From the roots up Exploring the use of Open Educational Resources to widen participation in deprived communities
Feb 23, 2016
From the roots upExploring the use of Open Educational
Resources to widen participation in deprived communities
The project • North and Mid Wales Reaching Wider
Partnership project. • Brings OER, OpenLearn, to mid and north
Wales • Building capacity in communities to use the
resource to widen access and participation. • Currently in year 2 of a 3 year project.
Main aims of the project• Develop capacity through recruiting and
training OpenLearn Champions within communities to help people access OpenLearn and further learning.
• Develop virtual ‘communities of practice’ to share learning from the project as it develops.
• Research and evaluate the use of OERs and impact on Widening Participation groups.
What are Open Educational Resources?
(Schaffert and Geser, 2008)
Who are the Champions?
• Community workers • Local adult education tutors • Librarians• Union Learning Reps • Job Centre Plus Advisors • Community and voluntary sector groups
All must complete an application form to demonstrate how they promote learning as part of their paid or voluntary role.
The Role of Champions • Be a friendly face in your community and show
others how to get started on OpenLearn. • Tell colleagues and students/clients about Open
learn.• If you have a teaching role you may find that
Open learn has material you can use• Role should complement your current job or
volunteer role.
Case study – Local rural Library
Resources and support for Champions• Training – A mixture of instruction, hands-on practice of
the OpenLearn content and group discussion around how they will use OpenLearn.
• A resource pack includes promotional materials, certificates, OpenLearn and progression guide.
• On line forum • Daily tweets with OpenLearn recommendations• Mentor support from project team member
Engagement
• 52 people trained as Champions Year 1, we estimate to have 112 Champions by the end of the project 2014
• Difficult to track and monitor the full spread and reach.
• Reaching over 600 learners
Barriers to access and the promise of OER
(Adapted from Lane and van Dorp, 2011)
Some research questionsPerceived value?
Approach of learners?
Bridge to formal learning?
Levels of support?
What is good OER to WP?
Approach
• Range of methodso Observation at training sessionso Semi-structured interviewso Project feedback and evaluation datao Other documentary evidence
• Case studies developed• Themes and lessons• Focus on mediation and
transformation
Aspects of In/Formality
Process• Everyday• Pedagogy• Pedagogic support• Assessment
Location / setting • Physical location• Flexibility
Content • Expected outcomes• Prescription
Purposes • Primacy of learning• Teacher or learner led
(Adapted from Malcolm, Hodkinson and Colley, 2003)
Discussion – Mediating Open Educational Resources
OpenLearn Courses
OpenLearn mediated or embedded in community-based organisation
Process
Transformation Location and settingContentPurposes
Recommendations
Community-based organisations
• IT• Belonging• Social• Signpost• Less formal
OER developers
• Audience• Look to introductory / access curriculum
WP practitioners
• Choose your Champion• Pathways
Where will the project go next?• More guidance on courses and content, the
development of informal pathways using OpenLearn content.
• Links to the new Future Learn, UK MOOCs (massive open online courses) developments.
Contacts/ information
• [email protected] (practice based)
• [email protected] and [email protected]
(research side)
• Twitter: #OLRW• Project Blog : http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/OpenLearn_in_North_and_Mid_Wales
References
Lane, A. and Van Dorp, K. J. (2011). Open educational resources and widening participation in higher education: innovations and lessons from open universities. In: EDULEARN11, the 3rd annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, 04-05 July 2011, Barcelona
Malcolm, J., Hodkinson, P. & Colley, H., 2003. The interrelationships between informal and formal learning. Journal of Workplace Learning, 15(7/8), pp.313-318. at http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13665620310504783
Schaffert, S., & Geser, G. (2008). Open educational resources and practices. eLearning Papers, 7. at http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&doc_id=11198&doclng=6&vol=7
About Openlearn
What is it?
• Open Educational Resources (OER)• Biggest repository of OER in Europe• Over 650 units of free courses and
content• 11 million users worldwide• OER a growing area, eg. Coursera and
other platforms
What can learners do?
• Over 650 courses - History and the Arts, Science, Maths and Technology, Body and Mind, Society, Education and Languages
• Plan and prepare for a course of study by enrolling on one of the free courses
• Browse the subject categories to discover articles, watch videos and interact with features and games
• Explore new topics to build their personal knowledge or look for reference material for a course they are already studying
• Keep track of their learning and print off a record of the courses they have undertaken
Why is this relevant to groups and individuals in the Widening Access
community?
• OpenLearn is free, informal and flexible and can be accessed from any computer which connects to the internet.
• Material from introductory to advanced level is available – something for everyone
• Stepping stone to build confidence, ready for work or further study
OU and the BBC
There are constantly changing topics highlighted on Open learn, many linked to the BBC e.g.
• ‘Stargazing’ with Brian Cox • Wartime Farm
• BBC Story of Wales • Bang Goes theTheory
• Coast All with related materials on OpenLearn and
additional hard copy resources available.