OU News

Professor Colin Pillinger curates Objects in Space exhibition

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:14:00 GMT

What do a 93kg lump of rock, Damien Hirst's artwork and Newton's apple tree have in common? They've all been associated with space missions and now part of Objects in Space, curated by Professor Colin Pillinger, at the Royal Society.

Objects in Space showcases what is believed to be Britain's largest meteorite. It has never before been seen in public. It is also the British sample which has spent the longest time on Earth - over 30,000 years. This huge specimen was found at Lake House, a country mansion in Wiltshire, where it resided for the most of the last century. It weighs 93kg, about the same as a baby elephant, and forms the centrepiece of an eclectic new exhibition exploring the fascinating history behind UK scientists' interest in meteorites.

The second meteorite on display is considerably smaller, originally weighing just 32g – about the size and shape of a walnut. Discovered in the 1970s at Danebury Hill, the Iron Age Fort in Hampshire, it was originally thought to be a metal artefact dating from 2-3000 years ago when the Archaeological site was occupied by Ancient Britons. It was only realised in the 1980s it was a meteorite when the metal was analysed and found to be extraterrestrial. It was put aside for further research, but mislaid for a number of years, before reappearing and brought to The Open University.

Interestingly, Lake House and Danebury Hill are only 20 kilometres apart and originally it was thought that the samples might be related. The bigger rock however had been on Earth at least ten times longer than the small one. It spent a century near the door step of the house but no one could say who put it there. The detective work to find out has involved Country Life magazine, the inventor of the spark plug, a brewer and a Vicar fascinated by the Druids of Stonehenge.

Large photographic images made at The Open University, enabling CEPSAR (Centre for Earth, Planetary, Space & Astronomical Research) researchers to uncover the origins of rocks from space, form part of the exhibition, together with letters and books charting the history of Britain's scientific interest in meteorites. Also on show are one of Damien Hirst's famous Spot paintings and a fragment of the apple tree under which Newton is said to have discovered gravity; the latter was taken into space aboard NASA's Space Shuttle.

Planetary and Space Sciences Professor Colin Pillinger FRS, who has curated the exhibition with The Royal Society's Archivist Keith Moore, said: “I'm delighted that people are getting a chance to see two unique British meteorites. This is definitely the only place in the world where people can see a rock that came to us from space 30,000 years ago, a Damien Hirst painting and part of Newton's apple tree side by side. I think visitors will really enjoy the opportunity to come face to face with these fantastic objects and find out more about how scientists investigate their origins”.

Objects in Space runs until the end of March. For details, please see link right.

Schools are e-safe, but cyberbullying is rife

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:27:00 GMT

A new survey has revealed that cyberbullying is a huge issue for today's school pupils. 91% of secondary school teachers and 52% of primary school teachers surveyed reported that pupils have experienced cyberbullying. Although most teachers (87%) were confident that pupils were safe from internet harm at school, only 58% felt that their pupils had the skills and knowledge to use the internet safely at home.

The survey of 1,300 teachers was commissioned by Vital, The Open University's Professional Development Programme for teachers, which is funded by the Department for Education. The survey analysed primary and secondary school teachers' attitudes towards internet safety and the use of social networking and smartphones, finding that teachers today face new challenges in managing pupils' use of these technologies.

80% of secondary school teachers feel there is a growing problem in schools with pupils' phones which allow access to the internet and social networking sites. The most common form of cyberbullying is via social networking sites, and most teachers feel that these sites should be banned during the school day.

Director of the Vital Programme, Dr Peter Twining said, “I have great sympathy for hard-pressed teachers, but collecting mobile phones in a cardboard box at the school gate is not the answer. The technology is not going away. Schools need to focus on helping pupils and teachers to get the best from smartphones and other technologies, whilst also developing responsible behaviours and learning patterns.”

Nearly all of the teachers surveyed said that their schools have an internet safety policy and although many use social networks themselves, this was an area where the fewest number of teachers felt confident in advising pupils. A quarter of primary and half of secondary teachers felt that staff had received inadequate e-safety training.

Dr Twining continued, “These findings imply that a significant number of teachers, particularly within the secondary phase of education, want or need more support in dealing with e-safety. Schools need to focus on appropriate staff development. It is a big challenge, but there are many benefits to engaging pupils with technology – and a wealth of resources available to help.”

Vital provides free events and resources via its website (www.vital.ac.uk), which includes subject and special interest portals helping teachers to explore ways of bringing technology into the classroom. There is a portal dedicated to e-safety which is one of the most popular amongst the 7,200 Vital users.

Economists call for radical and immediate reform of financial system

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:43:00 GMT

• New research uncovers key policy recommendations for financial reform to exit the crisis
• MPs told “Focus must be on finance for innovation, not innovation for finance”

London, 2nd February 2012 – The financial crisis has exposed a dysfunctional financial system that threatens European and global economic stability with potentially major social consequences. That's according to a new report released today by Finance, Innovation and Growth (FINNOV – www.finnov-fp7.eu), a three-year research project funded by the European Commission.*

FINNOV explored the link between the financial sector and real economy, analysing to what extent financial activities promote or impede industrial growth and innovation. The research found immediate financial reform is essential to end the crisis and drive economic growth, leading to a number of challenging policy recommendations, including:

• Venture capital is most effective when preceded by strategic investments by the state in early stage innovation;
• Successful state investments in innovation should deliver tangible returns to the public purse, not just debt;
• Blanket support for SMEs is misguided and should be better targeted to producing not more firms but better firms that create more jobs and better products;
• Share buy-backs should be subject to stronger governance control or banned outright;
• Indicators of performance, used by financial markets, should be rebalanced to reflect companies' investments in innovation, R&D and productivity;

FINNOV is an influential collaboration of Economics experts from seven top European Institutions, led by the Open University and its work has recently been cited in the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) Growth Strategy Paper. FINNOV concluded its activities yesterday in the House of Commons by presenting its policy recommendations to MPs including Rt Hon David Willetts, Secretary of State for Universities and Science and Ms Chi Onwurah, Shadow Minster for Innovation and Science.

