Blog

Degree Apprenticeships (DAs) aim to enhance social mobility by combining work and study, but systemic barriers, class inequalities, and ineffective levy use limit their transformative potential for disadvantaged groups. This blog discusses the findings of a research project exploring these challenges and their implications for social mobility policy and practice.

In our latest blog, Senior Lecturers Kevin Amor and Allan Mooney provide recommendations for addressing the challenges of active student engagement during online tutorials.

Max Ward and Charlotte Luckhurst reflect on an OU ‘Rethinking Tuition’ symposium aimed at improving retention by bringing peers together to discuss their attendance and engagement strategies.

At The Open University Law School, legal research skills are embedded within our teaching materials. This SoTL team wanted to hear how students, felt and understood about legal research skills, both as a term and as a legal skill that they needed to develop during their studies.

Student voice is a method which allows students to share their views and experiences. Carol Edwards and Liz Hardie reflect on one such recent opportunity to engage with students, through The Open University Law School’s ‘Student Voice Festival’.

This blog post introduces 'Creativity and Critique: Digital Learning and Teaching: Insights for Learning Design in Business and Law', edited by Jacqueline Baxter, Helen Selby-Fell and Andrew Gilbert. This book, for release in May 2025 by Palgrave Macmillan, offers a comprehensive exploration of the shifts within business and law schools, catalysed by technological advancements and the unforeseen push online due to global challenges.

This blog reports on the joint work carried out by The Open University and Nottingham Trent University to develop alternative ways of consulting and creating with students from traditionally marginalised backgrounds, and the impact of these activities on students and staff.

In this blog lecturer in law, Kate Ritchie, explores the importance of the relationships that arise as a result of prison education and the relevance of this to a prisoner’s desistance journey.

Student retention is a complex challenge, particularly within online distance learning. In this blog Nicola McDowell and Claire Maguire explore how Predictive Learning Analytics in conjunction with introducing ‘Dashboard Module Champions’ can transform how we support students.

In this blog Daniel Russell, lecturer and Student Experience Manager, explores what makes good feedback and how this plays into the retention of students in Higher Education.