Supporting students

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

Two key barriers to student success in advanced physics and astronomy modules are (i) the abstract nature of key concepts that are far removed from everyday life, and (ii) the use of complex maths formalism that can obscure physical interpretation.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.