Author: Jay Rixon

‘Have Your Say Day’: Reflections on the Open Team session

Jay Rixon is a Senior Manager, responsible for the MA or MSc Open qualification. In this post, Jay reflects on the recent student ‘Have Your Say Day’ session held on Wednesday 15th of November.  

 

We think that students studying an Open qualification or module are ‘brave learners’, as they often have to navigate their way across different subject areas or disciplines and make connections between their learning. Wednesday 15th of November was ‘Have Your Say Day’ and the Open Team held a fun, informal and engaging session.

The Open team were joined by two Open graduate students who have studied an Open qualification and who powerfully shared their reflections and top study tips. The Open team also discussed how we could help students with their study with our backpack of resources. We asked students to tell us what they thought was missing from our resources: what ideas could we take forward or what could we work on together.  Continue reading “‘Have Your Say Day’: Reflections on the Open Team session”

Blurring Boundaries: The Campaign for #JoyHE

On Tuesday and Wednesday 21st and 22nd June, the Open qualifications team of the Open university in partnership with the Associate Lecturer Support & Professional Development team hosted an interdisciplinary conference, Blurring Boundaries. The purpose of the conference was to engage staff from across the University in conversations about interdisciplinary teaching and learning, encouraging discussions about the benefits of blurring boundaries across subjects and disciplines as well as the value of learning from one another.­­­ Continue reading “Blurring Boundaries: The Campaign for #JoyHE”

Playfulness, Practices and Perspective: the art of learning from one another

Heather Montgomery is Qualification Director for the Open degree at the Open University and Professor of Anthropology and Childhood in the Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies.  In this post, Heather reflects on a Student Hub Live (SHL) Live Broadcast on the 22nd June entitled, ‘Playfulness, Practices and Perspective: the art of learning from one another’. Here she shares her highlights and thoughts on the event.

Despite my many years at the OU (20 and counting) I had never taken part in a SHL event before and I was quite nervous – what was I going to say? What if anyone asked me a difficult question? And one of the themes was playfulness! What if I wasn’t feeling very playful on the day?

Continue reading “Playfulness, Practices and Perspective: the art of learning from one another”

Powerful perspectives from Poole: Volunteering at a Graduation Ceremony

Mary Keys and Jay Rixon are both  Senior Managers in Access, Open and Cross-curricular Innovation and are responsible for the BA or BSc Open Degree and the MA or MSc Open Masters qualifications. In this post, Mary and Jay reflect on their recent opportunity to volunteer at an OU Graduation Ceremony in Poole. 

Volunteering at a recent OU graduation ceremony reminded us of the impact education can, and does, have. We worked with the OU ceremonies graduation team in Poole and what an honour it was to join such a dedicated group of staff who set out to make each event memorable and special for every single student and their friends and family.  They ensure that those graduates are celebrated for their own individual achievements acknowledging the personalised journey each student has been on and the milestones they have overcome along the way. Continue reading “Powerful perspectives from Poole: Volunteering at a Graduation Ceremony”

Notes on the OU Interdisciplinary Conference

Sarah McKernan is a Tutor Support Manager in Access, Open and Cross-curricular Innovation and supports the delivery of Access and Open Box modules.  In this post, Sarah reflects on the recent online conference on ‘The Future of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning at the OU’ and the variety of sessions and media.

 

The Future of Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning at the OU Conference was held on Tuesday and Wednesday 21st and 22nd June and was the first conference of this scale I have attended virtually, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Continue reading “Notes on the OU Interdisciplinary Conference”

Reflecting on the Student Hub Live event #YourDegreeYourChoice

 Jay Rixon is a Senior Manager in Access, Open and Cross-curricular Innovation and responsible for the MA or MSc Open qualification. In this post, Jay reflects on a Student Hub Live (SHL) live broadcast on the 10th May entitled ‘#YourDegreeYourChoice’ and shares her highlights of the event.

 

The Open qualifications team always love a chance to collaborate with Student Hub Live (SHL) and this session was no different; one hour packed full of great conversations exploring the value of studying across subjects and how that makes you stand out in the workplace and to potential employers.  Continue reading “Reflecting on the Student Hub Live event #YourDegreeYourChoice”