On Tuesday 26th September 2017, as part of our induction for sport and fitness students studying at the Open University, we held a live induction event through our Student Hub Live platform. If you missed the session you can watch the full video here on the link below or you can watch the individual videos of each session below.
Session 1: Sport and Fitness Qualification Overview (Caroline Heaney and Ben Oakley)
Session 2: Sport and Fitness Blog and Social Media (Helen Owton and Karen Howells)
Session 3: The Role of the Tutor (Helen Owton and Ola Fadoju)
Session 4: E117 App Demonstration (Ben Langdown and Caroline Heaney)
Session 5: The Student Journey (Jess Pinchbeck and Caroline Heaney)
The summer of 2017 has been an outstanding season for women’s team sports.
Team success!
In the Netball Quad series earlier this year, the England Roses missed out on the title by just one point to the Australia Diamonds at Wembley. England beat India by just nine runs in a dramatic world cup final at Lords thanks to Anya Shrubsole’s remarkable bowling.
The England football team reached the semi-finals losing to the home nation, Netherlands at EURO 2017 but becoming national heroes. The Red Roses steamed into the Rugby World Cup final with an intense game against the very strong side of New Zealand, the Black Ferns. It wasn’t the happy ending they were looking for but the nation got behind the event to watch two of the best women’s rugby teams in the world.
Record High Viewings!
Not only has the Nation been so successfully in so many different sports, but the public have demonstrated a huge hunger for more! The women’s EURO 2017 viewing statistics hit record highs of 4 million, beating Celebrity Big Brother and the British Bake Off marking the highest audience figures for Channel 4 this year (Kennel, 2017).
Earlier in the year, the England v Australia Netball game drew in half a million viewers on BBC2. Women’s cricket is also in high demand selling out Lords with 26,500 people and 1.1 million tuning in to watch the World Cup on Sky (Whaling, 2017). Recently, the Women’s Rugby World Cup, held in Ireland reported a record total attendance of 45,412, a peak of 2.65 million tuning in to ITV in the UK to watch the final between England and New Zealand and a vast increase in social media engagement.
Looking ahead, this trend is likely to build rather than fizzle with 80,000 tickets having already been sold for the Women’s Hockey World Cup 2018. Household names are cashing in on women’s sport with Vitality, Investec, and SSE sponsoring various sports and television companies are battling to secure broadcasting rights for women’s sport. Now, Kia have continued their investment with the Ladies’ PGA deal. It seems that the opportunity to watch women’s sport has never been better and it is an ideal time for other brands to invest.
Now, when I read about sport or listen to the news, I’m wondering why there isn’t more of a distinction so I know whether they are talking about men’s sport or not. We can’t just say ‘Football’ and assume that it is men’s football.
On Tuesday 26th September 2017 (1-3pm), as part of our induction programme, we will be hosting a Student Hub Live session for OU Sport and Fitness students. For part of the session we are looking for a level 3 sport and fitness student to share their experience of studying sport and fitness at the OU so far.
The session would involve you being interviewed, alongside a sport and fitness lecturer, about how you have found each of the modules you have studied so far and any tips or advice you have for other students. The session will last for 30 minutes and will be live streamed through our Student Hub Live platform.
You can find out more about Student Hub Live here. Also, to get a feel for what the Student Hub Live sessions are like, you can watch the videos on the pages below:
If you are interested in appearing in the Sport and Fitness Student Hub Live session on 26th September 2017 please email WELS-Sports@open.ac.uk stating what module(s) you are currently registered on, what modules you have already studied and why you would like to be involved. The successful student will be required to be in Milton Keynes on the afternoon of Tuesday 26th September and will be reimbursed with their travel expenses and a £30 Amazon voucher.
Priority will be given to level 3 students, however, consideration will be given to level 2 students who have completed at least 60 credits. Priority will also be given to those studying sport and fitness qualifications.
