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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57 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.

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.

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: 

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

Image Descriptions within Art History Pedagogy

Project leader(s):  Andy Murray Susie West

The new Art History and Visual Cultures degree is an opportunity for the department to review its position on accessibility for Levels 2 and 3.

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.

Addressing the White Racial Frame in OU Music’s Module Materials: Incorporating Active Debates to A342 Learning

Project leader(s):  Marie Thompson Martin Clarke Byron Dueck

In recent years there has been increasing attention to the ways that music scholarship, curricula and programming reflect and reproduce legacies of racism and colonialism.

Dyslexia: Perceived Barriers and Facilitators to Success at Postgraduate Study

Project leader(s):  Rhiannon Edwards Jo Horne

The Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) statistics indicate that the proportion of UK postgraduate (PG) students who identify as having a disability (10%) is significantly lower than that of undergraduate (UG) students (15%).

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.