University Mental Health Day is this year on 4th March, and in the run up to it I’ve been pondering the following question: What does it mean to be an organisation that values and supports mental health? Back in 2018, we launched an action plan on Mental Health to drive forward a range of improvements […]
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Today, Thursday 04 February 2021 is Time to Talk Day. This national event and campaign is all about encouraging us to talk to each other about the issues we are going through, particularly when we are struggling with our mental health. The theme this year is the Power of Small to reflect all the lost […]
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For a lot of us, particularly here in Yorkshire, the weather so far this year has not exactly encouraged us to get outside. Whether it be rain or snow and ice, staying indoors often seems like the best option. I would imagine though that a lot of us are staying inside more these days in […]
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My relief and support throughout all this has been to immerse myself in a hobby and history in a way I’ve not done before.
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Last year OCA launched an ambitious new 10-year strategy, available on our website, that talked of closing equality gaps, and making a curriculum that is ‘sensitive to global and cultural contexts’. But how to get there? How do we make a curriculum that is reflective of the work and perspectives of people all around the world? How do we ensure that there are no equality gaps?
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This Friday Bank Holiday, 8 May 2020, marks the 75th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day (VE Day), the end of fighting in Europe in 1945. Fighting in the Far East against Japan would continue for a further three months, costing the lives of many more servicemen and women, and civilian deaths in the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki before the final surrender on August 15 1945.
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As part of the changes OCA is making to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, the summer assessment events are moving to digital only submission. We caught up with Christian Lloyd, Director of Learning and Teaching, and Moira Lovell, Director of Curriculum and Quality, about the changes and adopting the new Assessment for Learning Approach.
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In its 30 years OCA has evolved from face to face and correspondence courses to a blended internet and distance based offering and has defied traditional educational boundaries imposed by age, geography, previous experience and privilege. Through technology we can create a borderless community which serves personal, creative and autonomous interaction between students, tutors, and peers.
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Post-study success, however that looks for individual students, is a key ambition of OCA. We hope that our courses will provide you with valuable skills, but in addition to this we are developing initiatives to provide opportunities to network with peers, develop collaborative projects, and set up businesses. With this in mind, we are establishing a new Enterprise Enhancement Scheme, providing funding to students to engage in enterprise activity.
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Alongside the new changes to the Academic Regulatory Framework, OCA is introducing a number of new mechanisms designed to better support students. What is the support in the ARF? These are the Active Study Policy, Reasonable Adjustments Policy, and a revised Mitigating Circumstances Policy, and also the changes to degree pathways. OCA […]
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