Teaching methods at the OU

Teaching at the OU has been rated as "excellent". The OU uses a variety of methods for distance learning, including written and audio materials, the Internet, disc-based software and television programmes on DVD. Course-based television broadcasts by the BBC, which started on 3 January 1971, stopped on 15 December 2006.Materials are written by the OU academics. For most courses, students are supported by tutors who provide feedback on their work and are generally available to them at face-to-face tutorials, by telephone, and/or on the Internet. A number of short courses offer an online conferencing service (Internet Forum).

Some courses have obligatory day schools. These are day-long sessions which a student must attend in order to pass the course, but many courses have no obligatory face-to-face component. Similarly, many courses have week long summer schools offering an opportunity for students to remove themselves from the general distractions of their life and focus on their study for a short time.

The OU now produces mainstream television and radio programming aimed at bringing learning to a wider audience. Most of this programming, including series such as Rough Science and "Battle of the Geeks", are broadcast at peak times, while older programming is carried in the BBC Learning Zone. But in 2004 the OU announced it was to stop its late night programmes on BBC2, and the last such programme was broadcast at 5.30am on 16 December 2006. The OU now plans to focus on mainstream programmes.

The OU is praised for the usage of innovation technologies. The OU is researching the use of virtual worlds in teaching and learning, and has two main islands in Second Life. These islands are called Open University island and OUtopia village. They are separated by a third region "OU Ocean." In May 2009 these regions formed the basis of a case study by Linden Lab, the company which owns Second Life.

As of mid 2010, the University led the list of contributing universities in the number of downloads of its material from the educational resources site iTunesU, with downloads of over 20 million.

Many OU faculties have now introduced short courses most of which are taught online, and start at regular intervals throughout the year. They typically provide an introduction to a broader subject over a period of ten weeks, these are generally timed during vacations at conventional universities in order to take advantage of their facilities. Some science courses, which require only home study, are complemented by residential courses, in order to allow the student to gain practical laboratory experience in that field.

Open University students are often assessed through examinations and coursework. The coursework component normally takes the form of between two and six tutor marked assignments (TMAs) and, occasionally, may also include up to six multiple-choice or "missing word" 100-question computer marked assignments (CMAs).

It typically takes six years to complete an undergraduate degree at the OU.

Text 2