Want to improve your professionalism and effectiveness in the workplace? This album explains how to develop reflective skills and improve leadership techniques. With an emphasis on interpersonal communication, teaching methods and customer care, it’s relevant to those instructing, coaching or managing others in a range of sport and fitness settings. The eight video tracks on this album follow professionals working in a gym, a sports college and an ice-rink. They demonstrate how to encourage motivation, how to delegate and how to improve your own instructional skills.

This material forms part of The Open University course E113 Working and learning in sport and fitness.

How does a researcher collate and analyse information?
What are the best methods of investigating/examining a question?

How can we read an image to tell us more about its ancient maker? In this album a mosaic artist, Catherine Parkinson, visits the splendidly-preserved ancient Roman mosaics at Brading Villa on the Isle of Wight. With the help of two archaeologists she discovers that the iconography reveals important clues about the villa inhabitants' world view, taste, and aspirations. Their leisure pursuits, the value placed on learning, and their views on men and women are just some of the themes revealed in the mythological narratives. Did the craftsmen bring pattern books to the villa owner so he could choose how to decorate his house, much like today? Catherine's own practical experience of mosaic-making also helps us understand the methods the Romans used to lay the mosaics. In the audio track, Open University classicist Jessica Hughes explores some of the issues surrounding interpretation of these mosaics' meanings. This material forms part of The Open University Course AA100 The arts and past and present.

Returning to study or starting it for the first time can be daunting. Many students are frightened of writing essays, but it’s a craft that can be learnt. This album will help you to build confidence in all areas of essay writing. A student discusses with two tutors her writing methods and how she adapts her techniques for exams and assignments. With tips shared from Professor Richard Dawkins, TV personality Matthew Kelly, former MP Brian Walden, Baroness Helena Kennedy, journalist John Pilgner and radio presenters John Humphrys and Peter White. This material forms part of The Open University course A172 Start writing essays.

How can Darwin be used to inspire the scientists of tomorrow? What is the best way to communicate his theories to a modern audience? And what events have been taking place all over the world to commemorate him? Sheila Ochugboju from the African Technology Policy Studies Network, Janice Asnine from the OU and Roberta Kacowicz from The British Council in Brazil, discuss the various initiatives that they have been involved in all over the world to promote Darwin. Their work shows that he can still be both relevant and exciting, and that diverse methods can be used to introduce young people and a variety of modern communities to Darwin’s theories and the fundamentals of his scientific approach. The tracks on this album were produced by The Open University in collaboration with the British Council. They form part of Darwin Now, a global initiative celebrating the life and work of Charles Darwin and the impact his ideas about evolution continue to have on today’s world. © British Council 2009.

How do you go about designing an aircraft that has no engine? What forces enable a glider to become airborne and quickly reach high altitudes quickly? The tracks in this album look at the aerodynamics of gliders, ask questions relating to the 'Speed to Fly', and explores the consequences of kinetic and potential energy change, providing a useful way of modelling the behaviour of a glider in the air. This material makes up part of the course MST209, Mathematical methods and models.

Have you ever wondered what causes cyclones, and why it's always calm in the centre of the storm? Well, vector calculus holds the key. The tracks on this album introduce you to the scalar and vector fields of gradient, divergence and curl. This material makes up part of the course MST209, Mathematical methods and models.

It has been said that arches never sleep, that they are almost living in the way they adapt to change. Using case studies of Ely Cathedral in England and Chartres in France, the tracks on this album examine the way in which the design of arches developed in the early middle ages, and use mathematical models to explore some of the problems faced and overcome by the stone masons. This material makes up part of the course MST209, Mathematical methods and models.

Fourier analysis encompasses a vast spectrum of mathematics which is often deemed confusing and sometimes frightening to those studying it. The tracks in this album aim to de-mystify the ideas behind the Fourier series and illustrate some of the numerous applications that exist, from telephony to stocking supermarket shelves. This material makes up part of the course MST209, Mathematical methods and models.