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

273 results found

Building a sense of community in a core 2nd level Physics module (S217) and investigating qualitatively its effect on retention

Anne-Katrin Klehe

The OU has a broad intake of students from a very wide breadth of educational backgrounds. Most students study part time, mostly up to 60 credits per year while at the same time working full time, looking after a family and/or caring for someone.

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Which factors are correlated with undergraduate engineering distance learning students’ expectations of ethical issues?

Joanna Sessford

Ethics is becoming an increasingly important part of engineering curriculum. Engineers need to be able to recognise and make ethical decisions in their working life. This is essential for a number of different reasons including to avoid potentially life taking disasters. 

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Postgraduate Project Management: evaluation of student employability skills development

Kay Bromley Jill Shaw Joan Jackson

M815 Project Management is part of the postgraduate computing programme and can also be studied by MSc students in Technology Management, Environmental Management, Engineering, Systems Thinking in Practice or Space Science and Open MSc/MA. This proposed scholarship project is motivated by tu

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Is the cost of home experiments a potential barrier to learning? Experiences from two level one science modules

Louise MacBrayne Zoë Chapman

Practical work in the form of home experiments has always formed an integral part of the science curriculum, in particular at level one. The move, however, from printed materials to online delivery has been accompanied by a change in the way students are supported in home experiments.

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Improving retention through small interventions: The U101 postcard project

Theodora Philcox Elouise Huxor

This project aims to improve student retention on U101, Design thinking. U101 is a gateway Level 1 design module and part of Q61 in Engineering and Innovation (E&I).

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How should formative assessments be assessed? A study of S217 online quizzes

Jonathan Nylk Andy Diament

The aim of this project is to evaluate the level of student engagement with the online quizzes on S217 Physics: from Classical to Quantum, comparing the current model of assessment with a formative thresholded assessment model which has been shown to have a marked positive impact on stud

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Ecoanxiety and environmental education: stories, conversations, actions

Sarah Davies

Ecoanxiety – the distress related to climate and ecological crises – is increasingly recognised in learners by educators (Hickman et al, 2021), in the media (e.g., BBC Ideas 2021, Rannard, 2022) as well as through programmes of advice and education (e.g., Wright, 2022).

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Investigation of widening participation and success in postgraduate technology and computing

Donald Edwards Mark Slaymaker

This project seeks to understand our current performance against EDI, widening participation and success (WPS) targets on postgraduate qualifications run by the schools of C&C and E&I, collectively Postgraduate Technology and Computing (PTC).

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Academic conduct referrals and students from underrepresented groups

Jill Shaw Rehana Awan Jim Gillen Mark Slaymaker Katharine Jewitt

The project will investigate patterns in the demographics and referral data, and student perceptions for Level 1 students who are referred to the Academic Conduct (AC) Office within C&C. Several research projects (e.g.

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Recruiting tutors to specialist modules in the School of Computing and Communications at the Open University

David McDade

Highly Commended at the 8th eSTEeM Scholarship Projects of the Year Awards 2025.

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