Professor Mariana Mazzucato, FINNOV project lead and Professor in Science and Technology at the University of Sussex (Visiting Professor at the Open University) is an expert on the economics of growth and innovation. She said of the findings: “The crisis has exposed deep flaws in conventional economic thinking on which financial policies and regulations have been based. The changing links between risks and rewards have contributed to an increasing 'financialization' of the economy, and this has allowed parts of the financial services sector to extract value at the expense of industrial growth. This practice is undermining investment in productive activity and has already destabilised the economy. Innovation requires “patient capital” with greater distribution of rewards to contributors to the innovation process, aligned to the money, time and energy they risk making it a success.”

Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science said: “How the financial system supports investment is a key question for policy makers at the present time and a key concern of BIS. We welcome the contribution FINNOV is making to the discussion and debate.”

Ms Chi Onwurah MP, Shadow Minister for Innovation and Science commented: “The relationship between innovation, finance and public policy is one of the key questions of our time. Governments who get that relationship right can use it to build a sustainable economy. Governments who get it wrong will pay a high price.”

The research has identified trends and practices within financial markets that are damaging the UK's growth prospects. Out of this a comprehensive set of policy recommendations has been developed

FOR FULL RELEASE, INCLUDING THE RECOMMENDATIONS CONTACT THE PRESS OFFICE FOR A PDF VERSION OF THE RELEASE

The Open University appoints new Dean

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:45:00 GMT

The Open University has appointed Professor Rebecca Taylor as Dean of its Business School and Law School.

Professor Taylor was previously Associate Dean at Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University and has extensive experience within the business education sector. She has a PhD in Economics and has directed several HEFCE-funded projects related to the development and dissemination of online teaching and learning resources for Economics and the wider Social Sciences. Professor Taylor is also an Associate Director of the Economics Network at the University of Bristol and has worked with the Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Academy on addressing the identified skills deficit in quantitative methods across the Social Sciences.

The Open University Business School is one of the world's leading business schools, recognised for the high quality of its programmes and teaching which are supported by cutting edge management and legal research.

Professor Taylor, Dean of The Open University Business School and Law School, said: “I feel very privileged to have joined the University and to be part of such an innovative team, dedicated to inspiring students worldwide to achieve their career ambitions. Since starting in the role, I have been impressed by the School's study method of practice-based, action learning that ensures what you learn today, you can put into practice tomorrow. This is especially evident in our newly-updated MBA programme, which is equipping students with the skills and experience to contribute straightaway to the success of their employers.

“I look forward to building on the School's strong record of success, welcoming new students, forging new relationships with business and working more closely with our loyal and enthusiastic alumni.”

The Open University Business School is one of the 56 elite triple-accredited business schools worldwide (December 2011).The MBA was rated 4th in the UK and 9th in the world by The Economist (2010) and has resulted in 22,300 successful MBAs.

Editor's Notes
The Open University Business School is a world leader in modern flexible learning and the pioneer of teaching methods that enable people to change their life goals, studying at times and in places convenient to them.

The Open University Business School is one of a select group of schools worldwide accredited by the three leading international accrediting bodies – AACSB, AMBA, EFMD/ EQUIS. It is the only triple-accredited business school that specialises in flexible learning and is home to 22,300 successful MBAs. Its MBA programme offers residential schools and face-to-face and collaborative learning options.

The MBA programme was rated 4th in the UK and 9th in the world by The Economist in 2010 and was ranked 5th in the executive education, training and development category by Superbrands in 2011.
The Open University Business School is also home to the Open University Law School offering amongst its programmes an LLB (Hons) – a qualifying law degree in England and Wales- in collaboration with The College of Law and a masters degree in law (LLM).

It is also one of the top three UK universities for student satisfaction.

Security vs privacy: OU receives £450k to investigate

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:07:00 GMT

Privacy and security have always had a controversial relationship. On one hand security requires the collection of information about citizens, but on the other, it can be seen as infringement of their privacy. Dr Kirstie Ball, Reader in Surveillance and Organisation at The Open University, has received funding totalling £450k to investigate whether people view surveillance and the collection of information as acceptable in return for enhanced security - commonly positioned as a trade-off.

Kirstie said: “Surveillance has many positive uses, including law enforcement and investigating criminal activity, but it can also affect human rights and civil libertarian issues. Public perception and technology change over time, so surveillance techniques need to be reviewed to ensure they are still relevant and not infringing on people's lives.”

Kirstie will be involved in two European Commission Framework 7 projects commencing in February 2012. The first, Surveillance, Privacy and Security: A large scale participatory assessment of criteria and factors determining acceptability and acceptance of security technologies in Europe, will re-examine the relationship between security and privacy. This relationship, both at state and citizen levels, has informed policymakers, legislative developments and best practice guidelines concerning security developments across the EU. Current security policy, however, needs to be reviewed in light of new research questioning the validity of the security-privacy trade-off, suggesting it may have over-simplified the impact and acceptability of current security solutions.

The second European project, Increasing Resilience in Surveillance Societies will use public attitudes towards surveillance to identify its impact on everyday life and gauge trust in political institutions. The focus will be on the effects of surveillance in combatting crime and terrorism, and how it affects citizens in open and democratic societies.

A third project, The New Transparency, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, investigates the role of technology companies in promoting surveillance internationally. The team will look at factors contributing to the general expansion of surveillance as a technology of governance and the social consequences for both institutions and ordinary people.

Editor's Notes

1. Surveillance, Privacy and Security: A large scale participatory assessment of criteria and factors determining acceptability and acceptance of security technologies in Europe involves a team of academics from The Open University Business School, including Professor Sally Dibb, Dr Fahri Karakas and PhD student Sara Degli Esposti. Overall, the project involves 11 different partners across Europe and is being led by the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

2. Increasing Resilience in Surveillance Societies is being led by the Institute for the Sociology of Law and Criminology, based in Austria

3. The New Transparency project is based at Queens University in Canada

OU/BBC documentary highlights the challenges facing social workers

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:41:00 GMT

The complexities behind the work of child protection social workers will be observed in a three-part documentary which has been co-produced by The Open University in partnership with BBC.

The BBC TWO three-part documentary, Protecting Our Children, follows social workers from Bristol City Council and highlights the life-changing decisions they make on a daily basis for the city's children.

It documents a social worker's job and the complex decisions they have to make, focusing on social work's most critical dilemma; when it is right to remove a child and when it is safe for them to be reunited. Social work involves a careful balancing act and often involves social workers putting themselves in vulnerable positions to risk assess a child's household.

The documentary was filmed over 18 months and is about a number of children who are on the frontline of child protection in Bristol.

