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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69 results found

Better Understanding Study Motivation and Module Choice

Project leader(s):  Suzanne Forbes Elayne Chaplin Sara Wolfson

This project is concerned with identifying the reasons for falling new student registrations on a second-year History module with a view to supporting module teams in developing effective interventions.

Diversifying End of Module Assessment Project Options on a Level 3 Classical Studies Module – A Pilot Study to Evaluate Pedagogic Strategies and Assess Benefits and Challenges

Project leader(s):  Astrid Voigt

This pilot is related to the production of a new module on Greek and Roman myth which places a dual emphasis on developing students’ skills for independent academic research and communicating to non-specialist audiences.

Arts-based Collaborative Digital Eco-Pedagogies for Teaching about the Climate Crisis and Intersecting Global Challenges in Higher and Distance Education

Project leader(s):  Maria Nita Yoseph Araya

The project aims to start a cross-faculty conversation about the current use of novel reflective, digital, public engagement and teaching methodologies in Higher and distance education (Cooke, Araya, Bacon, et al. 2021; Walsh and Powell, 2019).

Academic Conduct Matters: Assessing the Impact of Academic and Disciplinary Interventions on Student’s Retention, Progression, and Completion

Project leader(s):  Encarnacion Trinidad-Barrantes

This project is primarily concerned with investigating historic data (2011-2020) on referrals for poor academic practice in order to determine: 

Criminology: Where Do They Go? A Thematic Analysis of Final Year Criminology Students Pursuing Career Development or Career Change

Project leader(s):  Deborah Drake Karen Sharpe

A key objective of this project is to find ways of ensuring that students are on the right pathway and make the right qualification choices at the outset. This will help to improve the learning experience of students and support retention and progression.

Does Wi-Fi/Data Connectivity Disadvantage OU Students?

Project leader(s):  Sonja Rewhorn Vicky Johnson

Since March 2020 many of us have had to move to working from home using our home internet whether as Wi-Fi or data.  As well as work shifting to online, The Open University also moved all its tuition seminars online.    

The Role of Peer-to-Peer Mentoring in a Distance Learning University: An Evaluation of a Three-Year Pilot in the Arts and Social Sciences

Project leader(s):  Joanna Robson Tina Forbes Sue Watkins

Following two successful small-scale pilots in 2015 and 2017 the current project evaluates the upscaled peer-to-peer mentoring scheme rolled out in the Open University’s Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in 2020 - 2023.

Raising Student Awareness of Employability Through Multiple Curriculum Adjustments at the Module Level

Project leader(s):  Jonquil Lowe

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

Improving the Collaborative TMA on DE200 and Assessing the Impact of these Improvements on AL Satisfaction

Project leader(s):  Tracey Elder

The aim of this project was to solve the issues related to TMA15, which is a collaborative TMA in DE200. This module has around 3000 students and forms one of three core modules on the psychology degree programme.

Supporting Learners with Mental Health Difficulties

Project leader(s):  Anastasia Economou

This project aspires to provide helpful insights into how tutors can best teach and support students with mental health difficulties in a distance learning context.