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

• Gayle.Hudson@open.ac.uk (practice based)

• John.rose-adams@open.ac.uk and jonathan.hughes@open.ac.uk

(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.