Open University Senior Social Work Lecturer Dr Lucy Rai and Social Work Lecturer Dr Barry Cooper worked with the BBC to provide expert input into the development of the documentary.

Dr Lucy Rai said: “Protecting our Children witnesses moments of truly inspiring hope as well as chilling stabs of a very cold reality. It very difficult to motivate change, but it is even harder to sustain it both for social workers and for the parents who are striving, against momentous odds, to 'do the right thing' for their children. One of the huge challenges for social workers is deciding what constitutes the 'right thing'; the eternal debate over whether a child is better off with their birth parents or removed.”

Dr Cooper said: “The programme provides a unique insight into five very different examples of child protection social work.

“These stories of real life social work practice dilemmas are profoundly affecting and they make for compelling and frequently uncomfortable viewing.”

The documentary shows how social workers have to manage a heavy caseload, are often put in difficult and highlights their emotional battles with helping parents and families in order to secure the best outcome for the child/children. The programme also focuses on the needs of vulnerable children and the various challenges involved with child protection work; highlighting how many children are found to be at risk as a result of neglect or because of physical or sexual abuse.

Dr Cooper added: “Whatever resistances from adult parents and carers that social workers have to confront, their primary professional responsibility is to the child. It is this that must drive the decision making.

“There are important values in social work about working in partnership with people and empowering them to make positive changes to their lives. Sometimes this can be done but, as these programmes demonstrate, it is not always achieved. Whatever the attitudes and reactions of adults, it is the needs of the child that has to be the main factor in driving all judgements and decisions about whether parents can maintain parental responsibility for their children.”

The series will be broadcast weekly on BBC TWO, starting on Monday 30 January 2012.

As part of its broadcast partnership with the BBC, The Open University has developed a range of free educational resources on social work which accompany the programme. For further information about child protection, free educational resources on social work and the range of social work courses provided by The Open University, visit: www.open.edu/openlearn/startyourday
ENDS

Notes to editors
Programme Credits
Protecting Our Children was made in partnership with BBC.
Executive Producer for the BBC is Julian Mercer.
The Open University academic consultants for the series are Dr Barry Cooper, Lecturer, Social Work, and Dr Lucy Rai, Senior Lecturer, Social Work.

Social work at The Open University
The Open University is the largest provider of part-time work-based social work training in the UK. The OU's curriculum is developed by leading academics and professionals who are actively engaged in social work, ensuring that teaching reflects current priorities. The University is also a pioneer in working collaboratively with service-users, whose voices are heard throughout the OU's learning materials – challenging and enriching the contributions of practitioners and policy makers alike.

The Open University's social work education ranges from short introductory modules through to a work-based honours degree in social work and a top-up degree to enable Social Workers with a DipSW to achieve an honours degree.

For more information on the OU's social work courses, go to: www.open.ac.uk/health-and-social-care/main/study-us/social-work

Photo credit and copyright: Sacha Mirzoeff

Iconic new images of the 'Pillars of Creation' captured by Herschel space observatory

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:04:00 GMT

The European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory has captured stunning images of one of the 'Pillars of Creation' providing new views of star birth in this iconic region, 17 years after the Hubble telescope originally observed the region.

The 'Pillars of Creation' form a small part of the Eagle Nebula star formation that lies 6500 light years away. Made of gas and dust (small particles of carbon and silicate material) they are several light years in length and lie at the centre of an incredibly complex region 30 – 40 light years across, which is undergoing a burst of star formation.

These breath- taking images highlight the processes occurring within the pillars, and at the locations of stars forming throughout the surrounding area. The images are particularly exciting as star formation usually occurs in regions that are completely obscured from the view of optical telescopes that detect visible light. However the Hershel Space Observatory sees far –infrared light which has wavelengths thousands of times longer than visible light, therefore rather than seeing the pillars as dark silhouettes, Hershel sees the clouds of dust glowing in their own light.

Professor Glenn White, of The Open University and The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and a member of the international project team (involving scientists from CEA Saclay in France, and the European Space Agency at Vilspa in Spain) who is working on the data said: 'These observations reveal how complicated the formation of stars is. The local environment in the Eagle Nebula is probably very similar to that when our own solar system formed almost 5 billion years ago – so seeing these images is a bit like using a time machine to look back at how our own solar system might have been born. In the Eagle Nebula we are observing the formation of individual stars, as well as seeing the way that radiation from an earlier generation of stars formed several million years previously can induce new star formation in nearby material in the Galaxy'.

The Herschel observations are complemented by X-ray observations by the XMM-Newton spacecraft, along with optical and near-infrared observations from the Hubble Telescope and the ESO Very Large Telescope in Chile.

Notes to Editors
These images are to be broadcast on BBC Stargazing LIVE on 17th January 2012.

Hershel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European – led Principle Investigator consortia, including the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and the University of Cardiff, and with important participation from NASA. It was launched in May 2009.

£1million grant from Wolfson Foundation to transform teaching of practical science

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 09:52:00 GMT

Practical science is undergoing rapid changes, with technology making it possible to conduct some experiments and access data and facilities remotely – professional scientists can now work together across the globe. Until now, the new techniques of online working, and the new skills required, have not been well reflected in the teaching of practical science. A new initiative from The Open University, a world leader in online science education, is set to remedy this. A £1 million grant from The Wolfson Foundation is helping to establish The Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory, a global centre at the cutting edge of practical science teaching – operated entirely online.

The Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory is focused on being a resource for undergraduates and will help to satisfy the demand for experienced graduates in this field. Professor Stephen Swithenby, Science Director of eSTEeM, the OU Centre which is leading the project says, “Science graduates are desperately needed in every country but a lack of lab facilities and the resource to expand them makes it difficult to address this. Practical science has been an under-developed area of online education – it is cost-effective, and is a bold way of making the world of science accessible to many more people, particularly those in the least developed countries.”

Guided by rigorous research, The Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory will be a gateway to a range of scientific experiments and observations, many of which are developed by Open University scientists. Although operated entirely online, users will be able to access data from real physical instruments and equipment, enabling them to carry out authentic and rigorous science investigations. Professor Swithenby continues, “The future of science will be crucially dependent on working via a computer screen – the OU has already successfully taken up this challenge in education with the development of facilities like the virtual microscope. Although The OpenScience Laboratory is an online experience, users will be accessing real data and real equipment, a huge advance on oversimplified simulations.”

