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Technology-enhanced learning: foundations and futures

This module is for everyone with a professional interest in digital or technology-enhanced learning. It provides experience of a range of learning technologies and enables you to explore the processes of designing, implementing and critiquing elearning and the ideas that underpin these processes. You will use a range of social media and tools, learn collaboratively and undertake individual study. You'll examine the use of technologies in different contexts and develop your skills in using evidence to recommend specific technologies. By the end of your studies, you will have developed your skills, knowledge and practice in relation to digital learning, teaching and training. All students who successfully complete this 60-credit module will qualify to claim the Postgraduate Certificate in Online Teaching (K43).

Vocational relevance

This module is highly relevant if you work in, or wish to move into, elearning within higher education, further education, non-formal education or training.

Upon successfully completing the four eight-week study programmes that make up H880, you will have developed your skills as an effective professional in the diverse field of technology-enhanced teaching and training.

The module is mapped with the Professional Standards Framework developed by the UK’s Higher Education Academy (HEA) - now Advance HE. This is a framework used for benchmarking success within higher education teaching and support. Students working towards HEA Fellowship will be able to use their work on the module to support them in building a fellowship application by reflecting on the framework elements. You will need to contact Advance HE directly or consider your institutional-based scheme for further information about a fellowship application.

Some of our postgraduate students are sponsored by their employers, and we expect this to be the case for this module. Employers have demonstrated that they value its vocational relevance and the professional benefits that it brings to their staff.

Qualifications

H880 is a compulsory module in our:

H880 is an optional module in our:

Excluded combinations

Sometimes you will not be able to count a module towards a qualification if you have already taken another module with similar content. To check any excluded combinations relating to this module, visit our excluded combination finder or check with an adviser before registering.

Module

Module code
H880
Credits

Credits

  • Credits measure the student workload required for the successful completion of a module or qualification.
  • One credit represents about 10 hours of study over the duration of the course.
  • You are awarded credits after you have successfully completed a module.
  • For example, if you study a 60-credit module and successfully pass it, you will be awarded 60 credits.
60
Study level
Across the UK, there are two parallel frameworks for higher education qualifications, the Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Northern Ireland and Wales (FHEQ) and the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). These define a hierarchy of levels and describe the achievement expected at each level. The information provided shows how OU postgraduate modules correspond to these frameworks.
OU Postgraduate
SCQF 11
FHEQ 7
Study method
Distance learning
Module cost
See Module registration
Entry requirements

Find out more about entry requirements.

Module details Entry requirements Module registration Study materials

What you will study

A team of researchers and educators at The Open University’s pioneering Institute of Educational Technology have developed the materials for this module, giving you the opportunity to explore in depth issues related to learning at scale, mobile learning, citizen science, open learning, and learning design. All module materials are online. You’ll explore them individually, some in small groups and some with the entire cohort. Small-group work will take place using both text-based discussion and online room sessions, guided and supported by your tutor. You’re also welcome to lead your own online discussions and to use a range of online resources. You will be supported in individual study, in working together, and in seeking out new networks and sources of information on the Internet – from online journals to social media.

You will explore current and innovative learning technologies, together with opportunities to reflect on that experience. Whether you are blogging or sharing material on social media, reflecting on your experience of open courses, talking online with your tutor and fellow students or trying out a new tool you have just found, we’ll be asking you to keep in mind fundamental questions about the nature of learning, teaching, assessment and learning design. You’ll consider issues of openness, equity and accessibility and how these relate to different contexts. You’ll examine the key characteristics of technology-enhanced learning and their relevance in different contexts. You’ll also look ahead to new developments on the horizon and how these are likely to be relevant to your own practice.

The study materials and your tutor will support you as you read papers from some of the leading thinkers in the field. These resources will enable you to critically review evidence from researchers and practitioners around the world who are working in further and higher education, training and other settings for learning. By the end of the 32 study weeks, you should find that you have new skills to apply in your own context, a deeper understanding of the practices and debates shaping the world of technology-enhanced learning and a clearer view of its foundations and futures.

You will learn

You'll learn about the choices that practitioners and learners make when using technology in education, and how these choices relate to current debates and key theories. You will experience and reflect on the use of a range of conventional and innovative technologies in different learning contexts. You will explore a range of formal and informal sources, interpret and discuss their implications, and articulate your ideas about them for different audiences. These experiences will enable you to draw on a range of evidence to support the choices you make when designing learning activities or developing training materials.

The course is entirely online and highly interactive, and you’ll also have access to a downloadable version of the module materials.

This module is divided into four eight-week programmes: Foundations of TEL, Adapting to Contexts, Opening Up Education, and Educational Futures. Each programme concludes with reflection and assessment, with a one-week break between each block.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

Your tutor will guide you on many aspects of the module, and will grade and comment on your written work. You may also ask your tutor for advice and guidance. You will be taught and assessed through a combination of media, including the Internet, live discussion online, text-based discussion, email and written assignments. The module offers online tutorials. In these you’ll be able to interact with your tutor and other students using voice, visuals and text-chat.

