Dr Simon Penn

Professional biography

Dr Simon Penn is a senior lecturer in Sport, Fitness and Coaching. He joined the Open University in 2013 as a tutor and became a full time academic in 2018. Simon originally developed his exercise and conditioning expertise with the Royal Air Force (Physical Training Instructor) before transitioning to a lecturing role in health and fitness at St. Mary’s University, London.

His expertise has two strands. Firstly, applying exercise prescription and physiology to a wide range of populations and educating others to deliver effective exercise. Secondly, as a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, his pedagogic expertise focuses on investigating the optimal methods of delivering feedback for student written assignments in an online environment (see Research below).

Research interests

In 2017, Simon co-edited the book ‘Advanced Personal Training: Science to practice’.  The book reviews scientific literature to identify optimal training strategies for fitness instruction and programming.  The book enables health and fitness industry specialists to combine professional experience with strategies underpinned by scientific evidence.   

Simon's research has focused on the optimal method of delivering feedback in an online environment. He is researching the innovative use of screencasting for increasing the personal, and supportive nature of feedback and published an article examining the impact of the feedback medium on student learning: ‘Is Screencast Feedback Better Than Text Feedback for Student Learning in Higher Education: A Systematic Review’. In January 2024, Simon successfully defended his Educational Doctorate thesis entitled ‘A comparative analysis of the comprehension of text and screencast feedback by distance learning students’. The examiners recommended a pass without corrections. 

Simon is currently writing up his doctoral research for publication and developing a project for improving student feedback literacy in a distance learning environment.  

Teaching interests

Simon has written extensive teaching materials on diverse topics such as:

• Confidence
• High-intensity interval training
• Perceptions of pain in endurance sport
• The concept of ‘thriving in sport’
• Tips from elite sport you can use in everyday life
• The science behind fitness instruction strategies and programming 
  • Training for endurance in sport and fitness
  • Training for speed and power in sport and fitness

He is currently the Module Team Chair for the Open University module (E119) ‘Working with people in sport and fitness​’ which explores working practices, communication, motivation leadership and coaching.​

To find out more about the Sport and Fitness qualifications available at The Open University please click here