Background
The Open University is the university with the largest number of students in the UK. Established in 1969 as the first distance university in the country, its impact has grown and is now a well-known education provider across the UK and beyond. The mode of tuition of the university is mainly through distance learning materials, provided in a range of multimedia formats (books, online, video, audio) depending on the module and subject. Students are also offered tutorials which take place face-to-face, online, or through the telephone. In 2017, over 174,000 students were registered with The Open University. Since it was founded, more than 2 million students have studied its courses. It was rated top university in England and Wales for student satisfaction in the 2005, 2006 and 2012 UK government national student satisfaction survey, and second in the 2007 survey.
WHY DID THE UNIVERSITY CHOOSE TO WORK WITH SHAUN DELLENTY?
In 2014, the LGBT Network at The Open University organised an event to highlight the issue of homophobic language in schools and the negative impact it has on students, whether they identify as LGBT or not. As co-chair of the network, I asked Shaun Dellenty to deliver a workshop for the university. We had heard very positive feedback both about his work and his engaging delivery, and were delighted to welcome him to the university. The event was well attended by stakeholders in the university, members of the LGBT network, representation from the university diversity office, and heads from local schools. The feedback from the workshop was universally positive.
HOW HAS THE WORK OF SHAUN DELLENTY IMPACTED UPON THE UNIVERISTY?
Shaun’s work had great impact among the stakeholders, who became further aware of the effect of homophobic bullying and language within educational contexts. This has filtered on to our own Human Resources approach to homophobic language, and the LGBT Network’s work on advising and training sectors of the university where issues related to this matter have arisen.
HOW HAS THE WORK OF SHAUN DELLENTY IMPACTED UPON STUDENTS?
Although the workshop was not open to students in the first place (we are a distance university), Shaun’s talk was video recorded and shared within the university. Furthermore, large sections of his talk were used to create “That’s so gay!” Homophobic language and school, an online resource on OpenLearn, The Open University’s free learning platform, that has gathered very positive feedback. The page has received over 3,500 unique visitors and been shared by many schools and LGBT organisations in the UK and beyond.
DID THE TRAINING IMPACT UPON YOUR TEACHING AND LEARNING, IF SO HOW?
As well as the free learning resource mentioned above, the recording of Shaun’s talk is currently being embedded within one of our education modules which forms part of the Degree in Education.
DID THE TRAINING IMPACT UPON ATTITUDES, IF SO HOW?
I believe the training impacted upon the attitudes of those present at the workshop and much further beyond thanks to the online resource. As an example, social media activities to make people aware of the resource (particularly around LGBT History Month) have received many “likes”, re-posted, and gathered very positive reactions.
WHAT HAVE BEEN YOUR BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENTS SINCE THE TRAINING?
Being able to share Shaun’s work beyond its original audience. Its inclusion in our undergraduate teaching materials for the Education degree. By creating the online resource based on Shaun’s presentation we have enabled his impact to go beyond the physical space where his talk was delivered. In addition several school Heads who attended our event subsequently called on Shaun to deliver inclusivity training for their staff and students.
