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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103 results found

Evaluating the Inclusion of Academic Coaching within an Online-Only Postgraduate Module (DD801)

Project leader(s):  Lucy Wilde Kesi Mahendran Jitse van Ameijde

The central aim of the project is to evaluate the academic coaching provided in DD801.

Take a Picture of Religion

Project leader(s):  Stefanie Sinclair John Maiden

This project critically evaluated the effectiveness and wider applicability of a creative and collaborative assessment activity included in the new OU Religious Studies module A227 ‘Exploring religion: places, practices, texts and experiences’ (TMA01), presented for the first time in October 2017

Monitoring the monitoring: Exploring the impact of structured monitoring meetings on DE100 monitor satisfaction, dialogue and feedback

Project leader(s):  Charlotte Lattin-Rawstrone

The Open University is unique in its provision of distance learning provision to a vast number of learners. Distance tuition relies on a high standard of correspondence tuition as it is the feedback that students receive that is the basis of their personalised learning journey.

Level 1 Progression and Qualification Pathways: A Case Study in History

Project leader(s):  Linda Briggs Elayne Chaplin Suzanne Forbes

Open University students usually register for a specific degree when they begin their studies, but are able to change to a different degree pathway at various points while they are studying.

Strengthening the PhD Culture in the School of Psychology & Counselling

Project leader(s):  Eleni Andreouli Simon Clarke Julian Bond

A longstanding challenge faced by students and educators alike is the difficulty in maintaining an active PhD research culture, which, in turn, can have a negative impact on doctoral students’ progression and in the quality of their studies. The reasons of this are multiple.

Next Generation Paper for Geography Education

Project leader(s):  George Revill Benjamin Newman Sonja Rewhorn

Next Generation Paper (NGP) is a technology that blends paper-based and web-based materials using a freely downloadable phone app with page recognition that was developed as part of a 36-month ESRPC-funded project between the University of Surrey and OU.

Exploring the Role of Video Pod Usage in Online Sessions

Project leader(s):  Sinead Eccles Karen Twiselton

This two-stage project is aimed at mapping a period of change within the Open University (OU) where Associate Lecturers (ALs) are encouraged to activate their camera (or video-pod) whilst delivering online tutorials.

Evaluating the Impact of ‘Write Now’ Sessions: Adapting Approaches from Academic Writing Retreats to Create a Learning Community of Student Writers on A233

Project leader(s):  Debbie Parker Kinch Anactoria Clarke Jasmine Hunter Evans

The scholarship project will pilot and evaluate ‘write now’ sessions on the Open University English Literature module A233 ‘Telling Stories: the novel and beyond’.  These will be live online sessions aimed at helping students get writing, alongside other students who form a writing community

Diversifying End of Module Assessment project options on a Level 3 Classical Studies module - Benefits and Challenges for students and lecturers

Project leader(s):  Astrid Voigt Emma Bridges

This project investigates the benefits and challenges – for both students and educators – of an innovative assessment format which aims to make assessment more inclusive and authentic for Classical Studies students.