Exploring teaching and learning in real and virtual worlds
What can current theories about children’s learning and development contribute to the development of new teaching and learning methods in schools? And how are new digital technologies changing the ways children think and learn? This album introduces two elements of The Open University's presence in the virtual world Second Life™ and explores the way in which virtual worlds can offer new opportunities for teaching and learning. The album also explores some of the ways that the theories of Lev
Learning to change
This free course, Learning to change, is for people who are thinking about making changes in their lives, such as returning to study or taking a different direction at work. It will help you build on what you already know; consider the choices open to you; use your skills and qualities to achieve change; and make plans for the future.
First published on Mon, 08 Apr 2013 as Author(s):
Teaching assistants: support in action (Chinese)
本免费课程是“助教：提供行动支持”课程的中文翻译版本，英文原版也在本网站中提供。
This free course is the Chinese version of Teaching assistants: support in action which is also available in English. First published on Tue, 16 Feb 2016 as Author(s):
Language as a medium for teaching and learning
Are you interested in English language education? This free course, Language as a medium for teaching and learning, examines the use of language as a cultural tool which allows humans to become involved in a two-way process of constant change. The course will help those within the teaching environment to relate theoretical discussion to professional practice.
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Key skill assessment: Communication
Communication is part of everyone's life. Being able to communicate clearly and effectively orally, visually and in writing underpins nearly everything we do. This free course, Key skill assessment: Communication, will help you recognise your strengths as well as the areas where you could improve. In developing and assessing your communication skills, you will learn to recognise, adapt and use your skills confidently and effectively in different situations and contexts.
Why teach art?
What value does art have in the school curriculum? The answer is provided by this free course, Why teach art? Aimed primarily at colleagues teaching art in schools, it explores the justification for including art in the school curriculum together with some of the current criticisms commonly heard.
First published on Thu, 17 Mar 2016 as Author(s):
Understanding society: Families
In this free course, Understanding society: Families, you will explore how different families have different ideas about how work in the home should be divided. You will also investigate the diversity of families. We will see how any discussion of the division of labour has to recognise that families differ in terms of shape and size.
Introduction There is an ongoing ‘revolution’ in the running of UK state schools and this is making the position of the school business manager (or bursar) both significant and necessary. Government thinking, together with profound changes in society generally, will affect every institution both in terms of pedagogy and the physical environment, particularly technology and levels of security employed. This course will look at how you – an existing or aspiring business manager – can work effe
Using visualisation in maths teaching
This free course, Using visualisation in maths teaching, looks at visualisation as it relates to mathematics, focusing on how it can be used to improve learning. It will also identify ways in which to make more use of visualisation within the classroom.
First published on Thu, 31 Mar 2016 as Author(s):
3.12.4 Modern Languages In modern languages courses, as you would expect, the emphasis includes listening and speaking skills as well as reading and writing skills. To learn to be creative and spontaneous in the language you are studying, you need to practise listening and speaking throughout the course and in revision. Working through t 3.11.3 Maths, sciences and technology The additional points we would want you to be aware of as you plan your revision in these subjects relate to the different ways in which you are called upon to present your answers. These might be: short reports multiple-choice answers dif 3.11.2 Answering a question in exam conditions Write out a few exam questions on pieces of card, shuffle them and then pick out a question at random and try to answer it in the time the exam allows. Doing this can give you a sense of the amount you can reasonably write in an exam. You should also get an idea of whether or not you are being too ambitious about what you can cover within the time constraints of an exam. You should be wary of overshooting the timeslot for an exam answer, and not leaving enough time to complete the remaining a 3.2 Looking at the thinking a further education course involves A further education course will provide many practical opportunities for developing thinking. These will be integrated into activities such as: reading texts; doing in-text activities and self-assessment questions; listening to tapes; watching videos and TV programmes; making notes; doing assignments and reflecting on assignment feedback; doing exams; participating in tutorials; attending day schools, workshops and residential schools; participating in self-help groups; talking to a tutor; pl 1.3.1 Cultural traditions Just now I said quite confidently that you already know a lot about the subjects that make up the arts and humanities even if you have not studied them before. But how can I be so sure? What makes me certain is that, like everyone else, you were born into a human culture. As you were growing up within that culture you were hearing and seeing all the things the people around you were busy saying, doing and making. And you were learning to think and understand, do, say and make similar kinds of 7.1 Introduction Charts, graphs and tables are all very helpful ways of representing a set of data. However, they are not the only ways of passing on information about data. This section looks at how you can analyse a set of data to summarise the given information as briefly and simply as possible. Essentially, there are two features of a set of data that enable summarising: the average and the spread. This section starts by looking at what is meant by ‘average’. If you have already studied Worki 4.7 Proportion We can use a number of different ways to indicate change – fractions, decimals, and percentages tend to be the ones with which many of us are familiar. Which of these represents the greater proporti 4.1 Reading data from tables Tables are used as a way of describing what you are talking about in a structured format. They tend to be used to present figures, either as a summary or as a starting point for discussion. Tables are also probably the most common way of presenting data in educational courses. Tables have always been compiled by someone. In doing so, the compiler may have selected data and they will have chosen a particular format, either of which may influence the reader. You need to be aware of the co Learning outcomes After studying this course, you should be able to: reflect on existing skills and mathematical history, set up strategies to cope with mathematics and assess which areas need improving understand the following mathematical concepts, through instruction, worked examples and practice activities: reflecting on mathematics; reading articles for mathematical information; making sense of data; interpreting graphs and charts draw on a technical glossary, p Acknowledgements The content acknowledged below is Proprietary (see terms and conditions) and is used under licence. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following sources for permission to reproduce material in this course: Course image: Sebastien Wiertz in Flickr made available under Creati 1.3.1 What evidence are we reading? Social scientists use particular methods to gather qualitative evidence, from observation to interview, but they also use autobiographical accounts, journalism, and other documentary material to flesh out and add meaning to statistics. As with reading numbers, reading textual evidence requires us to practise, to set time aside to learn how to do it, and to understand the conventions of writing which operate in the different forms of writing we encounter. One of the main pr
Activity 11
