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

Search results

57 results found

Closing the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Enquirer and Recruitment Gap in FASS

Project leader(s):  Karen Hagan Lystra Hagley-Dickinson Pepta Joefield-Beeby Anna Clarke

The BAME Insight Factsheet produced by Marketing demonstrated that there is a BAME enquirer gap in the OU.

Understanding African Postgraduate Student Experience

Project leader(s):  Cristina Santos Kevin Deane Frangton Chiyemura Maureen Mackintosh

The higher education sector has recognised and aims to address recruitment, retention, and award gaps of BAME students.

Dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder): Understanding Students’ Requirements

Project leader(s):  Jo Horne Rhiannon Edwards Angela Eyre

Students with a Specific Learning Difficulty (SpLD), such as dyslexia and/or dyspraxia (Developmental Coordination Disorder; DCD), are more likely to leave Higher Education without completing their course and with poorer grades than their typically developing peers (Sumner et al., 2021).

Developing Academic Integrity in Postgraduate Students

Project leader(s):  Sue Nieland Paige Cuffe

This project will explore the development of postgraduate students’ understanding and practice of academic integrity, that is of good academic conduct, focusing particularly on the module Principles of Social and Psychological Inquiry.

Exploring Students’ Experiences of Full Time and Flexible Study Intensity on English and Creative Writing Qualifications

Project leader(s):  Hannah Lavery Natalie Lewis Clare Spencer Derek Neale Liz Ford

There is data suggesting that a significant success rate gap exists between students studying on our English and Creative Writing undergraduate degrees at full-time and part-time intensity.

Responding to Educational Need: Learnings from Time to Think

Project leader(s):  Philip O’Sullivan Gabi Kent Michael Doorley

Our purpose is to explore institutional learning from teaching in prisons during the conflict in Northern Ireland, in particular, how The Open University responded at that time to an immediate and emerging educational and social need.

Integrating OUAnalyse into DE100 to Aid Retention and Progression

Project leader(s):  Cathy Schofield Tracey Elder

OUAnalyse predicts on a weekly basis whether, or not, a student will submit their next assignment.

An Examination of Motivation and Engagement of Students Studying at Different Intensities

Project leader(s):  Cathy Schofield Alison Gisby

With respect to contributions to the larger body of literature, motivation has been an important area of educational research for many years, but with more online courses being offered there has also been a move in focus towards engagement with the course in a way that was not so necessary

Exploring and Testing Anti-Racism and Decolonising Pedagogy in Online-Forum Learning

Project leader(s):  Alessandra Marino Gunjan Sondhi Karl A. Hack Suki Haider

The purpose of the project is to create spaces to test what an anti-racist pedagogy entails in the context of decolonization.

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.