Operating as a virtual laboratory, The Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory will be designed so that colleagues across the sector and the globe can adopt it for use in their own teaching. It will offer:

•Remote access to laboratories and observatories, involving students operating real physical equipment controlled remotely – this method is already established in astronomy.

•Virtual laboratories and instruments – these will provide interfaces to real data and emulate physical equipment. Interactive screen experiments will include photo-realistic “point-of-view” recordings of physical experiments and replicate the behaviours of real specimens.

•Online field investigations – these may involve electronic access to a conventional field trip, or offer a virtual experience using satellite-borne and remotely operated sensors, where students can investigate specific environments, such as active volcanoes or polar sheets.

•Online collaboration – interfaces to collaborative instrument sharing will create environments for the discussion of design and data analysis.

Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation, said "This award recognises the importance of providing practical science experience to students on distance learning courses. The Open University is among the international pioneers in this field, and we look forward to the Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory making practical science available to many more students across the globe."
20% of the material will be made freely available under open source software and the initiative will operate internationally, enabling students and teachers from across the globe to share knowledge and discuss experiments. The Wolfson OpenScience Laboratory will also be integrated into Open University science courses.

Notes to Editors
About The Wolfson Foundation
www.wolfson.org.uk
The Wolfson Foundation is a charity that was established in 1955. It aims to support excellence, generally through the funding of capital infrastructure in the fields of science and medicine, health, education and the arts & humanities.
The endowment of the Wolfson Foundation is currently some £725 million, with an annual allocation of approximately £30 million. By 2010 over £600 million had been awarded in grants (in excess of £1 billion in real terms). Over 8,000 projects have been funded.
All grants are awarded following a rigorous review process involving expert reviewers.
As well as backing excellence, grants are often made to act as a catalyst - so that the Foundation's funds can lever additional support.
An important element of the Foundation's strategy is to seek collaboration with other expert bodies. Fruitful partnerships have included leading academic societies (notably the Royal Society and the British Academy), government departments, other grant-making trusts (such as the Wellcome Trust) and charities ranging from Help the Hospices to the Art Fund.

OU telescope captures breakthrough image of supernova's status

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:57:00 GMT

A robotic astronomical telescope operated by The Open University on the Spanish island of Mallorca was responsible for a one-off image of a supernova, leading to crucial information on the nature of these exploding stars.

The image was taken by a PhD student who happened to be “in the right place at the right time” and was able to gain sophisticated detail of these captivating stars.

Despite the fascination with 'Type Ia' supernovae and their role in cosmology, little is known about what kind of stars - in scientific terms the progenitors - actually become supernovae or 'exploding stars' as they are commonly known.

It was therefore a lucky night for student Stefan Holmes sitting at the helm of the OU's PIRATE facility in August 2011, who captured an image of the M101 (the spiral galaxy in which the supernova was seen) at 9pm BST on 23 August 2011, only 4 hours after the explosion of the supernova. The explosion - at 20 million light years distance - represented the closest such explosion for decades, and is the first to be available for detailed investigations with modern-day astronomical detectors.

The supernova itself was not visible in the PIRATE image, but it did capture the upper limit on the early brightness of the supernova. As a result scientists working on the PIRATE facility, in collaboration with an international team led by colleagues at the University of California at Berkeley, can say with a high degree of certainty that it was a 'white dwarf' supernova, the name given to dead or 'end state' stars.

This breakthrough is now the subject of an article in the January 10th issue of the prestigious Astrophysical Journal Letters series (2012, ApJ, Issue 744, L17) and has been presented this week at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.

Dr Ulrich Kolb, Senior Lecturer at the OU's Department of Physical Sciences and Director of the PIRATE facility, said: “This a great advancement – the spectral appearance of type Ia supernovae have long suggested exploding white dwarfs as the culprits responsible for the explosion, but this new research is effectively proof of their white dwarf nature.

“It demonstrates the capabilities of small to medium-aperture telescopes to contribute to world-leading research.”

Stefan, an astronomy research student at the OU, who was observing the skies on the night in question, is among the team conducting the PIRATE research programme.

He said: “It was great to have been able to capture this image and be part of such an exciting outcome. It was a case of being at the right place at the right time. It gives the most definite proof yet of the white dwarf nature of 'Type Ia' supernovae and is independent of any other evidence on this subject.”

The authors of the Astrophysical Journal Letters paper are Joshua S. Bloom, Daniel Kasen, Ken J. Shen and Peter E Nugent of University of Berkeley; Nathaniel R. Butler of Arizona State University; Melissa L. Graham and D. Andrew Howell of UC Santa Barbara; Ulrich Kolb, Stefan Holmes and Carole Haswell of The Open University; Vadim Burwitz of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics in Germany; Juan Rodriguez of the Astronomical Observatory of Mallorca in Spain; and Mark Sullivan of the University of Oxford.

Notes for Editors

'Type Ia' supernovae are exploding stars which increase their brightness dramatically to shine brighter than a billion Suns combined, for several weeks. They are known to reach a common maximum luminosity, so when they are seen in faraway galaxies it is possible to determine the distance to the galaxy from the apparent brightness of the exploding star: more distant supernovae will appear fainter than closer ones.

This is how astrophysicists measured the distance of numerous galaxies with known speed, only to find that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, not slowing down, as previously thought. Their work revolutionised cosmology and was awarded the Physics Nobel Prize in 2011.

Supernovae are thought to occur when a white dwarf star, gaining mass by accretion from a companion or partner star is pushed over its stable mass limit.

Shock-heated material ejected in the explosion contributes to the early light output of a supernova. The energy available to be radiated away is proportional to the size of the exploding object. The PIRATE observations therefore place an upper limit on the radius of the progenitor: the radius of the object that exploded must have been smaller than 2/100 of the radius of the Sun, consistent with it being a white dwarf, the end state of a star.

A similar argument restricts the radius of the companion star radius to less than about a tenth of the radius of the Sun, thus excluding most normal stars and therefore a large group of potential progenitor systems.

The sky's the limit with Stargazing LIVE and The Open University

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 08:41:00 GMT

Broadcast: 16 (8.30pm), 17 & 18 (8pm) January, BBC Two

Stargazing LIVE, the hugely popular BBC Two series enjoyed by millions is back for a second series. Accompanying the series, produced in partnership with The Open University, will be hundreds of live events across the country giving everyone - from amateurs to experts - the chance to get involved.

