Our blogs are written by OU academics, staff and our partner organisations. They share their expertise and emerging research as well as comment on current social issues. If you work with The OU and have an idea for a blog, do get in touch. You can also sign up for our newsletter to receive regular updates.
As a touring exhibition opens on the life of Jennie Lee, a founder of The Open University, OU in Scotland Director Susan Stewart shares ten things about Jennie that you might not know.
30 October, 2019
Wendy Craig and Aimee Bainbridge, teachers at Newtonhill Primary School in Aberdeenshire, discuss their participation in the Open University’s TELT programme – TEachers Learning to Teach languages.
10 September, 2019
Marie Hendry, OU in Scotland Depute Director, External Engagement and Partnerships, discusses the benefits to workforces of staff skills development, as an OU Roadshow with several employer events across the country gets set to launch.
22 August, 2019
Ahead of her event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Catherine Simpson, author of 'When I Had a Little Sister' and Open University alumnus, shares her experiences.
13 August, 2019
With anniversaries being celebrated of Apollo 11 landing on the Moon, and The Open University being founded, Dr Mahesh Anand discusses projects he has led at the OU working on Apollo samples, and looks to the future of space exploration.
24 July, 2019
Susan Stewart, Director of the Open University in Scotland, celebrates the 50th anniversary of the OU and the lives it has changed.
24 April, 2019
On the International Day of Happiness, Professor of Economics at the OU, Paul Anand, discusses happiness in Scotland and other countries.
20 March, 2019
Marie Hendry, OU in Scotland Depute Director, External Engagement and Partnerships, writes about the importance of opening education, skills development and careers paths to all.
8 March, 2019
Collaborative leadership in voluntary organisations is discussed by Dr Carol Jacklin-Jarvis, from the Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership within The Open University Business School.
15 February, 2019
Gerry Mooney, Senior OU Lecturer in Social Policy and Criminology, examines events in Glasgow's George Square 100 years ago, and explains why they remain so vivid for many in the city today.
31 January, 2019
OU creative writing tutor Jules Horne, an award-winning playwright and fiction writer, shares her experience of using an online classroom for a workshop on Hamlet with students in diverse locations.
30 January, 2019
Siobhan Campbell is Co-Chair of the Master of Arts in Creative Writing at the OU and editor of ‘Courage and Strength: Stories and Poems by Combat Veterans’. She writes about projects with veterans of the military forces.
28 January, 2019
Martin Upton, Director of the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance (PUFin) at the Open University Business School, shares some steps for reviewing household finances.
8 January, 2019
Dr John Murray, Volcanologist and a Senior OU Research Fellow, explains how research by a Scottish geologist on the Ardnamurchan peninsula decades ago helps inform present volcano studies.
29 November, 2018
Susan Stewart, Director of The OU in Scotland, writes about open educational resources and their role in helping develop entrepreneurship, particularly in rural areas.
22 November, 2018
Officially one of the ‘Top 50 Women in Engineering’, Carol Morris, OU Senior Lecturer in Engineering and Innovation, calls for more females to consider a career in engineering.
8 November, 2018
Scott Montgomery is retraining for a new career, doing an OU degree part-time through a collaborative teaching arrangement with Ayrshire College. He talks about his learner journey, and the College’s Shelagh McLachlan - herself an OU graduate - shadows Scott for a day.
29 August, 2018
Humour has always provided a vehicle for performers - and the rest of us - to explore difficult topics, says James Robson, Professor of Classical Studies and Head of the School of Arts and Cultures at The OU. How is this playing out in summer 2018?
15 August, 2018
Software engineer Sam Orme is an OU graduate. He transferred credit from his college HND (Higher National Diploma) in Computing: Software Development towards his OU degree. Sam gained his university qualification while working full-time.
08 August, 2018
In the month that the NHS marks its 70th anniversary, Dr Kerry Jones, OU Lecturer in End of Life Care, examines the support and care that people with dementia get towards the end of life.
31 July, 2018
OU Associate Lecturer in English Literature Dr Michael Rodgers argues that the uneasiness we experience reading the work of Vladimir Nabokov can be positive - and that the benefits of uneasiness extend to everyday life, including the student experience.
22 June, 2018
Tendayi Bloom, Lecturer in Politics and International Studies at The OU, asks if a state has the right to suddenly choose which of us can be included in society and which cannot.
21 June, 2018
The OU's Dr Lore Gallastegi updates on the Zambian Educational School-based Training (ZEST) project, which centres around Continuing Professional Development for teachers.
13 June, 2018
Reflections from Shona Littlejohn, OU in Scotland Depute Director, Student Experience and Widening Access, following The OU's Widening Participation Conference.
31 May, 2018
With the eruption of the Kīlauea volcano in Hawai'i, dangerous corrosive acid mist is being produced, as well as new land, writes OU Honorary Associate Dr Dave McGarvie.
24 May, 2018
Knowledge Exchange and Enterprise Manager Dr Simona Foscarin shares highlights from The OU's participation in the recent DataFest18, a festival of innovation.
13 April, 2018
Shona Littlejohn, Depute Director, Student Experience and Widening Access, at The OU in Scotland writes about supporting students with disabilities.
3 April, 2018
On International Women's Day, OU Honorary Graduate Maria Macnamara writes about the work of her charity, Smalls for All, which helps women and children in Africa.
8 Mar, 2018
The OU's Dr Joyce Cavaye writes about the growing discipline of nutritional psychiatry, that focuses on food and supplements to provide essential nutrients in treatment for mental health disorders.
2 Mar, 2018
On World Book Day, Susan Stewart - Director of The Open University in Scotland - shares the five books she rates as her favourites.
1 Mar, 2018
The OU's Dr Martin Robb writes about the 'Supporting Boys' conference in Glasgow, at which he spoke about research projects into young men, masculinity and role models.
27 Feb, 2018
Charities, social enterprises and other not-for-profits can discover at 'The Gathering', Scotland's largest free event for the third sector, how The OU can help support their staff and volunteers gain new skills and develop.
16 Feb, 2018
Graduate Michaela Olver shares her journey from Health Care Support Worker to Staff Nurse, via an Open University degree she gained while working.
23 Jan, 2018
We kick off the New Year with some top tips on managing your personal finances from OU expert, Martin Upton.
04 Jan, 2018
As 2017 draws to a close, we look back at some of the news stories and blogs that have been making the headlines on The OU in Scotland website in 2017.
21 Dec, 2017
Professor Annika Mombauer discusses how bombs rained down on Clydebank in 1941.
05 Dec, 2017
A volcano close to home that is showing signs of activity according to Dr Dave McGarvie.
28 Nov, 2017
Hear some of the personal stories from this year's OU in Scotland graduates.
03 Nov, 2017
The Open University is developing a one-year school-based teacher development programme in Zambia.
13 Oct, 2017
An estimated 100,000 people live with dementia in Scotland and that number is set to increase year on year. Dementia is a catch-all term for a number of degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimer’s Disease, for which there is currently no cure.
21 Sept, 2017
Educational resources are increasingly available online. The shift from print to digital has been rapid and much of the material is ‘open’ in the sense that it is freely available to anyone with an internet connection and an appropriate digital device
08 Sept, 2017
One of the first conclusions drawn by Professor Sir Peter Scott in his early work as the Scottish Government’s Commissioner for Fair Access, is that reaching the targets set out in A Blueprint for Fairness requires “a radical project, more radical perhaps than we care to acknowledge”
Aug, 2017
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