Opening Educational Practices in Scotland

Opening Educational Practices in Scotland (OEPS): presentation for Abertay University

06 May 2015

The projectCross-sector project in Scotland tasked to increase the awareness and use of OER. Led by OU in Scotland as part of its outcome agreement with the Scottish Funding Council. Currently working with around 50 organisations …

OER

We are thinking of free educational materials (and mainly courses) that are licensed to allow the 5Rs:

reuse, revise, remix, redistribute and retain

MOOCS?

The Promise and the challenge of OER

THE PROMISE

• Free access to high quality education on a mass scale

• Widening participation

THE CHALLENGE

• In the main open education is at present simply providing more options for those with experience of higher education – the impact on non-traditional learners or learners in non-formal settings is very limited.

Origins

An extensive range of partnerships between the OU in Scotland and other organisations: third sector, unions, employers, colleges and schools. An increase in interest in OER and the development of some partnerships to co-produce new material and practices. Adults, transitions and widening participation.

Meeting the OER challenge

• Redraw the boundaries between informal and formal learning and between community/workplace learning and college/university learning • Combine best practice in adult and community

education pedagogy with the affordances of open education to widen participation

Developing PracticePractice is about design, structure and supportBut also about partnership, networks and social models of learning

Emerging Themes• Partnership• Curating resources• Working with partners who are embedded in their own well

established networks• Working with partners where individuals play intermediary

or facilitating roles with fellow workers, clients …• Embedding practice in learning networks• Extending learning design and practice to include the use

of materials in social settings – importance of peer support• The online hub is being designed to support learning

communities – not another repository

Development of new content and new practices

Examples• Parkinsons UK – enabling Parkinsons education to be delivered at

much greater scale

• Glasgow University Wellcome funded programme on ‘end of life care’ – developing a global community of practice

• Women into Science and Technology – working with EQUATE and the OU Science Faculty

Learning from the practices and approaches associated with already existing OER

Example: ULRs into Open Learning Champions

Example: Rural Entrepreneurship – working with SMEs

Open Badges • Currently 5 open badges created

under the umbrella of OEPS and being used at scale

• More in the pipeline

• New Badged Online Access Courses

Developing a network and sharing practice

• Informal meetings and dialogue

• Open education workshops

• Learning design workshops to support partners to develop new practice

• Advisory forum every 6 months

• Blog/website www.oepscotland.org • Conferences and seminars

Contact Us: Email:OEPScotland@open.ac.uk

Social media:@OEPScotland

www.oepscotland.org