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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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38 results found

Embedding Inclusivity in Economics Curriculum Development

Project leader(s):  Kevin Deane Susan Newman Lorena Lombardozzi Francis Garikayi

The discipline of Economics in the UK has a significant diversity and inclusivity problem. Women, black students, and students from working class backgrounds are under-represented in higher education and academia.

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).

A Comparison of OU’s Politics, Philosophy and Economics (Q45) Structure and Curriculum with Those of Other Post-1986 PPE Degrees

Project leader(s):  Alan Shipman

This project aims to investigate how other UK providers of Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) degrees have addressed the challenges of the three-way combination, through their structuring of the three disciplines, curriculum choices within them, and other aspects of design and delivery

Decolonising Religious Studies and Promoting Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

Project leader(s):  Suzanne Newcombe Paul-François Tremlett John Maiden Hugh Beattie Maria Nita

In line with colleagues in many other institutions, the Religious Studies Department at the Open University has adopted a pedagogical emphasis roughly known as the ‘lived religion’ thesis.

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.

Proscribed Fictions: The Place of Colonial and/or Racist Literature in Curricular Decolonisation

Project leader(s):  Alex Tickell Michael O'Flynn Angela Eyre

This project responds to a practical problem faced by members of the module production team on the new English MA (A893).

Decolonising Religious Studies and Promoting Student Retention

Project leader(s):  Suzanne Newcombe Paul-François Tremlett John Maiden Hugh Beattie

Phase 1 has been completed, and an application for Phase 2 of this project has been approved in principle and is being refined in light of feedback received from the FASSTEST Coordination Group and EDI team. Details will be available soon. 

Understanding How Social Anxiety Affects Participation in Online Tutorials

Project leader(s):  Janet Hunter

Anyone who has taught via online platforms will be aware that some students find it hard to engage with this medium of learning. Many students sign up to such sessions but do not join on the day, whilst others do not sign up at all.