  Acknowledgements First of all I’d like to extend my cordial thanks to Professor Naylor, Mrs. Ely and the trustees of the Sino-British Fellowship Trust for your generous support which enabled us to come to the UK for a four and half months research study. At the same time I would also like to thank the China Scholarship Council, Mr. Yang Zhongbo and other officials from the Education Section in the Embassy of China in London, Professor Liu Dailin, Director Li Yawan and other colleagues from CCRTVU and my home University for their help and assistance for my study in the UK and for their commitment to the share of my work while I’m away.
My final gratitude goes to Dr. Joan Swann, director of the Centre for Language Studies and Communication, Mr. Paul Knight, Mrs. Helen Boyce, Dr. Barbara Mayor, Mrs. Pam Burns, Mr. Rosemary Wilson, Ormond Simpson and other staff members in the Open University headquarters and its regional centres for their friendly generous help and cooperation during my stay in the UK. What I have done in the UK For the first two months after my arrival in Milton Keynes I stayed in one of the OU staff’s place and later moved to my present living place in Netherfield, which is really an international family with two Ghanaians and another Chinese.
Actually I’ve had two different ways of life here. In the past few months I’ve been keeping strictly to my proposed study on teaching and learner support service in open and distance education in the Open University. To achieve this purpose I’ve done the following things: 1. Visited the Open University in the East of England • Interviewed the staff tutor in education listening to her description of the procedures of their support to both students and associate lecturers (tutors). • Observed two Sunday f2f tutorial sessions (qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis) for post graduate students of Research Methods in Education and Educational methods, of one of which I observed as a participant. • Observed how the staff tutor help the study centre organize tutorial sessions. • Observed a training session for associate lectures and talked to some Als as to how induction has been done and how they see staff development in open and distance education.
• Had a group discussion with Rosemary, the staff tutor, Mr. Ormond Simpson, deputy director of the regional centre and director of the OU Centre for Student Support and Retention and Mrs. Guo Qingchun, a CCRTVU academic studying at the regional centre after the field work exchanging our views on teaching and learner support in the OU and our home universities. 2. Attended course meetings • Attended the course meeting of the German Group in the Department of languages which was a feedback meeting on the reflections of the previews one. Because it was the first meeting of the kind I’ve ever attended, I was very curious about the ‘how’ and ‘what’ of the meeting. From the meeting I got some idea about how courses are produced in the Open University. • U210 course meeting was the first English course I’ve ever attended since I arrived at the OU. Since it was a course in English and it is a course exploring the English language which of interest to me, so joined the group as an external member and expressed my opinions about the courses materials drafted. • U212-Teaching about English. I joined both a planning meeting and a regular course meeting.
3. Individual interviews • Interview of Joan Swann, Director of the Centre for Language and Communication. • Interview of Alan Tait, Director of the Faculty of Education and Language Studies. • Interview of Cristina Lloyd, Director of Teaching and Learner Support, Student Service. • Interview of Dr. Karolyn Mary from the German Group of the Department of Languages. She first introduced me how language courses are delivered, how students are learning and how they are assessed in the Open University. Finally she showed me how online classes are organized and how tutors and students are interacting by using Lyceum, an OU-Developed Online Language Learning Programme. • Informal interview of Will Swann, Director of Student Service. • Interview of Roger Mills, Director of the Open University in the East of England.
• Interview of Ormond Simpson, deputy Director of the Open University in the East of England and Director of the OU Centre for Student Support and Retention. • Interview of Dr. Janet Macdonald, E-learning Co-ordinator of the Open University in Scotland. • Interview of Helen Boyce, Course Manager of the Centre for Language and Communication. • Interview of Ian Spratley, Project manager of the Centre for Language and Communication. 4. Attended academic activities • Seminar on technology-enhance learning of language and culture. • Seminar on online literacies • Seminar on the dimensions of online communities.
• Seminar on professional development • Seminar on academic literacy • Seminar on students’ performance in IELTS. 5. Attended the graduation ceremony in the OU in the East of England • Corresponded with Roger Mills first about the possibility to attend the ceremony. • Corresponded with the secretary of the organizing committee of the ceremony about my itinerary. • Helped robe the graduated. • Attended the evening ceremony session. • Attended a feast sponsored by the regional centre addressed by the regional director in praise of the work done. • Made a tour of the city of Cambridge and visited some colleges and museums there. 6. Studied the OU website and visited the library • Collected materials from the web and the OU library for later research back home • Studied the structure and content of the OU web for the use of a better web of my own university 7.
External social-cultural activities • Visited to the church and observed church services both by Chinese Christians and foreign Christians. • Helped Helen Boyce work with the charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals by collecting donations in front of Tesco, a super market. • Visited the Sunday market in Cambridge and in Central Milton Keynes. • Visited a fete in front of the local church of Simpson.
• Attended church singings. • Visited the local pubs and watched morris dances which are quite traditional English and impressive. • Visited local country households and farmers. • Invited to Sunday meals in three households. Outcomes • Done a systematic study of the OU teaching and learner support system • Broadened my horizon both professionally and academically. • Improved my English language skills. • Deepened my understanding of English society and its culture. • Gained more confidence as a learner and teacher of English. • Learned a lot about research methods in education and the social sciences. • Finished an article entitled ‘better student support to improve student retention in open and distance education’. • Initiated an article entitled ‘teaching and learner support in open and distance education and the constitution of the system’. Summary The four and a half month study is short but fruitful. I might start a new life when I’m back home with the new knowledge, experience and inspirations gained here in Britain. Because of the short stay many of my views and values have changed, which might enable me to be a better academic, employee, father, husband, citizen, and so on. I would really welcome the opportunity to come back to the UK again. 
