Improving student learning in distance education: Theory,research and practice

The aim of this paper is to examine how project-based learning in distance education can be seen to make a distinctive contribution to “improving student learning”. How has this approach to course design and assessment been put into practice in an Open University (OU) course and what assumptions about teaching and learning are involved in this course development process. The paper also looks briefly at how this project component has been evaluated by describing students’ and tutors’ experiences of learning and teaching in the form of “action research” so to reflect critically on practice and so initiate change.