The Open University

Five things you need to be a Winter Olympian

23 February 2018

The Winter Olympics has given a perfect illustration of how the nature of elite sport requires athletes to push themselves to their limit in high-pressure competitive situations. The OU’s Candice Lingam-Willgoss, lecturer in sport and fitness notes how the performances in PyeongChang this year reveal typical examples of courage, determination and gold medal winning achievements. […]

Revealed: what sexism in call centres can teach us about sexism in society

6 February 2018

Although you are likely to have dealt with both male and female call centre agents, the fact is that 71% of workers in the global call centre industry are female. Dubbed the “female ghetto” or, more positively, “female-friendly workplaces”, women are significantly over-represented in call centres. The reason for this is linked to one of […]

How learning analytics can provide students (and teachers) what they want

2 February 2018

The words ‘analytics’ and ‘data’ might seem alien or even intimidating to most of us – unless you are a number-cruncher or a market analyst, why would they be of any use, right? However, Professor of Learning Analytics at The Open University, Bart Rienties, has spent much of his career researching how data can improve […]

Reading aloud to children: 7 steps to making it magical

31 January 2018

There is no blueprint for reading aloud, but these simple steps from Professor Teresa Cremin will help you relax and enjoy the special time that is sharing a book with your child. She says: “Reading aloud not only nurtures children’s pleasure in reading, it offers them models of how a book should sound and feel, […]

“Nurses need better support,” says OU Head of Nursing

26 January 2018

Nurses must be given support from NHS managers to learn while they earn as part of a new drive to reverse the debilitating exodus from the profession, according to The Open University’s Head of Nursing. Julie Messenger welcomed a report by the House of Commons Health Select Committee, which endorsed the need for different routes […]

How do we respond to offence on social media? – Expert Opinion

24 January 2018

Creating Facebook is a project run by Philip Seargeant and Caroline Tagg of The Open University’s Applied Linguistics and Literacies (ALL) Research Group. The pair collaborated with us on a Twitter and Facebook poll as part of Brainteaser Month which asked how people respond to feeling offended on Facebook. You can see the polls and ensuing […]

Fitness trends for 2018: stretching classes, eco-friendly treadmills and gym psychologists

19 December 2017

In 2017 we saw the continued popularity of high intensity interval training (HIIT), strength training and group training. The success of parkrun, free 5 km running events held in over 500 parks, showed that people are interested in coming together in shared exercise experiences. Parkrun now has over 120,000 participants supported by 10,000 volunteers and […]

English in Action project scoops top award for international impact

1 December 2017

English in Action (EIA), an inspiring OU-led project to transform English language teaching in Bangladesh has won a prestigious Times Higher Education Award for International Impact. The Award recognises projects which have had a significant, demonstrable impact on the world at large. “innovative and pragmatic “ The judges said that the programme was a “clear winner […]

7 creative ways teachers can get kids writing

14 November 2017

Professor of Literacy, Teresa Cremin, is working on a new research project to develop teachers’ skills as writers, in order to help develop the confidence and motivation of students. Here she shares seven ways that teachers can get their students into writing: 1. Clear time and space, and ‘just write’ Help children to turn off their […]

Still a stigma: Abortion 50 years on

27 October 2017

Fifty years on from from the 1967 Abortion Act, OU academic and researcher in abortion policy, politics and teenage pregnancy, Dr Lesley Hoggart, examines why there is still a stigma attached to women who have more than one abortion. Challenging the stigma associated with abortions “It’s been 50 years since the Abortion Act 1967 was passed, […]

OU News

Category: Education, languages and health