Presented by Professor Brian Cox, Dara O'Briain and Mark Thompson, the series will broadcast live from the control room of the Jodrell Bank radio observatory in Cheshire, over three nights.

Liz Bonnin will also appear live, reporting from the South African Astronomical Observatory near Cape Town, the home of SALT, the largest optical telescope in the Southern Hemisphere. Over the three nights, viewers will become Stargazing's eyes and ears across the country, as their images, feedback and questions are incorporated into the shows.

Highlights of the new series include an attempt to turn off every single light in the town of Dulverton in Somerset, as part of a Stargazing LIVE demonstration showcasing the beauty of a night sky free from the effects of light pollution, and a special guest appearance by Captain Eugene Cernan, the last man ever to walk on the surface of the moon.

Dr David Rothery, who chairs The Open University's planetary science course and is involved in the European Space Agency's mission to Mercury, said: "I learned my way round the night sky when I was a schoolboy in Birmingham. Stargazing LIVE will help other people achieve the same, and I hope it will also open their eyes to the amazing discoveries that have been made in our Solar System and beyond."

Lisa Ausden, Executive Producer for the BBC, says: "We were bowled over by the response to Stargazing LIVE last year, with some four million viewers tuning in to learn about the wonders of the night sky. We lucked out with a meteor making a live appearance, the international space station glinting into view overhead and some incredible images of the partial eclipse, photographed and sent in by our audience.

"This time we'll be switching off the lights of a whole town in Somerset to demonstrate the effects of light pollution, broadcasting live from Cape Town, and welcoming a very special guest, the last man to step foot on the moon. We will also be laying down a unique challenge to viewers to help us find a brand new planet. I, for one, cannot wait!"

The Open University is offering people inspired by Stargazing LIVE the chance to continue exploring the night skies. OpenLearn, its free interactive study site, offers insight into our solar system, constellations and space from astronomy and planetary experts, as well as tools such as the Virtual Planisphere, an interactive telescopic guide to the night sky.

With support from The Open University, BBC Learning is producing 80,000 copies of a free Star and Moon Guide that will be available at hundreds of special astronomy events held across the country to coincide with the series. The guide suggests ways to take the learning journey even further, through free courses, such as The Moon and The Sun, available on OpenLearn.

Editor's Notes
Stargazing LIVE is a partnership between The Open University and the BBC. The Executive Producer for the BBC is Lisa Ausden and the series producer is Alan Holland. The Open University academic consultants for the series are Dr Stephen Serjeant, Dr Andrew Norton and Dr David Rothery.

Recent recession led to fewer job losses than the recession of the 90s

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 10:28:00 GMT

The impact of the recent recession on the sales performance of small and medium-sized companies was more sudden and severe than that experienced in the early 1990s, but the drop in employment levels has been less dramatic, according to the Quarterly Survey of Small Business in Britain, produced by The Open University Business School (www.open.ac.uk/quarterly-survey) with support from ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants).

The report for the fourth quarter shows a much bigger dip in SMEs' sales performance in the recent recession, compared to that of the early 1990s. Despite this, the current economic downturn has so far had a less visible impact on employment levels in the UK's SMEs. Since 2008, the fall in workforce jobs has been less dramatic than in the 1990s, partly supported by the growth in part-time jobs and the self-employed. With the notable exceptions of the retail and construction sectors, small firms also made a quicker initial recovery from the recession this time around, though recent evidence suggests that the growth in the sales balance appears to have stalled since the end of 2010.

In the fourth quarter, the UK's SME's reported a further slight decline in sales performance. With sales expectations for the next quarter at the same muted levels, there seems to be no immediate prospect of an uplift, the report states. However, there is a degree of optimism in the manufacturing sector with SMEs reporting the best sales performance, employment growth (+12%) and investment performance (+12%).

The smallest firms have suffered the most from the effects of the recession, with small construction firms reporting the most negative sales performance balances in both the recession of the 1990s (-45% in mid 1991) and the most recent (-54% in mid-2009). The construction sector also has the biggest competition problems (41%) and SMEs in this field are among those most often cutting jobs and investment.

Striking differences between the UK's smallest firms and its medium-sized firms were revealed when the survey asked how many people they expect to employ in three years' time. More than one fifth of the firms which are not currently employers expect to close their business within the next three years. However, relatively large firms are much more optimistic, with those currently employing 10 or more people expecting to recruit rather than cut staff.

'Economic climate or demand' has now been the top-ranked problem facing Britain's small firms for four years, since the beginning of 2008. In the latest survey, almost two thirds (63%) of SMEs see it as a 'top three' problem (up from 55% in the previous quarter). SMEs in every region and sector report it as their most common business problem, with those in Wales (77%) and in transport & storage (70%) seeming to suffer the most. The next ranked issues are: Competition (33%), Government regulation (28%), Cashflow, payments or debtors (26%) and Inflation or cost of inputs (26%). SMEs in the hotels & restaurants sector report the most problems with input prices (36%); this sector also sees the tax burden as a particular problem (36%), reflecting the level of duty on alcoholic drinks. SMEs in Wales (44%) and Scotland (39%) more often report problems with government regulation than those in most of the English regions, with the exception of the North East (41%).

Professor James Fleck, Dean of The Open University Business School, said: “The survey shows that whilst the manufacturing sector may offer some grounds for optimism, other sectors are facing severe problems. For example, small retailers have seen sales fall continuously over the past four years and there is no immediate prospect of an uplift. We are also picking up signs of distress amongst the very smallest firms, and in those most heavily involved in supplying the public sector.”

The survey also found significant regional variations. Firms in the West Midlands are reporting the best sales performance, with net balances of +23%, closely followed by +20% in the West Midlands. SMEs in these two regions also have the highest balances for employment and investment. Whilst SMEs in Scotland report far weaker sales than the last quarter, with the balance down from +21% to +7%, in London, Wales and Yorkshire & the Humber more SMEs are reporting a negative sales turnover. SMEs in the East Midlands (46%) and West Midlands (43%) of England far more often complain of competition problems than those in the North East (14%) and North West (24%).

