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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88 results found

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. 

Exploring Dissertation Students’ Experiences of Working with Ethical Issues when Undertaking their Dissertation Research

Project leader(s):  Jenny Lynden

Students studying for British Psychology Society (BPS) accredited degree pathways (Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Social Psychology and Psychology with Counselling) complete a final year dissertation module (DE300).  This module trains students in advanced research methods and involves th

Understanding Student Learning of Emotive and Sensitive Content

Project leader(s):  Julia Downes Ruth Wall Anne Alvaer

This ongoing project investigates how diverse distance students learn about sensitive and emotive topics in an undergraduate introductory criminology module.

Running an Effective Online Gallery Visit

Project leader(s):  Lindsay Crisp Veronica Davies

We know that there are a number of both tangible and intangible ‘tried and tested’ benefits of face-to-face gallery visits.

Making the Most of Monitoring

Project leader(s):  Sue Nieland

As one of the largest universities in Europe, and the largest in the UK, the quantity of assessment that has to be carried out by tutors at the Open University is far greater than in most institutions. The Open University routinely processes over 600,000 assignments in a year.

An Investigation into the Use of Peer Observation as a Tool for Professional Development and an Aid to Developing a Professional Evaluative Culture Among Associate Lecturers

Project leader(s):  Judith Wilson-Hughes Tatiana Blackmore Liz Wright

The idea for this scholarship project stemmed from the search for alternative routes of professional development which can be offered to Associate Lecturers (tutors).  The recent changes in teaching practice following the introduction of the group tuition policy in 2016 brought a shift

How can Tutors Deliver Effective Teaching and Support to Creative Writing Students with Mental Health Difficulties

Project leader(s):  Joanne Reardon Melissa Bailey Natalie Lewis

This project arose from anecdotal evidence obtained from tutors indicating that mental health is a key factor behind students struggling to achieve their potential.

Identifying Future Directions: Where do Final Year Psychology and Counselling Students Find Information about Postgraduate Study?

Project leader(s):  Rhiannon Edwards Mary Dobson

Research question: Where do final year Psychology and Counselling students gain information about postgraduate study? 

Exploring the Use of WhatsApp in a Distance Learning Context

Project leader(s):  Zoe Doye

The focus of the proposed scholarship project is to explore the perceived advantages and disadvantages to using WhatsApp within distance education.