Narratives shared by students and tutors in interviews have been turned into 10 anonymous vignettes. Feel free to use these for staff training, to inform course design, or any other way that suits you. These are image files, but if you would like PDF versions, or Word versions that are accessible for screen-reader users (or if you have any other queries) email [email protected].
Alternatively, you can make your own vignettes with students by using the free Our Journey platform.
Infographic: barriers and enablers to wellbeing in distance learning
This infographic brings together the different findings from the project: barriers, enablers and solutions.
The AAA model: TEDx talk on how learning can support wellbeing
In this project, students and tutors have shared a number of barriers and enablers to mental wellbeing in distance learning. These include ways in which students can manage their mental health in learning, and ways for tutors, educators and course designers can help make distance learning facilitate mental wellbeing. These can be categorised into three areas:
Activities (identifying and taking part in activities to support wellbeing)
Achievements (recognising, logging and reflecting on achievements)
Abilities (developing skills and abilities that support positive study habits and mental health)
This TEDx talk describes practical strategies learners and educators can use to facilitate wellbeing, using these three areas as a model.
Barriers and enablers to mental wellbeing were analysed using Thematic Analysis and were mapped to different areas of their educational experience. Many of the barriers and enablers mapped to the same theme, meaning that a factor can be a barrier or an enabler, depending how it is designed and how the person experiences it. For example, social media can support wellbeing for some people but can undermine wellbeing for others; study skills can be a barrier if students don't have the skills they need, but can be an enabler once they're developed; and curriculum, tuition and assessment can all be enablers if designed and delivered well, accompanied with the right level of support.
These barriers and enablers are represented here as a taxonomy. This shows three central categories for both barriers and enablers: environmental, study-related and skills-related. Each of these is broken down into sub-categories and then themes of barriers and enablers. Barriers can be mapped across the taxonomy to corresponding enablers, and there are relationships between adjacent barriers and enablers.
This internal report for the OU's Quality Enhancement and Innovation portfolio gives an overview of the first stage of the project. It explores some of the key considerations for practice that can be adopted in module and tuition design, and highlights good practice happening elsewhere in the sector.
As part of this research, we are piloting a series of projects to embed wellbeing in different aspects of teaching and learning. More information on these projects can be found in the case study reports, below.
More resources will be coming soon, including publications, additional case study reports, videos and slidedecks. For more information, contact [email protected]