It has proved to provide an excellent framework for the induction of new staff, as long as they are prepared to change their conception of lecturing from the mere presentation of facts by an expert to fostering good learning among their students. The RBL approach is valued by the students, as is shown by the decisions they make when choosing pathways and options. But some of the students who enter without A-levels need to be carefully inducted, though they soon learn to appreciate the different learning methods required. Students find that they do more work in history than in other courses as the approach is thorough and there is peer-pressure to participate and contribute. Most courses provide a student handbook, a lecture book, a seminar book and a bibliography.
Some courses have a course book and a documents book with a bibliography.
The framework is flexible enough to accommodate lots of Open University materials and videos. The development of the workbooks has left the library better able to invest in a wider range of advanced texts. The lecture book typically includes a synopsis of each lecture, with copies of the documents, texts and data used to support its presentation. The seminar book typically contains reviews, a reading guide and alternative sources, together with preparatory self-assessment questions and exercises. The lectures take a variety of forms - straight speech, film or video, a debate, a framework for future study, demonstrations, etc.