History of the OU

Perhaps in response to criticisms such as implied in these cartoons (ie that students were isolated and that the television was a badly-used fad) from early on many OU materials sought to minimalise the overt input of the lecturer and encourage learners to construct their own understandings. 

One cartoon features a couple eating breakfast and has the caption ‘it’s the Open University – we’re having a sit-in’ and the other one shows a woman with a fake television holding up a card stating, ‘The cat sat on the mat’. The caption refers to a conversation between the two men in the background: ‘She reckons with this teaching method she has the problem of illiteracy licked’.

In 1972 the intention of a psychology course film of children talking and teachers at work in schools was for the student to hear ‘not the analysis of a lecturer but the actual voices of teachers, children and parents… the filter of the lecturer’s personality has been effectively removed’. A sociology film made in the same year used a hidden camera in a hostel for ‘mental sub normals’. There was little editing as the aim was that students could form their own opinions and use it as a starting point for discussion. In 1976 Arthur Marwick (Professor of History at the OU) argued that his aim was ‘to leave each piece of film to speak for itself without being overlaid by an intrusive commentary’.

Today is Jennie Lee’s birthday.

Jennie was the Minister in Harold Wilson’s government responsible for setting up The Open University. It would be hard to argue that the OU would exist in its current form without her influence. For more information about her see here.

To celebrate we are hosting a workshop – Opening Up The Open University. For more information see here. There will be a full report of the workshop posted here over the next few weeks.

There are still a handful of places available at next week’s workshop Opening Up The Open University workshop. For more details see here. 

There will be three plenary sessions – Open to people and places; Open to methods; and Open to ideas – reflecting the University’s mission, as set out by Lord Crowther in 1969.

Subjects to be addressed include the development of technology and pedagogy, the success of the University in widening participation and the role of the BBC. There will also be a contribution from the University’s Oral History Project.

A report of the event will be available on this blog next Thursday 4 November and we hope to explore here some of the discussions that take place in greater depth subsequently.

Whilst others (for example here, here, and here) criticise aspects of the Browne report  published this week, particularly the huge additional burden to be placed on students and the increasing marketisation of higher education, the Open University appears to be the only progressive voice welcoming any of Browne’s recommendations.

This should come as no surprise. One of Browne’s recommendations is that ‘Part time students should be treated the same as full time students for the costs of learning.’ While the rest of Browne’s proposals can be debated, as those familar with the OU’s history will know, this particular recommendation has been a long time coming. If implemented this would effectively be the culmination of a campaign the OU has been waging since its foundation.

Official documents from the 70s, 80s, 90s right up to the present day consistently highlight the unfair treatment of part-time students, and the action being taken to lobby the government to redress this. Now the OU has launched a new campaign calling on the government to ensure part-time students in the UK get a fair deal. See www.fourinten.org.

On Wednesday 3 November the History of The Open University Project is hosting a workshop to reflect on The Open University’s development and its place in and contribution to wider society. 

Contributors come from a range of disciplines and from both inside and outside the University. Subjects to be addressed include the development of technology and pedagogy, the success of the University in widening participation and the role of the BBC. There will also be a contribution from the University’s Oral History Project.

The workshop is open to all but limited by space. Those who wish to attend are asked to register in advance by email to history-of-the-ou@open.ac.uk by 27 October 2010.

More information is available here.

In 1982 Open House reported that a fire in the Disabled Students Office, which caused £1,000 worth of damage, resulted from two Christmas puddings being placed on a Braille duplicating machine to heat up (Open House 196 February 1982).

In August 1976 Michael Drake asked why, in  view of the reluctance of many of the BBC staff to move to Milton Keynes, the OU could not work with ITV instead (Open House, 31 August 1976)? Despite this possibility being raised the BBC continued to be unhappy about moving the OU operations from Alexandra Palace to Milton Keynes. The argument was made that this was because this would adversely affect the relationship between the OU and the BBC. Deputy General Secretary ABS, P Leech, felt that the move

would lead to a dominance of BBC staff  by the OU, would lead to a greater involvement in the control over areas of legitimate BBC interest and that a move of this sort would lead to the BBC staff losing their identity with the Corporation (RGJ/JFW 24 April 1977 notes of a meeting of 24 March 1977)

There had been tensions betwen the BBC and the oU and this discussion occured shortly before a dispute between the BBC and the OU about The Balcony (probably Jean Genet’s play, Le Balcon which was set in a brothel). In 1977 the BBC banned this and was rebuked by the Chancellor at the Alexandra Palace degree ceremony (Open House, 24 May 1977,  OH 5 July 1977).

Should the OU be more centralized? Zvi Friedman, who joined the OU in 1970 and was later the Senior Systems Analyst, thought it should: Read the rest of this entry »

Launched on 8 May 1972 this publication was sent to all students (about 35,000 of them) and staff (about 5,000 people). It was designed to be a news service and the first issue carried a piece by Ray Thomas about who was using the OU and why. It was revealed that there was an interim editorial advisory group chaired by Michael Drake. Professor Drake said: ‘It must be more than a vehicle for student outrage or Walton Hall pap. It has got to be be seen to be independent’. It was predated by Open House ‘a weekly journal of news, views and information for and by the staff of the Open University’ which was launched in March 1970.

CALL FOR PAPERS STUDENTS, VOLUNTEERING AND SOCIAL ACTION: 1880-1990

Toynbee Hall, London | 25 November 2010 | 10.30-4.30 Read the rest of this entry »