The Open University

Five ways the OU’s new chatbot can support disabled students

29 January 2021

The process of disclosing a disability can be a time-consuming, stressful process, which the OU is aiming to improve with a chatbot to support both its students and staff. The OU’s chatbot, produced through the ADMINS Project, has been developed by educational experts, staff and students to improve disability disclosure processes for people with disabilities. […]

New report highlights trends in online and blended learning

7 January 2021

‘Enriched realities’ and ‘Using chatbots in learning’ are two of the top ten new approaches to learning and teaching in this year’s Innovating Pedagogy report from The Open University. The ninth edition of the report launched in January 2021 was produced by leading educational researchers at the OU’s Institute of Educational Technology (IET), in collaboration […]

OU’s new microcredential supports with accessible and inclusive online learning to disabled students

20 November 2020

The Open University (OU) has launched a new short course in its suite of microcredentials, designed to help education and training professionals across the world to plan, design and deliver accessible and inclusive online learning to students with disabilities. Online Teaching: Accessibility and Inclusive Learning, will be hosted on the OU’s FutureLearn platform and is open […]

Book Chat – OU partners with Macmillan Children’s Books to extend its Reading for Pleasure work to families

15 October 2020

The Open University has launched Book Chat: Reading with your Child, a resource which comprises three short films and support materials to help parents, families and carers read books conversationally and creatively to children. Working with Macmillan Children’s Books, the films use a selection of their picture books and a poetry collection to support families […]

OU joins with organisations from across publishing, books and education to raise awareness of shared reading

14 July 2020

The Open University’s Reading for Pleasure programme has collaborated with 17 other organisations, including The Reading Agency and Department for Education on a Reading Together Day to raise awareness of the importance of shared reading. On 16 July, families, schools and wider communities across the UK will be invited to take part in a host […]

Escape with the sounds of nature – Forest 404 Experiment returns for a second run

27 April 2020

An exciting national experiment reopens today, aiming to shed light on how listening to nature could impact wellbeing. In collaboration with The Open University’s nQuire platform, BBC Radio 4 and the University of Exeter, one of the biggest investigations ever conducted into the therapeutic effects of sound returns and is launching alongside Forest 404, a […]

Learning links around the world thanks to OU and FutureLearn

22 April 2020

A free course to help teachers and instructors move learning online during the pandemic has attracted a huge following around the globe on The Open University’s part-owned FutureLearn site. How to Teach Online: Providing Continuity for Students is a three-week course that is attracting massive audiences and great engagement from all across the world, united […]

OU partners with The Young Foundation to launch coronavirus citizen science project

7 April 2020

The Open University has partnered with UKRI accredited Independent Research Organisation, The Young Foundation to launch a landmark new project to capture the social impact of coronavirus on individuals and communities across the UK. Delivered on the OU’s citizen science platform, nQuire the project aims to understand how this generation-defining moment impacts the future of […]

Wealth of tips to help students study online

1 April 2020

As the Coronavirus lockdown means students are spending less time in tutorials and lectures and more time logging on online, there’s a growing need to make the best of an unfamiliar study situation. Luckily help is at hand, from our tutors and indeed OU students – used to learning remotely – who are willing to […]

Teaching your children – a chance to reconnect and rediscover

1 April 2020

Coronavirus (COVID-19) has radically altered the formal bricks and mortar environment of school education that much of the UK’s children were used to. Whether we call it home schooling, home education or home learning, this new realm is fresh and challenging territory for many parents. Drawing on her expertise in home education, Dr Amber Fensham-Smith, […]

OU News

Category: Education