide to put eBooks onto iTunes U.

His research interests include human-centred design of technologies for mobile, contextual and inquiry-based learning, and the application of studies of human cognition and social interaction to the development of novel interactive systems. He inaugurated the mLearn International conference series and was founding President of the International Association for Mobile Learning. In collaboration with theOpen University's Professor Eileen Scanlon, he was Principal Investigator of the recent PI: Personal Inquiry project to support inquiry learning of 21st century science topics between formal and informal settings. As a member of the MOBIlearn European 5th Framework project he led the design and evaluation of its context awareness subsystem.

Other projects include Design of Games for auditory learning, L-Mo with Sharp Labs Europe to develop mobile technology for language learning, a study of Web 2.0 technologies for learning at school and home, educational futures research , the design of a Writer's Assistant, an exploration of writing as creative design, computer implementation of story generation, and the development of a knowledge-based tutoring system for neuroradiology.

Respect for the autonomy and dignity of persons, scientific value, social responsibility, maximising benefit and minimising harm are at the core of a new Code of Human Research Ethics introduced by the Open University’s John Oates at the Annual Conference of The British Psychological Society.

John Oates, Senior Lecturer at the OU, was convenor of the society working party that developed it.

He told the Conference in Glasgow the code, which complements the 2009 Code of Ethics and Conduct, is principles based and designed to evolve rather than provide a framework for every eventuality.
 

• Read the full code

OU lecturer Dr Rosie Flewitt, a research associate in the study, Multimodal Literacies in the Early Years, found that many early years practitioners lacked confdence in how to use technology, were uncertain about its value, "or feared the potential harm to' childhood'".

Concerns have previously been raised about how children from poorer families often miss out on the oportunity to use new technology but this time it is the nurserys and educated, middle-class families who are in the spotlight.

Dr Flewitt said in the report "Some children from highly educated, affluent families had very little exposure to new technologies whereas some children from less affluent families were given excellent support at home to develop their literacy skills through diverse uses of new technologies."

To read the full story click here.

The Open University's teacher training programme, which was judged Outstanding by inspectors in Northern Ireland last year, has received a glowing report for its work in England.

Ofsted, the government's office for standards in education, has rated the OU's initial teacher education in England as Outstanding in all but one area. That area, Attainment, is rated Good.

The Ofsted report, based on its inspection in March,  says that the structure and flexibility of the Open University teaching training provides high quality training for people who in most cases would not otherwise have entered the teaching profession.

It says: "They are trained well and the very large majority successfully complete the course and secure teaching posts that suit their personal circumstances.

"The overwhelming majority of successful trainees remain in teaching beyond the early years, a testament to their personal qualities and to the quality of training and support they receive."

The Ofsted report follows a glowing assessment of the OU's teacher training programme in Northern Ireland, conducted by the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) last September.The OU was the only Northern Ireland institution to receive the highest grade, Outstanding.

The Open University offers a professional graduate certificate in education (PGCE) to teach in the 11 to 16 age range, with post-16 enhancement for most trainees, in: design and technology; geography;  mathematics;  modern foreign languages (French, German and Spanish);  music; and science (biology, chemistry and physics). Successful trainees can take an additional masters-level module, leading to a postgraduate certificate in education, at the end of the course.

Useful links

• Professional Graduate Certificate in Education

Picture: Thinkstock

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) currently has 69 learning goals - or benchmarks - for young children to be measured against but this will be reduced to 17 basics under the new system. The EYFS has been in place since 2008 and sets out learning and welfare targets for childcare providers. 

For more on this story click here.