WELS news

This year marks the fifteenth annual National Apprenticeship Week, running from 7 – 13 February 2022. This year, we’ve pulled together seven things you need to know about the apprenticeships offered by the OU’s Faculty of Wellbeing, Education and Language Studies (WELS) in England.

The OU, in partnership with Legal & General, have launched the Midlife MOT; a free course, aimed at 40 to 60 year olds, covering the three key areas of work, wealth and wellbeing, giving them the tools and knowledge to approach mid and later life with confidence.

WELS Doctoral Scholars will present their research in the field of open world learning at a free online event and book launch this month.

From detective sergeant to small business owner – Sandy’s journey with the OU has spanned three decades and is set to continue as he progresses his studies with WELS to support a flourishing new career as an outdoor instructor and coach.

A team from The Open University, led by Dr Elizabeth Tilley, will carry out a review on end-of-life care planning with people with learning disabilities.

A special collection of articles on open education practice has been curated by the OU's Global Open Educational Resource Graduate Network, for publication in the Journal of Interactive Media in Education.

In a world first, researchers, including Professor Louise Wallace (Co-Principal Investigator) from the WELS School of Health, Wellbeing and Social Care, have been funded to study the experience of witnesses who give evidence in professional conduct hearings about care provided by health and social care professionals.

Two Postgraduate Researchers from WELS have been announced as winners in the 'Bake Your Research' competition this year.

With a background in Natural Sciences, Tom Witney found himself with a career dilemma: Should he ‘do Science’ or ‘do stuff about Science’? Having already undertaken an OU graduate conversion course in Psychology, Tom saw an OU PhD studentship advertised and recognised the name of the team leader as a Professor he’d cited in his dissertation. The stars seemed to be aligning and four years later he submitted his thesis.

The Open University’s TIDE project (Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education) has won the 2021 Open Practices Awards (Open Collaboration category) of the Open Education Awards for Excellence.