FASSTEST

FASS Centre for Scholarship and Innovation logo

FASSTEST brings together colleagues from across the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, 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 outcomes. FASSTEST supports a rolling portfolio of approximately 40 active scholarship projects under a number of themes which include:

  • Online and blended tuition
  • Assessment
  • Employability/careers
  • Equality, diversity and inclusion
  • Mental health and wellbeing
  • Multisensory/multimodal learning

If you are interested in learning more about a particular project or connecting with a project team, please contact us at FASS-Scholarship@open.ac.uk. 

Projects

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74 results found

The Relaxed Tutorial Project

Project leader(s):  Trevor Fear Naoko Yamagata Cora Beth Fraser

‘Relaxed’ events are held across the Arts sector, primarily as a means of accommodating neurodiversity, but also as a way of suiting other specific needs.

Teaching Critical Thinking Skills

Project leader(s):  Sue Nieland Ian McGarry Amita Sen-Gupta

In the age of digital information and high levels of technology in academic life, critical thinking skills are not just considered as an element of academic literacy; they have been interpreted in terms of the ability to use Microsoft Office and reference managing software effectively when underg

Challenges of Distance Teaching Masters in International Relations

Project leader(s):  William Brown

In the age of digital information and high levels of technology in academic life, critical thinking skills are not just considered as an element of academic literacy; they have been interpreted in terms of the ability to use Microsoft Office and reference managing software effectively when underg

Developing an Approach to Networked Audio for Distance Learning in Music Practice

Project leader(s):  Sean Williams Naomi Barker

This project examines the use of networked technologies for group music practice, within the context of a small group of 3-7 players.

Communication Strategies and the Tutor-Student Relationship

Project leader(s):  Wendy Humphreys Vicky Johnson

One of the findings of our completed project, The Quality of Tutor-Student Early contact in Post Level 1 Modules, was the extreme variation in both the interpretation and practice of tutors, in terms of early communication within a module.

Embedding Employability Resources in DB125: An Evaluation

Project leader(s):  Jonquil Lowe

DB125 You and Your Money replaced DB123 from October 2018J.

SMART Feedback: Exploring the impact of action-focused student feedback on the student experience of learning

Project leader(s):  Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone

The proposed study intends to investigate the application of aspects of the research and framework through an intervention that builds on this framework with a specific focus on the reciprocal process and enactment of outcomes of feedback components by using SMART goals in the feedback process.

Enhancing Student Retention, Progression and Attainment at Level 1 in Arts and Humanities by Increasing Student Recruitment to the Access Programme: An Investigation into Declining Student Numbers on Y031

Project leader(s):  David Grummitt

The purpose of the project is to carry out an investigation into reasons for declining student numbers on Y031 J and B presentations. While there was some fluctuation across presentations in the first five years of the module, the overall trend since 2018J has been a marked decline in studen

Tracking retention and building community in distance music study

Project leader(s):  Alexander Kolassa Lilian Simones

There are three objectives of this project (presented in order of priority):

The Experience of BAME Students on DE300

Project leader(s):  Sharon Xuereb

It is well documented that Black and Minority Ethnic (B.A.M.E.) students are awarded lower grades at university than their White counterparts. In the UK, a first class and second upper class degree classifications are considered ‘good degrees’.