NCS News

The iPad. At last: a bit of learning technology kit that won’t get in the way learning. Finally, a device that will actually enhance learning, and in my particular interest, online learning at home.
The iPad - just slip it out from under the pile of newspapers, or brush off the toast crumbs, and switch it [...]

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A happy Burns’ Nicht tae ane an’ a.’ We’re looking forward tae oor haggis and champit neeps and tatties and we hope you can join in too. If none of this makes any sense to you, may we recommend a visit to the online Scots dictionary. And if that rouses your interest in things Scottish, [...]

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The Open University is forty years old this year and is still the world leader for distance learning. That the OU has been moving in the correct direction all this time is borne out by the number of online and distance learning courses offered by the traditional institutions as they learn how to do things [...]

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What a way to celebrate 40 years since Apollo 11 landed on the Moon! The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been passing over the old Apollo landing sites and has sent back images in which you can just make out the descent stages of the old lunar modules.
For full details about these images and higher resolution [...]

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The BBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are” begins a new series tonight, with an investigation into the family history of presenter Davina McCall. This series will guide celebrities through their family trees, delving into history as we go.
If it puts you in the mood for finding some ancestors, why not try our History and [...]

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Phil Willis, chairman of the Commons select committee covering higher education, says a cap on student places in England will result in thousands of teenagers going on the dole instead of continuing their education. Increased funding of student places is inadequate to keep track of the big increase in applications this year.
This seems to contradict [...]

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Centre for Human Ecology graduate Helen Jeans has been running an exciting new project which needs participants! Would you like to get involved?
Helen writes: “The Open University is developing a new Internet site to support collaborative learning called SocialLearn. The pilot version of SocialLearn is focused on climate change as part of the Open University’s Learning to Live with Climate [...]

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Former Education Secretary David Blunkett has come out in defence of the adult need for learning. Writing in the Guardian on Tuesday, Blunkett cites the positive influence of adult learning on performance in the workplace and in the performance of children of adult learners in school as powerful arguments for the support of adults in [...]

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The International Space Station crew is awaiting the arrival of three new members that will usher in an era of six-person crews aboard the orbiting laboratory. Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Bob Thirsk launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft Wednesday morning from the Baikonur Cosmodrome [...]

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You can learn all about researching your family history with Kathryn Senior on the NCS course Family History Begins at Home. Now, here’s another facet of your family’s history, researching the history of your house.
 
Using a combination of census records, old maps and other documents, you can find out all about the previous residents and owners [...]

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