Assessment

The assessment details for this module can be found in the facts box.

Course work includes

3 Tutor-marked assignments (TMAs)
End-of-module assessment

Future availability

Technology-enhanced learning: foundations and futures starts once a year – in February.

This page describes the module that will start in February 2026. We expect it to start for the last time in February 2031.

Regulations

As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our Student Policies and Regulations website.

Entry requirements

To take this module you need to be ready for study at postgraduate level, usually demonstrated by having a bachelors degree or equivalent qualification. You need easy access to the Web, but you don’t need to be experienced in studying online. Nor do you need to be working in technology-enhanced learning. However you should be interested in developing some expertise in this area.

All teaching is in English, and your proficiency in the language needs to be adequate for postgraduate study and for contributing to online discussions by text and voice. If English is not your first language, we strongly recommend that you make sure you can achieve a score of at least seven in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). To assess your English Language skills in relation to your proposed studies, you can visit the IELTS website.

If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.

Register

Start End England fee Register
07 Feb 2026 Oct 2026 £3045.00

Registration closes 15/01/26 (places subject to availability)

Register
This module is expected to start for the last time in February 2031.

Future availability

Technology-enhanced learning: foundations and futures starts once a year – in February.

This page describes the module that will start in February 2026. We expect it to start for the last time in February 2031.

Additional costs

Study costs

There may be extra costs on top of the tuition fee, such as set books, a computer and internet access.

Ways to pay for this module

We know there’s a lot to think about when choosing to study, not least how much it’s going to cost and how you can pay.

That’s why we keep our fees as low as possible and offer a range of flexible payment and funding options, including a postgraduate loan, if you study this module as part of an eligible qualification. To find out more, see Fees and funding.

Study materials

What's included

This module provides you with specially written online teaching material, learning activities that you will undertake individually or in small groups of fellow students, support from your tutor, online discussion and live online tutorials, a dedicated website, unlimited access to The Open University's Online Educator online course, and other internet resources.

As an OU student, you can use the Open University Library website. This provides access via the internet to a wide range of online resources such as databases, full-text ejournals, reference sources, ebooks, newspapers, images and more to support your studies. You can use these to do a literature search, keep up to date with your subject or read around a topic. Support for developing and improving your information-searching skills is available on the Library website and the Library’s Learner Helpdesk is there seven days a week to provide help and advice on finding and using information.

You will have access to the cutting-edge research and academic expertise offered by the Institute of Educational Technology team within the OU. You will also have opportunities for communication – both live and asynchronous – with world-leading researchers in educational technology. 

Computing requirements

  • Primary device – A desktop or laptop computer. It’s possible to access some materials on a mobile phone, tablet or Chromebook; however, they will not be suitable as your primary device.
  • Peripheral device – Headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone for online tutorials.
  • Our OU Study app operates on supported versions of Android and iOS.
  • Operating systems – Windows 11 or latest supported macOS. Microsoft will no longer support Windows 10 as of 14 October 2025.
  • Internet access – Broadband or mobile connection.
  • Browser – Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge are recommended. Mozilla Firefox and Safari may be suitable.

If you have a disability

You will be encouraged to consider issues associated with accessibility in technology-enhanced learning. This will include opportunities to reflect on accessibility issues connected with different tools and resources, and to suggest practical approaches that learners, educators and designers can use to address these challenges. You will also have opportunities to consider and review the use of assistive technologies in the field of technology-enhanced learning.

This module requires the use of a wide range of resources, as you study emerging online technologies. Many of the materials will be delivered as web pages, PDF files and web-based tools. Tutorial and student-led discussions and activities will be carried out in online rooms. In addition, some discussions and collaborative activities will take place as live voice-based events in our audio-conferencing environment.

We have tried to avoid using inaccessible resources, but some material that is core for the module may not be easily accessible if you use assistive technology. Some students may also find the amount of reading from technically different sources challenging. In many cases there will be sufficient alternative activities and material to enable you to complete assignments successfully. Where this is not the case, your tutor will give you additional support in collaboration with other OU staff. Support for access to Library resources is available from the Library Helpdesk.

As you will be asked to study the use of emerging online tools, and to participate in live online discussions in an audio-conferencing environment, you may find it beneficial to have someone assisting you. Advice on this is available from an adviser.

Students are asked to consider a range of audiences in terms of writing and disseminating research outcomes. We encourage more scholarly writing where appropriate and it is possible that some students may experience some challenges with this, as with the need to write in different environments, such as online forums. Tutors will help by working with individual students to find strategies to manage specific learning activities in alternative ways.

To find out more about what kind of support and adjustments might be available, contact us or visit our disability support pages.

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