Group items tagged

"Student-centred learning approaches like collaborative learning are needed to facilitate meaningful learning among self-motivated lifelong learners within educational institutions through interorganizational Open and Distant Learning (ODL) approaches. The purpose of this study is to develop blended learning platforms to promote sustainable living, building on an e-hub with sub-portals in SEARCH to facilitate activities such as "Education for Sustainable Development" (ESD), webinars, authentic learning, and the role of m-/e-learning. Survey questionnaires and mixed-research approach with mixed-mode of data analysis were used including some survey findings of in-service teachers' understanding and attitudes towards ESD and three essential skills for sustainable living. Case studies were reported in telecollaborative project on "Disaster Risk Reduction Education" (DR RED) in Malaysia, Germany and Philippines. These activities were organized internationally to facilitate communication through e-platforms among participants across national borders using digital tools to build relationships, promote students' Higher Order Thinking (HOT) skills and innate ability to learn independently. "

"The usage metrics for open educational resources (OER) are often either hidden behind an authentication system or shared intermittently in static, aggregated format at the repository level. This paper discusses the first year of University of Michigan's project to share its OER usage data dynamically, publicly, to synthesize it across different levels within the repository hierarchies, and to aggregate in a method inclusive of content hosted on third-party platforms. The authors analyze their user research with a target audience of faculty authors, multimedia specialists, librarians, and communications specialists. Next, they explore a stratified technical design that allows the dynamic sharing of metrics down to the level of individual resources. The authors conclude that this framework enables sustainable feedback to OER creators, helps to build positive relationships with creators of OER, and allows the institution to move toward sharing OER on a larger scale."

"This article provides a critical assessment of the potential of open educational resources (OERs) for open distance learning (ODL). After providing a definition of OERs it discusses the nature of OERs and explores the growth of the OER community. It also examines the different meanings that 'open' has when dealing with OERs and ODL before exploring the opportunities and possibilities that OERs afford. The article examines whether OERs can assist in the higher education (HE) crisis in terms of available places and whether they can also contribute to sustainable global economic growth. It also draws attention to the dark side of OER adoption, such as information imperialism and the danger that developing nations may only be consumers rather than producers of OERs. It concludes by highlighting the potential of OERs in ODL and draws attention to the need for specific educational practices and actions to facilitate the use of OERs in ODL."

"Massive Online Open Courses (MOOCs) have recently become a much discussed development within higher education. Much of this debate focuses on the philosophical and operational similarities and differences between the types of MOOCs that have emerged to date, the learner completion rates and how they can be sustained. In contrast there has been much less discussion about how such courses do, or do not, fit in with existing higher education policy and practice in terms of the social, economic and environmental benefits. This paper begins to address this issue by comparing and contrasting current MOOCs with one large population ICT-enhanced, mostly online Open University UK course presented a decade earlier and how they have both served, or might serve, broader social, economic or environmental objectives. The paper concludes that while MOOCs are forcing a re-conceptualisation of higher education study, much can also be learned from previous and existing large population mainly online courses from open universities."

At the Open University in Scotland "openness" is part of our sense of self; our engagement with Open Educational Resources and Practices (OER/OEP) seems obvious. In this paper we explore some of those obvious aspects and using our partnership with a third sector organisation explore some of the less apparent aspects of openness. In addition to an account of the development and design of a suite of learning resources, the paper also reflects on how those resources have been used in practice, and the ways the design process has informed future developments. In doing so the paper attempts to be open and honest about the practice of openness in partnership. The paper is based on a partnership with a third sector organisation Community Energy Scotland (CES). It is funded by the Scottish Government to support and administer funding to community groups interested in energy and sustainability. Some of these communities take forward large scale commercial renewable energy projects, the majority are interested in improving the energy performance of local community facilities - "facilities projects". This paper concerns the development and piloting of a suite of learning resources to support those facilities projects. In particular it looks at the opportunities that openness in partnership presents for HE providers. As an open and distance learning institution it is "normal practice" for us to think about access in relation to a wide range of factors. Open educational partnerships create new questions and new challenges that disrupt our ideas of open practices and the idea of OEP more generally. Some are around the different needs of partners and learners, in particular how that informs pedagogical design, and some around what 'open' means in partnership. Finally, the paper looks at how the materials have been used, and what the development of them has "taught us" about future partnerships and open practices more generally.