Education
As well as subject based research related to the academic disciplines that we collectively teach many academic staff also undertake educational research and scholarship of teaching and learning. The latter is used to evaluate and inform The Open University’s institutional practices around open and distance education while educational research is used to evaluate and inform teaching practices within the higher education sector. The two processes often overlap and, in some cases, may be focussed on the teaching of a specific subject but many are organised through two initiatives.
The first initiative is the STEM Faculty’s scholarship centre, known as eSTEeM, the OU centre for STEM pedagogy. Some exemplar projects are:
- Evaluating the impact of a qualification based approach to student engagement and success in engineering study
- Enhancing Systems Thinking in Practice at the Workplace
- Impact study of the taught MScs in Technology related subjects on students’ employability
- Are we making progress? Progression through learners’ interaction in OpenStudio across a qualification
- The impact of technology on the teaching and assessment of ‘systems diagrams’
The second is through a university wide research area known as OpenTEL. OpenTEL encompasses interdisciplinarity, bringing together researchers across the university, with existing research capab
ilities and established excellence as well as strong networks beyond the OU to work together on TEL projects.
Academic staff
- OpenTEL Steering Group Member
Prof Andy Lane (Emeritus)
- School Scholarship Lead
Dr Daphne Chang
Research students
