News from The Open University
How does Star Wars’ Yoda structure a sentence? And how does it differ to the way we tend to speak in contemporary English? This one minute film presented by Fernando Rosell-Aguilar, Senior Lecturer in Languages at The Open University, breaks down the mechanics of Yoda speech in this crash course on speaking Yodish. For more Open […]
Main image: Mark Menzies, CC BY-NC-SA Unless you are C3-PO, fluent in more than six million forms of communication, you may not understand every Star Wars language. I’m not talking about the languages spoken in the saga such as Shyriiwook, Huttese, Bocce or even Binary (beep beep doop!), but the languages into which the Star Wars […]
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg believes personalised learning is the answer to many of education’s current woes, and is one of the four key areas that he and his wife Prescilla Chan’s US$45 billion Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will fund. While some argue whether this is a philanthropic act or a shrewd business strategy, others will ask: […]
Read more about Zuckerberg is ploughing billions into ‘personalised learning’ – why?
One could be forgiven for being under the misapprehension that the BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year accolade should be about more than a sportsman or woman’s exploits on track, field, court or ring. The clue’s in the name: “personality”. Most of us, I would think, would expect that the honour should be bestowed on […]
The OU’s Innovating Pedagogy Report takes a look into the crystal ball to see how tomorrow’s teaching and learning practices could change education. It’s compiled annually by The Open University and this year was created in conjunction with SRI International, the US-based research institute. The report highlights the top 10 trends which it predicts will have the most […]
Read more about New teaching and learning trends revealed in OU’s annual study
Assistance for supporting young people with life-threatening or life-limiting conditions who want to explore their sexuality and develop relationships is offered to practitioners in a new comprehensive OU-published guide in partnership with the charity Together for Short Lives. The publication, launched this week, gives guidance and standards for health, social care and education practitioners who […]
After a 79-year wait, Great Britain’s Davis Cup win was an emotional day for the country’s tennis fans, players and, in particular, Andy Murray. Having won all eight of his singles matches in the tournament – a record that matches the likes of John McEnroe and Mats Wilander – he was instrumental in ensuring victory. […]
Read more about Will Davis Cup victory spur on a new generation of British tennis stars?
Charlie Sheen’s recent disclosure that he is HIV positive echoes a similar announcement made by another movie star, Rock Hudson 30 years ago – and it’s interesting to compare the two cases. Both tried unsuccessfully to conceal their HIV status. Hudson was betrayed by his appearance: he was visibly unwell and his disclosure came just […]
Read more about Charlie Sheen, Rock Hudson and the changing face of HIV stigma
There are now more than 1.1 million children in our schools whose first language “is known or believed to be other than English” according to the latest government figures. This confirms a continuous upwards trend that shows no sign of abating. Many of the 300 or so languages spoken in schools have relatively few […]
Read more about Bilingual pupils – a rich resource for future says OU academic
A leading dementia researcher at the OU has secured nearly £370k of funding from Alzheimer’s Research UK for a ground-breaking new research project which may pave the way for new treatments. Dr Cheryl Hawkes and her team are studying how a protein called amyloid is cleared from blood vessels in the brain and how this […]
Read more about Pioneering Alzheimer’s research could help find new treatments
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