Mrs Nicola McDowell

Professional biography

Nicola McDowell is a Lecturer and Student Experience Manager (SEM) in the Open University Business School, and the Lead SEM for the Masters in Human Resource Management (HRM). In her role as SEM, Nicola has contributed to several pan-university committees and working groups as a representative of the Open University Business School. She is currently the Business School Lead for a Predictive Learning Analytics tool used to support students.

Nicola is fully acccredited as a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (MCIPD) and Certified Management and Business Educator (CMBE), recognised as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA) and holds an MSc in HRM and a BSc(hons) in Management Science with Marketing.

Teaching interests

Nicola originally joined the OU as an Associate Lecturer in 2008 teaching modules on both the Masters in HRM and the MBA and as well as undergraduate modules in leadership and marketing. 

Research interests

Nicola's current research interests are in the use of Predictive Learning Analytics by teachers in distance learning Higher Education to support students at risk of drop out and developing robust support strategies. She has published in Computers and Education and is active in writing a thesis.  Nicola is also involved in scholarship around reducing barriers to, and creating enablers of, greater Regional Academic participation in Scholarship, exploring the learning experiences of PostGraduate Students at OU and the support provided for progression along with research on reimaging the future of online distance learning and what works for online distance learning students. Nicola disseminates her work through reports, blogs and presentations.

Reports

Edwards, C., McDowell, N., and Cross, S. (2022). Explore: Marking and Feedback (Phase 2, Wiseflow Evaluation report; February, 2022). Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University.

Armstrong, C., Bassett, E., Glover, H., Corcoran, S., McDowell, N., Sherriff, C., Sides, T., Tumilty, R. and Van-Eg-Dom-Tuinstra, W. (2024) ‘Project Report - What Regional Academics** need as researchers and leaders of Scholarship’, The Open University Scholarship Exchange [Online]. DOI: 10.21954/ou.se.27241710.v2

Dunn, Bernadett; McDowell, Nicola; Bassett, Emma; Alcock, Sarah (2026). Project Report - Unlocking Success: Exploring Postgraduate Learning Experiences and Support Systems. The Open University Scholarship Exchange. Report. https://hdl.handle.net/10779/ou.se.31314697.v1