Open University to launch arthritis course for healthcare professionals

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:46:00 GMT

A new course providing healthcare professionals with specialist knowledge to improve services for patients with inflammatory arthritis is to be launched by The Open University.
The self-study course was funded by a curriculum development grant from the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and has been developed with the direction and advice of specialist rheumatology nurses. It will be run by the OU from February 2012.
The aim of the course is to ensure a range of health and social care professionals, including doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants, provide a person-centred and multidisciplinary approach to caring for people with this long-term condition.
The course has been designed so that it can also be studied by people with inflammatory arthritis and their carers who want to have a more advanced understanding of the condition and the treatments available to them.
It is delivered online over a period of up to 18 months, with flexible modules that amount to 50 hours of learning.
It will give students knowledge of how to identify and monitor inflammatory arthritis using history, disease scores and blood tests, and ensures they are aware of the standards and guidelines that govern the care of patients with the condition.
A shorter version of the course will also be available as a free 'open' resource that will provide up to 10 hours of online learning.

Today's gaming enthusiast is older than you think, finds Open University research

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:58:00 GMT

Those struggling to think of a last-minute Christmas gift for their middle-aged relatives might be intrigued to know they may prefer a digital game this year, rather than a nice pair of slippers.

Research carried out by a PhD student at The Open University, into how people engaged with digital games, found that the age of those who play and enjoy these games is not typically a 20-something playing games like Call of Duty. Rather, research student Jo Iacovides, 28, found that the demographics are changing among game enthusiasts. She studied how people learn through their involvement with games and carried out a three-stranded approach using email interviews, monitored on-site case studies and questionnaires among a group stretching from 20 to 65.

“One participant I monitored in our labs was a 59-year-old mother, who was reluctant to describe herself as a gamer yet she admitted to enjoying digital games on Facebook and playing collaborative games on the Nintendo Wii with her adult daughter.

“She is getting a lot from them. During one of the observation sessions, she did get a bit overwhelmed by the information and the clues when playing an unfamiliar game. This meant she got to the end of the time limit without completing the task, but after a break she realised she may have worked out the solution and would have liked another go.”

The sessions, carried out in The Open University's technology labs, involved nine people taking part in two hour-long sessions within a specially-created “lounge” with a sofa and a games consoles.

“People in the lab did get frustrated when they got stuck, and trying again and trying different solutions is all part of the challenge. But if they were unable to figure out a solution or progressed without understanding why, then their involvement with the game was liable to break down as their sense of 'agency' would be reduced,” said Jo.

In the questionnaire assessment, among 232 people within the 18-65 age groups who responded to an appeal through The Open University's website channels, more than 50 per cent admitted to being “moderate gamers”.

“There seemed to be a bit of a stigma attached to admitting to being a serious gamer and, interestingly, people categorised themselves in relation to the hours they spent playing in comparison to others, including stereotypes of hardcore gamers. Yet it is clear the demographic of who is playing is changing, now one in three adults play digital games and it is becoming just another common leisure activity such as watching TV, going to the cinema and listening to music.”

Her study found that breakdowns and breakthroughs – when people did succeed in the game - were crucial to the experience.

“People generally report positive experiences from playing games. They are learning in ways that might surprise us, such as developing patience and perseverance. It was interesting to see how often breakdowns – such as 'dying' repeatedly – happen, yet the players keep on going! Perhaps because failure has fewer consequences in the game world, but it is remarkable to observe and see how learning comes out of that failure. You can see how competence could develop from being able to figure out the game.”

Jo suggests that: “Education could learn something from the world of gaming, in terms of the culture around gaming that supports the activity but also in terms of respecting the impact and influence games can have, rather than relegating them to being simple distractions”. Also, she concluded that educational games could pick up useful pointers from the design of commercial ones.

“By looking at how these breakdowns and breakthroughs occur there are potential implications for devising more effective educational games – for instance, by ensuring that the player does feel responsible for figuring out solutions and the consequences of their actions,” she said.

Jo, who is a “gamer” herself in her limited spare time, has already presented her work at several conferences, while the preliminary findings from the questionnaire study are to be published next year in the Journal of Learning, Media and Technology.

Open University announces postgraduate fee levels and non-UK undergraduate fee levels

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 10:00:00 GMT

Following the announcement of its fee levels for undergraduate students across the UK, The Open University today announces its fee levels for undergraduate students resident outside of the UK and for postgraduate students across all jurisdictions.

Undergraduate fees for new students outside of the UK
Undergraduate fees for new students resident outside of the UK and starting their studies after 1 September 2012 will be the same as for new students in England: £5,000 for 120 credits, £2,500 (60 credits) and £1,250 (30 credits). An honours degree totals 360 credits. At these prices, an honours degree with the OU will total £15,000. This fee is a standard across all subject areas and modules.

The OU has kept fees as low as possible while sustaining high quality and remaining true to its mission of being open to all.

Undergraduate fees for current students outside of the UK
Most current OU students outside of the UK will be able to complete their qualifications at a price and pace consistent with their expectations when they started their course, under the OU's transitional fee arrangements. This means fees for most current students will remain at current levels, subject to inflation-linked increases. These arrangements are on the same terms as those for current students in England.

Postgraduate fees across all jurisdictions
Fee levels for taught postgraduate study across all jurisdictions will be broadly at current levels plus inflation. Current prices for taught postgraduate degrees start from £3,495. Specific fees for 2012/13 will be available in the OU's online prospectus in early 2012 www.open.ac.uk/study.

The Open University is the UK's biggest university and a world leader in flexible part-time education, with more than 264,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students, including 18,000 outside of the UK studying directly with the University. The OU has developed a unique “supported open learning” model, which enables students to fit studies around their commitments, supported by a network of Associate Lecturers, online forums and through contact with their peers via tutorials, online conferencing, social networks, study groups and events. It is through this proven model of education, together with the OU's scale, reach and expertise, that the University is able to continue to offer excellent value. The OU will retain its open access policy and continues to welcome all students.

The OU has created a website to communicate these changes to current and potential students, employers and partners: www.open.ac.uk/fees2012.
ENDS

Notes to editors

1. Fees for new students outside of the UK
The funding for higher education is different for each nation in the UK. In the past in England, and still in other nations of the UK, the majority of the cost of our degree programmes was met from government grant. The grant does not meet the full costs of delivering education and student fees contributed to the total.

Governments outside of the UK make no contribution to the costs of teaching. Previously the OU's fees for students outside of the UK met the additional costs of delivering education outside of the UK, but not the costs of developing courses. From September 2012, students outside of the UK will pay the same as students in England and that will meet the full costs of their programmes as in England. In setting its fees, The Open University has kept fees as low as possible while sustaining high quality and remaining true to its mission of being open to all.

