The UK Open University

The undergraduate students of the UK's Open University are nearly all studying part-time at home through distance learning, with about 70 per cent in employment. For most courses, no previous qualifications are required and there is no upper age limit to study. Students are adults who study for personal as well as career-related reasons, and most combine their studies with work, family and other commitments.

OU courses (self-contained modules) are planned and produced by teams of academics, educational media designers and editors working at the OU headquarters in Milton Keynes. Courses use a range of media from print to web-based e-learning and are designed to function both as standalone entities and as components of programs leading to awards. Undergraduate courses are offered at levels 1, 2 and 3, corresponding approximately to first, second and third year study at a conventional UK university. Students choose their own pathways through the available courses to accumulate credit towards OU awards (certificates, diplomas and degrees) to suit their needs. The structure is fundamentally open and flexible; students need no formal qualifications to register for a course and have considerable autonomy over what is studied and when it is studied. This openness is a central feature of the OU's educational philosophy.

To support its students the OU has thirteen Regional Centres throughout the UK and a network of coordinators in many countries in the European Union. Regional Centres organize tutorial and other support for students in their geographical area. Staff tutors (full time regional academic staff) appoint part-time tutors, called associate lecturers (ALs), in their regions to support the OU's teaching. There are now over 7000 ALs tutoring over 600 courses produced by the University's faculties of Arts, Social Science, Education and Language Studies, Health and Social Care, Science, Mathematics and Computing, Technology, and the OU Business School.

Students taking a course are assigned to an associate lecturer who will have a group of up to 20 students. Depending on the course and the geographical distribution of the students, ALs provide face-to-face tutorials and day schools, telephone tuition, and on-line support via email or conferencing. The AL will also mark the assignments (known as tutor-marked assignments, or TMAs) of the students in their group and give feedback on performance. In some courses, students also complete computer-marked assignments (multiple-choice questions known as CMAs).

TMAs and CMAs are continuous assessment components of a course, and provide opportunities for both formative feedback and summative grading. To gain credit for their course students also complete an 'examinable component' which may be a conventional examination¹ or, increasingly, a portfolio, report or extended essay. This may be marked by the student's tutor but it will also be marked independently, usually by another tutor randomly selected from the tutors on that course.

The assessment strategy, the continuous assessment tasks (TMAs and CMAs) and the examinable components associated with a course are designed and written (and renewed each time the course is presented - which may be once, twice or several times a year) by the central course team. The course team also provides advice and guidance to help students prepare for and tackle the assessment, as well as providing marking guidance to support the ALs in grading and giving feedback on their students' work.

¹ Held at local centres to minimize travelling distances for students - but which may be specially arranged to take place anywhere under appropriate invigilated conditions if, for example, the student is disabled, posted away from the UK as a member of the armed forces or, as in a few cases, in prison.

اخر الاخبار

اخبار العتبة العباسية المقدسة

شعبة الخطابة النسوية تعقد اجتماعًا تحضيريًّا للمتطوعات خلال زيارة الأربعين

ملاكات الحزام الأخضر الجنوبي تشرع بجني التمور والمحاصيل الخضرية من واحاته

المجمع العلمي يقيم أنشطة قرآنية متنوعة في محافظات عدة

قسم المشاريع ينجز صبّ أكثر من 200 م³ من الخرسانة في المساحات الإضافية لصحن أم البنين (عليها السلام)

المزيد

الآخبار الصحية

تعاني من الأرق؟.. إليك تمارين ستساعدك على النوم

تحذير من عادة شائعة بين الركاب تنقل "عدوى مهددة للحياة" ؟

دراسة علمية تكشف مفاجأة حول الأسباب الحقيقية للسمنة

دراسة: الأطباء يتجاهلون "سببا شائعا" لارتفاع ضغط الدم

المزيد

الآخبار التكنلوجية

لأول مرة.. فيديو يرصد ولادة كوكب !

"إكس 59".. ماذا نعرف عن طائرة ناسا "الخارقة"؟

تسريبات جديدة تكشف موعد إصدار آيفون 17 ومواصفاته

كيف تحمي هاتفك الذكي من ارتفاع الحرارة الشديد؟

المزيد

مواضيع ذات صلة

Learning Outcomes and their Assessment: Putting Open University Pedagogical Practices under the Microscope

A relaxed atmosphere

Collaborative learning

Constructive feedback

Factors contributing to the enhancement of students learning

Competency in written and oral Spanish

Affective abilities

Lifelong learning skills

How innovative assessment practices influenced students learning

Students views about the learning journal and the portfolio

Assessment of the writing activities: formative function

General views about the use of alternative assessment in this module