Education & Development
Dr Fernando Rosell-Aguilar on distance learning
The Open University's Dr Fernando Rosell-Aguilar explains what distance learning is in this extended interview from 'Go the Distance'...Transcript
Education & Development
Resources for schools
Keep on top of your learning with these free resources from The Open University, created for secondary school age students across the UK.
Collection
History & The Arts
The history of soapmaking
...Open University's Science courses and qualifications [Making soap] [The Sumerians] used a slurry of ashes and water to remove grease from raw wool and cloth so that it could be dyed. Sumerian priests and temple attendants purified themselves before sacred rites, and in the absence of soap, they too probably used ashes and water. The slippery solutions clean because the...
Society, Politics & Law
Shopping for citizenship: A conversation at the Citizenshop
...What do you think makes a good citizen? Does it sometimes necessitate the questioning and challenging of laws and customs? Question: Does this installation make you think differently about citizenship? If you’re interested in these kinds of debates, you might be interested in The Open University course Understanding politics: ideas and institutions in the modern world....
Society, Politics & Law
What does the Queen's Speech tell us about the next two years?
...Opening of Parliament] The Gentlemen At Arms prepare to provide a bodyguard for the Queen during the 2017 State Opening Of Parliament Theresa May’s 2017 Queen’s speech was certainly not the one she planned to make when she called a snap general election. Her original aspiration in triggering the vote was to secure an electoral mandate in her own right. She wanted to...
Society, Politics & Law
Remembering Thatcherism
...his officials in the Department of Education, reportedly went through some Open University courses in search of Marxist bias. Hopefully they found something to stimulate their interest. The Higher Education agenda, with its current focus on ‘employability’ and ‘customers’, could be one area, at least, where Thatcherism can be said to have won – for now anyway....
Education & Development
What the 2024 Paris Olympics can tell us about French language policy today
...Open University's Language courses and qualifications. There is a long-standing tradition of making French a viable language of its own. Already in 1549, Joachim du Bellay wrote a treatise explaining, amongst other things, that translations from other languages should be curtailed because France didn’t need imports. Instead, French writers should focus on imitating...
Nature & Environment
A socially engaged spiritual response to the Climate Crisis
...Open University's Environment courses and qualifications I recently contributed to a Buddhist dialogue at one of the fringe activities in COP26 in Glasgow, I want to explain why I did so, based on my personal experiences, in particular working with young people in Myanmar and why I am doing a PhD with The Open University. In doing so, I would like to highlight why...