2. Fees for current students outside of the UK
Undergraduate students resident outside of the UK pay approximately £3,360 for a standard 120 credits of study (the equivalent of a year of full-time study). Many students study on a module basis and currently a standard 60 credit module is priced from £1,470 .

3. Studying with the OU outside of the UK
The OU's flexible model of education means many of its courses can be delivered across the world.

The top reasons given by students living outside the UK for studying with the OU are:
• Flexibility to study around work and life commitments.
• Choice over qualification pathways and rate of study.
• Studying in English / with a British higher education institution.
• The reputation of the OU.

In February this year, the UK Government's Online Learning Task Force said the UK set a “world standard in distance learning” by establishing The Open University 42 years ago.

Open University undergraduate fees in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales remain unchanged

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Following its announcement in July of English undergraduate fee levels from September 2012, The Open University has today announced that fees for undergraduate students in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will be at current levels plus inflation for 2012/13. As the arrangements for funding of higher education in the UK are different, the OU has introduced different fees across the UK.

In setting its fees, the OU has taken into account changes in government funding and has kept fees as low as possible while sustaining high quality and remaining true to its mission of being open to all.

Fees in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales
In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, arrangements for funding of higher education are broadly unchanged for 2012/13, and therefore undergraduate fee levels for OU students in these nations will not change for 2012/13, subject to inflation-linked increases. This means students will continue to pay £1,610 for a standard 120 credits of study (the equivalent of a year of full-time study). Many students study on a module basis, a standard 60 credit module will be priced from £735.

Fees for transitional students in England
As part of the changes to higher education funding for students in England, the OU has put in place transitional arrangements to help current students in England to complete their studies at a price and pace consistent with when they started. This means that fees for most current students in England will not change, subject to inflation-linked increases, and students will continue to pay £1,610 for a standard 120 credits of study (the equivalent of a year of full-time study). Many students study on a module basis, a standard 60 credit module will be priced from £735.

The OU will announce its fees for rest of Europe and postgraduate students soon.

The Open University has developed a website to communicate these changes to current and potential students, employers and partners. The Fees 2012 website can be found at: www.open.ac.uk/fees2012
ENDS

Notes to editors

Changes to higher education funding in Wales
While there have been changes to the funding for the full-time higher education in Wales, funding for part-time students has not changed.

Fees for students in England
There have been significant changes to the way higher education in England is funded, and the OU will be losing around £90m of the funding it has previously received for students. Instead, undergraduate students will be able to access an increased amount of student loan and, for the first time, most part-time undergraduate students will be access to the government's student loans meaning they will not have to pay their fees upfront. Students accessing the government's student loans will only begin to repay the loan after four years, and only if they're earning more than £21,000. In addition, students will be able to access the OU's unique loan system which enables fees to be paid in instalments during each module. The OU is committed to helping its current students complete their studies at a fee consistent with when they started, and has put in place transitional arrangements for students in England as part of these changes.

The new fee levels for English students starting their studies after 1 September 2012 are: £5,000 (120 credits), £2,500 (60 credits) and £1,250 (30 credits). An honours degree totals 360 credits.

About The Open University
The Open University (OU) is the largest higher education institution in the UK and a world leader in flexible distance learning. Since it began in 1969, the OU has taught more than 1.6 million students and has more than 250,000 current students, including 20,000 overseas, learning in their own time using course materials, online activities and content, web-based forums and tutorials and through tutor groups and residential schools.

The OU has been highly rated for teaching quality, and has been at the top of student satisfaction rankings in the National Student Survey since it was introduced in 2005. 70% of students are in full-time or part-time employment, and three out of four FTSE 100 companies have sponsored staff to take OU courses.

In the UK's latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008) the Open University was ranked in the top third of UK higher education institutions.

Regarded as Britain's major e-learning institution, the OU is a world leader in developing technology to increase access to education on a global scale. Its vast 'open content portfolio' includes free study units on OpenLearn, which has had more than 17.7 million visits, and materials on iTunes U, which has recorded over 40 million downloads. The OU has a 40 year partnership with the BBC which has moved from late-night lectures in the 1970s to prime-time programmes such as Frozen Planet, The Bottom Line, and Bang Goes the Theory.

Visit www.open.ac.uk

Student film makers get creative with climate change message

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:38:00 GMT

Students from the UK's leading film schools have risen to a challenge from The Open University and the BBC to present environmental debates in a fresh and creative way. More than 80 ideas for films were pitched as part of a competition open to the students with a remit covering a wide range of environmental topics. The students were offered one of five themes to explore in their own way.

The 80 initial pitches were whittled down to a shortlist of just 20, with the students then having to pitch their submission to an expert judging panel, including renowned film maker and Chancellor of The Open University Lord Puttnam. A final winning group of 10 films was then commissioned. These can be viewed on The Open University's YouTube channel and a selection of films, with commentary, can be watched via the OU's OpenLearn site. They will also be shown to an audience at BBC TV Centre on Monday November 21. Follow this link to view all 10 short films: http://open.edu/openlearn/body-mind/bbcou-creative-climate-short-film-competition-2011

The winners each received £500 towards making their short film. The results contain a mix of drama, animation and factual material and range from talking sofas to a suited business executive having a lover's tiff with a tree. The competition was part of The Open University's Creative Climate project which engages both experts and the public in the recording their own evolving attitudes and actions in relation to environmental issues.

Competition organiser and judge Joe Smith, a senior lecturer in environment issues at the OU, said: “We wanted to see what film students could do to lift these major environmental issues off the desk of academics and put them out there for the public to debate.”

Fellow judge Jon Plowman, former head of BBC comedy and now an executive producer there, said: “The winners really have risen to the challenge and shown that they are talented and offer a different view on the world and the issues behind environmental change and how the public perceive them. I couldn't be happier with the films that the winners have made. These guys will be the film makers of tomorrow.”
As well as being published online, the films are expected to be screened at film and other cultural festivals.

