2,816 search results

Reading for pleasure: exploring the concept
Education & Development

Reading for pleasure: exploring the concept

...Student Assessment (PISA), which regularly assesses the reading attitudes and attainment of 15 year olds. In one such study, Cheung (2016) claims that fondness for reading (defined in his work as readers who follow their hearts), aspiration for reading, and being good at reading are seen as salient elements of readers’ engagement which affect their reading performance....
Universities, empires and refugees
Society, Politics & Law

Universities, empires and refugees

...students, in a world distorted by violence and insecurity. However, as well as having the capacity to act as a place of safety for refugees, universities are complicit in oppression and exploitation. This matters particularly because this involvement is not historic. Colonialism – which can be thought of as control over power, identity and knowledge – is not a thing...
From Astrobiology to Parliament
Science, Maths & Technology

From Astrobiology to Parliament

...student with AstrobiologyOU. Her research focuses on how space technologies could be used to support social justice and inclusive innovation. However, in spring 2022, she put her PhD on pause while she undertook a three-month-long fellowship with the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST). In this article, Devyani reflects on her experiences of working with...
Why do a project as part of your study?
Education & Development

Why do a project as part of your study?

...students experience regularly. Most of us are more used to learning about a particular subject or skill, with teaching that is designed to help you understand this subject in a very guided way. However, a project encourages you to make decisions about the direction to take, and to work independently. By putting some of the control in your hands, we create a different...
How are Ethiopian coffee growers responding to climate change?
Science, Maths & Technology

How are Ethiopian coffee growers responding to climate change?

...become unsuitable before the end of the century. Ethiopia, he says, is the world’s 5th largest coffee producer. The crop provides a quarter of export earnings, and approximately 15 million Ethiopians engage in coffee farming and production. The study‘s results were based on computer modelling and simulations. “We determined coffee-preferred climate (niche) using a...
Is ‘fake news’ still a problem for society?
Society, Politics & Law

Is ‘fake news’ still a problem for society?

...become such a problem, and what can we do about it?... Image credits courtesy of Dreamstime Transcript According to Google Trends, interest in the search term ‘fake news’ has trailed off ever-so-slightly in the second half of 2021. It’s still a widely used term, but there are indications that its heyday may have passed. It will be interesting to see, a few years...
How does the media impact politics?
Society, Politics & Law

How does the media impact politics?

...becomes clear: it is a place in which politics takes place. It also becomes clear that you don’t need to be a politician to ‘do politics’; the media can be used to impart a political viewpoint, including party political ones. In turn, politics and politicians also impact the media through regulation and law. The relationship between the media, politics and society...
Protest Banners: Oddfellows and Chartism
Society, Politics & Law

Protest Banners: Oddfellows and Chartism

...OU has long promoted learning from one another and recognised that change for individuals and communities happens when people speak out and work together. That idea about change existed long before the Open University. But how was it transmitted? This banner, recently found in the village hall in Fringford, Oxfordshire, can be used to help us find out. This banner was...