OpenScience A new Perspective on Distance Education and Inquiry Learning

Mike SharplesInstitute of Educational Technology

The Open University

The Open University

• Largest university in the UK• 250,000 students• 1,100 academic staff• 7,000 Associate Lecturers

(tutors)• Modern distance learning

Milton Keynes

Open Education

• “The Open University's mission is to be open to people, places, methods and ideas”

• 44% of undergraduates start without university entrance qualifications

• 12,000 students with disabilities

• 20,000 students outside the UK

Free learning materials

26 million visits

OpenLearn.com

MassiveOpenOnlineCourses

from world-leading universities

FutureLearn.com

How can we open practical science to everyone?

Ten years ago

Home experiment kits

Now

OpenScience Lab

Science experiments and investigations online

Do practical science anywhere

Real equipment:PIRATE remote telescope

Real data: Virtual Microscope

Real science investigations: nQuire

www.nquire.info

Personal investigations: Healthy Eating

Healthy Eating: Daily food diary

Healthy Eating: Compare to recommended daily intake

citizen science + inquiry learning+ creativity= citizen inquiry

Citizen inquiry

Citizen Inquiry: iSpotwww.ispotnature.org

• Open citizen science• Wildlife observation• Finding and naming

birds, trees, flowers, insects

• Sharing knowledge• 40,000 registered users• 250,000 observations

Insect species new to Britain reported to iSpot by a 6-year-old girl

Young people acting like scientists

• Camera• Audio recorder• Light meter• Sound meter• Compass• Location sensor (GPS) • Temperature• Magnetic field• Accelerometer• Barometer• Humidity Sensor• Wind speed• Heart rate

Smartphone as a scientific tool

nQuire datalogging app

Pedometer

Smartphone investigations

• Am I a better driver than my parents, or my partner?– Accelerometer and compass to measure how ‘smooth’ is my

driving (10 samples/second)

• Is noise stressful?– Log ambient noise for a day, and record when I feel

stressed (1 sample/minute)

• Is this room suitable for my baby at night?– Temperature and humidity (12 samples/hour)

And share data with many other people

nQuire authoring tool

www.nquire.info

www.opensciencelab.ac.uk

www.ispotnature.org

Thanks to Eloy Villasclaras-Fernandez

Christothea Herodotou