ENDS

Notes for Editors
The Creative Climate is a 10-year project by The Open University recording how people understand and respond to environmental change over the next decade. The aim is to produce a living archive of experiences and ideas by inviting the public to create and share their own online diaries on any aspect of the environment, from watching an insect or plant to research ideas.
More details can be found here: http://open.edu/openlearn/subject/nature-environment/the-environment/creative-climate

All your Open University news in one tidy place with our new App

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 16:58:00 GMT

A clever little App from The Open University signposts users to the latest news in all directions, with its launch this week. The OU News App – designed to pool several areas of news – is the first time The Open University has devised an App for both iOS and android devices.

It follows the successful launch of popular Apps such as Photofit Me and Devolve Me. The App, designed along similar lines to the BBC's App, gives a one-stop-shop for access to the OU news on press releases, the student news site Platform, YouTube, Twitter accounts, Facebook and the student Forum site.

It means anyone wishing to learn about research, news or keep up with discussions via their phone or ipad has an easy route in, wherever they are.

The OU News App is available from both the Apple Store and Android Market Place.

Vice-Chancellor welcomes committee's emphasis on widening participation

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:59:00 GMT

The Business, Innovation and Skills Committee has published its Twelfth Report of Session 2010–12, Government reform of Higher Education today.

Martin Bean, Vice-Chancellor of The Open University, which was one of the only institutions to give oral evidence to the Committee earlier this year, said: “I welcome the Select Committee's emphasis on widening participation into higher education. Such efforts are crucial in addressing the UK's skills gaps, stimulating our economy, and enhancing social mobility.

“When I gave evidence to the Select Committee, I argued that a renewed political commitment to widening participation is vital, with the current allocation of £368 million being uncertain. This is why I welcome what the Select Committee has found today and their acknowledgement that such funding must continue. In an environment where costs for graduates will rise, we must do all we can to protect access amongst the poorest groups in society.”

Pelagios: An Information Superhighway for the Ancient World

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:58:00 GMT

The Open University is leading a project that aims to connect Ancient World resources online. By providing guidelines and plans for annotating, cataloguing and visualising references to ancient places, Pelagios2 assists people working with the ancient world to make their resources more discoverable, accessible and usable to other researchers and the general public.

Dr Elton Barker, Lecturer in Classical Studies from The Open University and Principal Investigator, said: “Our original project (Pelagios) has enjoyed great success in bringing together data from various ancient world projects, so that scholars and members of the public are able to discover different resources that reference an ancient place of interest. With the additional funding, we'll be able to formalise that process into providing a 'digital toolkit' for those people who produce the data—not just universities but also museums, libraries, etc¬, so that anyone can add their data to the Pelagios superhighway.”

Pelagios 2 has received £153,496 from JISC, as part of its 13/11 Resource Discovery Programme. The co-investigators for the project are Leif Isaksen, Research Fellow at the University of Southampton, and Rainer Simon, Senior Researcher at the Austrian Institute of Technology, with input from the University of Oxford, University of Cologne, King's College London, the American Numismatic Society and the University of Reading.

Editor's Notes
• The OU supports a vibrant research portfolio and in the UK's last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE 2008), the University climbed 23 places to 43rd, securing a place in the UK's top 50 higher education institutions. Results showed that more than 50% of the University's research is internationally excellent (3*), with a significant proportion world-leading (4*).

• The Open University is the UK's largest university and the world leader in distance education, and celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2009. It has more than 260,000 students in over 40 countries. Of these, some 1,200 are postgraduate research students.

• The latest edition of the Open University's Research Highlights brochure can be downloaded from: www.open.ac.uk/research/research-highlights.

• Open Research Online (ORO), the University's freely accessible repository of research publications, is available at: http://oro.open.ac.uk. Since its launch in 2006, it has been visited by over 1.6 million people from more than 200 countries, and is currently ranked the fifth best higher education repository in the UK by the Registry of Open Access Repositories (ROAR).

Future looks bright for scheme to spread IT insight among teachers

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 13:03:00 GMT

£1.25M boost for Vital programme

With the ever increasing need for IT skills among teachers, The Open University has welcomed a government cash endorsement of its programme to support education professionals in sharing and enhancing their technology skills. Vital Professional Development, a programme to support schools and colleges in enhancing their teaching with ICT, including the teaching of IT and Computing, has received a £1.25 million boost by the Department for Education (DfE) to safeguard its work into 2013. This means the programme – already enhanced by £2.5 million earlier this year – can develop and extend its outreach to staff in state funded 5-19 education in England.

The additional funding underlines the success of Vital and supports the In-house Professional Development Partnership, an innovative approach to CPD which provides a structured programme to support schools and colleges in meeting their institutional needs, and includes access to subject specific web-portals to help teachers use IT more effectively across the curriculum.

The new In-house Professional Development Partnership is a school-based initiative supporting a teacher in each partner school to become a “Vital Professional”, who is supported in designing flexible staff development to help a team of staff achieve agreed needs within their own institution. Subject specific web-portals identify high quality teaching resources and advise on how to use them effectively in teaching, as well as providing opportunities for discussion and sharing between practitioners.

Dr Peter Twining, Vital Director and Senior Lecturer at The Open University, said: “This is great news for the programme and allows us to partner with more schools and colleges to help them maximise the impact of their existing resources. The In-house Professional Development Partnership model provides an economical yet high quality and effective approach to staff development that is flexible and sustainable, and targeted on meeting each partner institution's specific development needs.”

Notes to Editors:
About Vital
Vital Professional Development is delivered by The Open University and part-funded by the Department for Education. It aims to support practitioners in sharing their expertise and so enhance the quality of teaching and learning. Vital provides inspiring ideas for learners, materials that can be used in the classroom, and opportunities to share expertise with peers.

Vital supports teachers and other practitioners in making even better use of ICT in their teaching. It is delivered in collaboration with other key providers, such as e-skills UK, the sector skills council for IT. Since it launched at BETT in January 2010, Vital has engaged with educators and schools worldwide to create an active community in the real world and online with over 7,200 registered users of www.vital.ac.uk.

Vital is supported by a network of regional teams who organise events and activities across the UK, such as “TeachMeets”, conferences and web conferences to reach out to educators, local authority staff and education professionals. Free 30 day subject portal trials are available to teachers from the website www.vital.ac.uk.

The In-house Professional Development Partnership is a new approach to CPD. The current pilot price for state funded 5-19 education institutions in England is £330, which provides support for 12 months. For further information see www.vital.ac.uk/IPDP.

To get in touch with the regional team or for any other enquiries please contact info@vital.ac.uk or telephone 0845 366 0481.