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Tuesday, 23 April 2024, 7:19 PM
Site: OpenLearn Create
Course: Being an OU Tutor in STEM: Computing and Communications (Becoming an OU Tutor in STEM)
Glossary: Glossary
A

ability to travel

Some Assocaiate Lecturer roles require travel to tutorials, let us know what works for you.

adobe connect

The online meeting software the OU uses to conduct online tutorials.

AL Assembly

The AL Assembly represents ALs, i.e. tutors, on appropriate university committees and groups

ALs

Associate Lecturers, otherwise known as Tutors

availability

Associate Lecturers need to be available for students to contact. We don’t expect you to be always available, but to be flexible and be able to find times that are mutually convenient for both yourself and the student.

C

correspondance tuition

This is where communications, teaching, marking and feedback happen via distance communication, traditionally this was via leters in the post, but normally now via internet communications.

CPD

Continuing professional development

credits

Each module awards a number of credits, a year of full time study is equivalent to 120 credits.

CREET

The Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology 

CSS

Cascading Style Sheets

CTW

Correspondence tuition workbook

D

diverse educational, cultral and work backgrounds

At the OU we are passionate about supporting students whatever their background or previous experience. We consider diversity in the widest posible way, meeting every student as an indvidual where they are. Each student is different and requires personalised support to realise their potential. Our Associate Lecturers play the key role in identifying the support required, and delivering it to the students at the right time and in the right place.

Dual professionalism

professional practice which embodies

  • deep knowledge, conceptual understanding and expertise in teaching and learning,
  • expert subject knowledge and skills.
  • Ongoing professional practice or industry activity
E

equal opportunitites

Its important that we treat all staff and students equally, giving opertunties to learn together and for employment.

eSTEeM

Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics centre for STEM pedagogy based at The Open University.

eTMA

electronic Tutor Marked Assignment

F

face-to-face tuition

This is where communications, teaching, marking and feedback happen in person. Typically the OU hires rooms in tutorial centres to facilitate this.

FASS

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

FBL

Faculty of Business and Law

H

HEA

Higher Education Academy

how adults learn

In this course you have gained an appreciation of how teaching happens at the OU, and specifically our understanding of how adults learn.

HTML

Hypertext Markup Language

I

IET

The Institute of Educational Technology

independent working

All our Associate Lecturers are home workers, so they need to be self motiviated and manage their own time time.

information and communication technology for teaching and support

These are the tools that the Associate Lecturers use to deliver online tution. We use a Virtual Learning Environment based on Moodle that includes forums, Adobe Connect for tutorials and Skype for Business. We also use other applications such as Microsoft Office for preparing documents.

IP Phone

A telephone connected over the internet

ITIL

Information Technology Infrastructure Library

K

KMi

The Knowledge Media Institute 

L

LLM

Lead Line Manager, a Tutor's line manager

O

online tutition

This is where communications, teaching, marking and feedback happen via computer mediated communication.

P

pastoral support

providing help, support and guidence to students, rather than teaching academic content.

personal staff development

We recognise that many of our Associate Lecturers have other employers and so the focus on training and devlopment is owned by the the Associate Lecturers. They identify their learning needs and the OU helps to support these.

S

SST

Student Support Team

stage

The level of study of a module at the OU, this corresponds to a year at most other Univeristies, so stage 1 = year 1 undergradutate study

STEM

Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics

Student-centered approach

learning that is primarily led with the eyes on the student – e.g. small group seminar discussions

students with disabilities

Students have a wide range of visible and hidden disabilities. Whilst many students let the students know about their needs up front, not all do. Therefore Associate Lecturers play an important role in spotting students who need additional support and helping them recive it.

study skills

The skills that students need in order to succeed during academic study. Most students at the OU will need to devlop these skills and our Associate Lecturers have a key role helping students develop them. Study skills are a partcualr focus in stage 1 modules.

supported open learning

the unique OU model of distance teaching

T

Teacher-Centered approach

learning that is primarily led with the eyes on the teacher – e.g. traditional lecturing

team working

Associate Lecturers all work as part of a team to help students study our modules. This team involves other Associate Lecturers, Staff Tutors and the module teams.

TMA

Tutor-marked assignment

V

VLE

Virtual Learning Environment

W

WELS

Faculty of Wellbeing, education and Language Studies