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

102 results found

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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Exploring timeliness, positivity and collection rates of TMA feedback

Colette Christiansen

The correspondence tuition that tutors provide, via the Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs), is a key part of our teaching and support to students and represents a major investment of time and effort by tutors.

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Evaluating students’ experience of tuition in S217

Adam Freeman Anne-Katrin Klehe

Great effort and time is spent by Associate Lecturers (ALs) on delivering tutorials. Uptake of tutorials in all modules is low. This investigation will concentrate on the experience of students on S217, a second level physics module.

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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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An investigation into the progression of OU STEM students from taught courses to postgraduate research

Alice Fraser-McDonald

In the conventional HE sector, there is often an established pathway for the progression of undergraduate and taught postgraduate students to postgraduate research within the same institution.

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Making space for female engineering students: an evaluation of the effectiveness of a face-to-face Student Conference

Fiona Gleed

The Engineering profession offers intellectually and financially rewarding careers, with skills in high demand globally. However, women are significantly under-represented, with female students making up 18% of first year Engineering undergraduates in UK HE1.

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The STEM Good Tutor Guide

Chris Douce

It has been 20 years since the university published Supporting Open Learners: Reader, and the accompanying publication, Supporting Open Learners: Theoretical Reader for its tutors. These booklets offer practical guidance about many aspects of the role as a tutor.

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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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Gaining a deeper understanding of the experience and equitability of extensions and their impact on retention for Stage 1 Engineering students

Emma Champion

Previous scholarship has shown that students with extensions have poorer outcomes on modules and that extensions are used by a higher proportion of students within Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility (EDIA) groups.

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