Blog

This light-hearted blog from the OU's learning design team takes a look at the variables impacting study speed and how this intersects with workload.

Two separate research teams recently undertook SCiLAB-funded projects using methods with similar names: a World Café and an Evidence Café. Despite the shared language of informal, conversational enquiry, the two approaches revealed important differences in both design and purpose.

Can targeted English for Academic Purposes support help Level 1 students build the confidence to engage more fully with their studies? This blog explores the findings and reflections from a recent pilot project.

Bernadett Dunn, Nicola McDowell and Emma Bassett from the OU Faculty of Business and Law offer insights into the Four Cs of ‘Choice, Communication, Community and Consistency’ that matter most to taught postgraduate students.

How does an MBA shape leaders’ sense of purpose and meaningful work? This blog explores new research revealing how postgraduate management education influences identity, confidence, values, and leadership trajectories.

This blog reflects on a pilot project introducing whole group verbal feedback, exploring its potential to reduce isolation, support belonging, and build student confidence. Consideration will also be given to its effectiveness, outcomes, workload, and wider implications.

As a former police officer and current Open University lecturer, Stephen Moss advances the view that thoughtful, analytical reflection - questioning assumptions about ourselves, others, and our work - can transform professional practice.

What changes when tutors with personal and meaningful experience of dyslexia (TPMEs) utilise their lived experience? This scholarship shows how their own experience of dyslexia improves student support, informs assessment practices, and contributes to inclusive higher education environments.

This blog explores The Harper (2025) Reflexive Leadership Model - which reimagines AI-era leadership, placing ethical reflexivity, governance and adaptive experimentation at its core.