Are we ready for OER?
Peter Hartley
National Teaching Fellow
Professor of Education Development
University of Bradford
Visiting Professor, Edge Hill University
p.hartley@bradford.ac.uk
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A few words of introduction.
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Myself – see this weblink
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Career as teaching academic, then moved
into educational development.
National Teaching Fellowship and
development projects.
Involvement with OER as ‘user’,
‘developer’, and through projects at
Bradford.
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Reflecting on change in UK HE
It was 40 years ago today …
Then
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Students were ‘top 3%’
Binary divide
CNAA validated Polytechnics
Professional teaching support ?
Research/scholarship in LT?
Teaching roles in Faculties?
No ‘e’
National student voice?
Degree structures course-based
Degree classification system
Now
Then and Now compared …
Then
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Now (and potential)
 40%/50% targets; WP
Students were ‘top 3%’
Binary divide
 League tables for all Univs
CNAA validation for Polys only  QAA: Audit, NQF, Prog Specs
Professional teaching support?  HEA and UKPSF
Research/scholarship in LT?  Growing evidence/outlets
Teaching roles in Faculties?  NTFS, Univ Fellowships
 Email, MS Office, VLE, Web 2
No ‘e’
National student voice?
 NSS-National Student Survey
Degree structures course-based
 Modules, CATS, Semesters
Degree classification system  PDP, Burgess report & HEAR
Enormous change across HE
BUT …
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Have the ‘standard’ course design,
teaching, and assessment processes
changed in any significant way?
Can I (or should I be able to) survive as
lecturer/tutor with the same skills from
40 years ago?
Are we taking sufficient advantage of
new flexibilities and new technology?
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And a question
to reflect upon …
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Are you ‘worried’ about
where we are going
with new technologies?
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The worry … A famous
philosopher (X) once said …
“Y would lead the culture
down a treacherous path of
intellectual and moral decay.”
(from Joshua Foer, Moonwalking with Einstein, 2011
See the review at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/08/books/08book.html
)
Who said this?
Which social/educational practice is Y?
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This session
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Please use this presentation as a
resource. All links checked 17/7/12.
(I will not talk through all the slides)
Please contact me as we go along:
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Text on 07777 697111
profpeterbrad on Twitter
Please email any subsequent
comments.
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My brief today …
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… “address Staff Development and its
relationship to Open Educational
Resources within institutions, touching
upon what you see as the challenges
and opportunities for the future.”
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5 propositions re OER
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
OER is a continuum and we should
take advantage of the full spectrum.
OER provides new opportunities for
curriculum design.
OER threatens the self-concept of
many academic teaching staff
OER can offer new teaching roles.
SED must fully embrace OER or it will
not happen.
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1. OER AS A CONTINUUM
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Searching for a definition
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“materials used to support education
that may be freely accessed, reused,
modified and shared by anyone.”
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Stephen Downes at
http://halfanhour.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/open
-educational-resources-definition.html
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Searching for a definition
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“materials used to support education
that may be freely accessed, reused,
modified and shared by anyone.”
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Stephen Downes at
http://halfanhour.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/open
-educational-resources-definition.html
Do you agree?
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The human clicker –
left eye is ‘yes’ and right eye is ‘no’.
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Example 1
“informing clinical understanding of chronic conditions affecting the
skeleton using archaeological and historical exemplars”
JISC funded project (PI: Dr. Andy Wilson) commencing
Nov 1 2011 for the use of 3D laser scanning to digitise
important pathological type specimens in Bradford and
London
3D textured model of an individual with
leprosy
Digitised diseases:
implications for OER
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Quality of images which
can be manipulated
onscreen.
Can be made available
anywhere on different
devices.
Opportunities for use in
teaching and assessment,
e.g. identification and
problem-solving/diagnosis.
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Example 2
Making Groupwork Work:
Supporting student groupwork
through multimedia and web …
Freely available at this website
University of Bradford
University of Leeds
Key features of the resource
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Flexible for both staff and students
Encourage students to inquire into group
process
Must not offer ‘one best way’
Must have potential for further expansion
and development
Key design points
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Web delivery
structured around ‘episodes’
‘believable’ video clips
different perspectives for
analysis/discussion
flexibility for staff and students
ability to add further links/resources
Group work Timeline:
Example Episodes
The first meeting
Do we need a
leader?
How do we
get started?
Rob isn’t committed
How do we behave on
presentation day?
