This historical perspective on The Open University, founded in 1969, frames its ethos (to be open to people, places, methods and ideas) within the traditions of correspondence courses, commercial television, adult education, the post-war social democratic settlement and the Cold War. A critical assessment of its engagement with teaching, assessment and support for adult learners offers an understanding as to how it came to dominate the market for part-time studies. It also indicates how, as the funding and status of higher education shifted, it became a loved brand and a model for universities around the world. Drawing on previously ignored or unavailable records, personal testimony and recently digitised broadcast teaching materials, it recognises the importance of students to the maintenance of the university and places the development of learning and the uses of technology for education over the course of half a century within a wider social and economic perspective.

Two audiotape catalogues for courses: Peter Leyden presents The Open University for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Area [undated]

Still going strong today, The Open University, Britain’s national correspondence – TV – radio University, excited much controversy when it first opened and in 1973 awarded its first degrees. With its adult, part-time students, its freedom from formal entrance qualifications, it deliberately questioned many orthodoxies of higher education at the time. Yet the OU differed so much from other universities that few outsiders grasped quite how complex, quite how revolutionary, quite how downright infuriating the OU was, or could be.Originally published in 1974, this book gives a first-hand account of what the OU was about and what it felt like to be an OU student or lecturer. The articles in the collection – edited by Jeremy Tunstall, himself on the OU staff – include contributions from outside observers, from OU staff, and from OU students. This is an unofficial yet informed and lively account of what it felt like in 1974, and what it felt like in the early days, to be part of a project so controversial and progressive.

Contents: Introduction, Review of Related Literature, Methods of Investigation, Data, Conclusions and Suggestions, Summary.

A discussion of how the knowledge media can contribute to the renewal of universities, particularly through the development of distance education. It looks at universities which have risen to the challenges of cost and accessibility using technology.

The Open University is a highly renowned distance learning institution. When it says it's Open, it really means it. Anyone can undertake a course to further their education and get that qualification that they missed out on when they were a teenager. This guide, written by a former Open University student, tells anyone thinking of enrolling on a course exactly what they need to know to make a decision. The reader will learn: - How to take notes - How to write essays - How to correctly reference - How to interact with other students using the Students Forum - What to expect when taking an exam - How to save money - How to get ahead Aimed at those who are thinking of returning to studying and higher education as mature students, this guide provides an insight into how The Open University functions and how to make the most of what it offers.

Creative Writing is a complete writing course that will jump-start your writing and guide you through your first steps towards publication. Suitable for use by students, tutors, writers’ groups or writers working alone, this book offers: a practical and inspiring section on the creative process, showing you how to stimulate your creativity and use your memory and experience in inventive ways in-depth coverage of the most popular forms of writing, in extended sections on fiction, poetry and life writing, including biography and autobiography, giving you practice in all three forms so that you might discover and develop your particular strengths a sensible, up-to-date guide to going public, to help you to edit your work to a professional standard and to identify and approach suitable publishers a distinctive collection of exciting exercises, spread throughout the workbook to spark your imagination and increase your technical flexibility and control a substantial array of illuminating readings, bringing together extracts from contemporary and classic writings in order to demonstrate a range of techniques that you can use or adapt in your own work. Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings presents a unique opportunity to benefit from the advice and experience of a team of published authors who have also taught successful writing courses at a wide range of institutions, helping large numbers of new writers to develop their talents as well as their abilities to evaluate and polish their work to professional standards. These institutions include Lancaster University and the University of East Anglia, renowned as consistent producers of published writers.