eSTEeM

Centre for Scholarship and Innovation

Conference delegates working in groups

Projects

eSTEeM is providing a mechanism for professional development through practice-based scholarship within a mentored community. Much of our work is organised on a project basis with project management aimed at the delivery of new educational outcomes and scholarship outputs. 

eSTEeM supports a rolling portfolio of approx. 80 active scholarship projects under a number of themes which include:

  • Access, Participation and Success
  • Innovative assessment
  • Online/onscreen STEM practice
  • Supporting students
  • Technologies for STEM learning

To learn more about our projects, please click on the project titles or use the search feature below by entering keywords. To search by the name of a project leader, please use the 'Filter by Project Leader' tab on the right-hand side of this page.

Search results

56 results found

Innovation in online student support

Cath Brown Sue Pawley

Due to the increasing popularity of the Data Science degree, MST224, Mathematical methods, student numbers have increased significantly. This has resulted in the employment of significant numbers of Associate Lecturers (ALs), and we would like to use the resultant increase

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A personal tutor scheme to enhance student retention and improve success

Victoria Brown Cath Brown

Student retention and continuation are key drivers for this project.

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Improving accessibility, inclusion, and engagement in synchronous online learning events

Jo Buxton

The research intends to assess how a framework (MACE) can help tutors make online tutorials more accessible and inclusive.

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Creating a suite of resources to support students with Maths Anxiety

Sue Pawley Nicola McIntyre Becca Whitehead

Maths Anxiety can be described as “an emotion that blocks a person’s reasoning ability when confronted with a mathematical situation” [Spicer 2004], in an extreme form, “when confronted with a math problem, the sufferer has sweaty palms, is nauseous, has heart palpitations, and experiences paraly

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Investigate the integration of vendor certifications within Computing modules

Amaninder Singh

Within many OU Computing modules and microcredentials, vendor certification content is partially integrated, or the modules are created solely based on the vendor qualifications (e.g., Cisco, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Education & Development Group (OpenEDG), EC-Council, Microsoft etc).

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Supporting the student’s learning journey through the transition of mathematics and statistics from level 2 to level 3

Alison Bromley Rachel Hilliam Gareth Williams Gaynor Arrowsmith Alex Siddons Sue Pawley

Mathematics and Statistics are linear subjects where success at higher levels depends on firm foundations, it is likened to a carpenter who is only capable of making a beautiful piece of furniture once they understand how a hammer and nail work.

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Evaluating the Programming for Physical Sciences website and forums on SM123 Physics and Space

Andy Diament Gemma Warriner

Students on SM123 Physics and space learn programming in Python across the module. Some find it straightforward, others very difficult.

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How do students use tutorial recordings and which formats are most effective?

Cath Brown Catherine Onions Claudi Thomas Katrine Rogers

Post-pandemic, students’ live attendance at online tutorials has declined significantly but it is not uncommon to see hundreds of views of recordings.

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Evaluation of Digital Assets to support LHCS Students’ Sense of Belonging

Zoë Chapman Janette Wallace

Winner – Most Engaging and Immersive Session, Day One – 14th eSTEeM Annual Conference 2025.

Winner – Best Poster Presentation – 15th eSTEeM Annual Conference 2026.

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Mathematics support in LHCS

Eleanor Crabb Nicola McIntyre Cath Brown Linda Moore

Science students need to develop a level of competence in mathematics to succeed in their studies.  However, Open University students in chemistry, biology and health sciences may well be unaware of the need for mathematical skills prior to embarking on their studies, and given the open entr

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