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

119 results found

All change, but does tuition in cluster groups work?

Helen Jefferis

In recent years tutors have been asked to commit to a timetable of tutorials some time before the start of a module so that a full list of available tutorials can be provided to students as soon as they start their studies.

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The value to students of drop-in tutorials to support assessment

Maria Townsend

Open University standard online tutorials are generally tutor-led with the tutor setting the agenda and content to be covered. Although they include both presentation and activities, some students are reluctant to actively participate.

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How one module can serve multiple qualifications through tailored implementation of presentation

Carol Calvert Rachel Hilliam

Students taking qualifications mainly in science, economics and data sciences are now the majority of the students on a second-year undergraduate statistics course.

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Evaluating the design of the virtual microscope with students

Christothea Herodotou

Existing studies about the design of the Virtual Microscope (VM) detail the technical specifications of the microscope such as improving the client response time when requesting an image and portability across computer platforms (Çatalyürek et al., 2003; Fereira et al., 1997) and report on develo

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Using Bitesize Videos to Enhance Students’ Experiences in a Level 2 Programming Module

Soraya Kouadri Mostéfaoui Mark Hall Marina Carter

TT284 is a popular level 2 Web technologies module attracting over 1000 students in each presentation.

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How successfully are students engaging with the Python component of SM123?

Gemma Warriner

SM123: Physics and Space is a Level 1 module aimed at preparing students to study physics, astronomy or planetary science at OU level 2. Most students are not new to the Open University and will have already studied S111: Questions in Science.

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Day time tutorials for apprentices – what is best practice in computing?

Autumn Thomson Marina Carter

At the Open University (OU) we are still learning about the best way to support our apprentice learners in their academic study. Degree Apprentices are learners in full time employment with study funded through the apprenticeship levy and other government sources.

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Encouraging verbal communication in online small-group Maths problem-solving sessions; taking inspiration from individual sessions

Abi Kirk

In OU STEM online tutorials, speech by students is seen to be rare. Evidence of this is provided by a sequence of studies, starting from the early days of online tutorials. However, students do speak in online individual support sessions (ISS).

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Support for Students. Teaching for Tutors. An Investigation into Ideas on Encouraging Students to Engage

Cathryn Peoples

According to the social constructivist model of learning, social opportunities are considered to be important in an educational experience for their positive influence. The principle is that the learning can be reinforced through the interaction with others.

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Online Summer Schools

Kate Nixon Eleanor Crabb

The covid-19 pandemic has resulted in losses in opportunities for students to gain experience at summer placements in research and industrial laboratories.

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