Structure of the final product
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Overview
The ‘descriptive’ screen
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Video of the group in action
Background info and discussion points
The ‘analysis’ screen
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Alternative or additional video
Analysis of interaction
Hints and tips
Links to further resources
Recent activity
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Success at ALT-C09: 2 awards
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JORUM Learning and Teaching Competition
ALT/Epigeum Use of Video
Continuing development:
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Peter Hartley & Mark Dawson,
University of Bradford
Carol Elston & Julia Braham,
University of Leeds
Looking at mobile devices
Example 3: Inclusive teaching
http://labspace.open.ac.uk/c
ourse/view.php?id=6224
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Example 4: C-Link
What we all have in common?
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We all ask students to ‘present and
represent’ their understanding of
particular topics and/or issues
This means they have to manipulate
and relate concepts
We should be showing them different
ways of doing this
And we all do it ourselves
And so?
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Mind maps and concept maps are two
interesting and useful ways of
representing ideas and concepts
(especially concept maps – Novak, 2009)
We now have the software to do it (and
to share them) more easily
Can now link information searches into
concept mapping (C-Link into Cmap)
Info Search into Cmap: C-Link
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A new search approach to identify links
and paths between concepts
Currently set up for Wikipedia but can be
(and will be) set up for other uses
To explore and use C-Link:
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Go to www.conceptlinkage.org/
To go straight into the tool:
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www.conceptlinkage.org/clink/
Example map
generated by C-Link
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Example 5:
will we all go to MIT?
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Courseware
available for
some time.
Now offering
course plus
assessment.
Plans for further
development?
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MITx aims:
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… it will offer the online teaching of MIT
courses to people around the world and
the opportunity for able learners to gain
certification of mastery of MIT material.
Second, it will make freely available to
educational institutions everywhere the
open-source software infrastructure on
which MITx is based.
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Quoted from http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2011/mitx-faq1219.html
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Example 6:
Dynamic Learning Maps
See the: Website, blog and demo.
Dynamic Learning Maps
http://learning-maps.ncl.ac.uk
Curriculum maps
for the Web generation
Project funded by
Simon Cotterill
About: Dynamic Learning maps
Personal Learning
Curriculum Maps
Personalised, sharing ,
reflective notes and evidencing
outcomes
Overview , Prior
learning, Current
& Future learning
Interactive ‘Web 2.0
Linking
Learning
Resources
Curriculum &
External Resources
Sharing , rating and reviews
Harvesting multiple sources
(‘Mashups’ )
Facilitating communities of interest
Achieved: Navigable Curriculum Maps
Integrates
with
Portfolio
(Leap2A)
Extend maps & connect topics
Share, rate, discuss
Maps as a Metaphor
For other stakeholders
• Teachers (incl.
occasional teachers)
• Curriculum Managers
• Administrators
• External regulators
For the student:
Where have I been?
Reflection
Where am I now?
Contextualisation
Synthesis / Metacognition
Where am I going?
Preparation
Curriculum choices
uk
Planning
Career choices
What should the students already
know?
Where is topic X taught in the
curriculum ?
Where is my specialty covered in t
curriculum ?
Example 7:
G4 PBL you can try yourself:
Website
Example 8:
The PASS project workshop
Website
Back to definition
Low
High
Access
Reuse
Modify
Share
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2. OER AND
CURRICULUM DELIVERY
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Much traditional or conventional
University teaching is based on:
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Limited access to ‘stuff’
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Resources limited by library budget
Limited range of resources available
Focus on print/text materials
And so …
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Lecture is seen as the main vehicle for
introducing and ‘overviewing’ each topic
or section of the module.
Workshops and seminars follow lecture.
Students depend on ‘good notes’.
Alternative models
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‘Flip’ the classroom
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Making Groupwork Work:
Examples of use from Bradford
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Effective Groupwork Workshops – LDU.
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Communication in an Information Age.
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sessions open to all students (using clips).
Using Screen 1 first week, then Screen 2
the following week, then reflection.
Psychology at Level 1.
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Introduced problems of group work leading
to group project supported by reflection.
3. OER AS THREAT
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Much traditional or conventional
University teaching is based on:
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Limited access to ‘stuff’
Focus on print/text materials
Lecturer seen as ‘guru’/expert
Lecturers see themselves as
‘responsible for my module’
(consider the psychological and
emotional implications of ‘ownership’)
Lecturer is ‘author’
And so …
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Lecture is seen as the main vehicle for
introducing and ‘overviewing’ each topic
or section of the module.
Workshops and seminars follow lecture.
Lectures are ‘personally crafted’ and
owned (and may take up significant
amounts of time).
Unlimited resources?
Old teaching
And now?
Library texts
Library texts
Film and
video/off-air
YouTube and BOB (in the UK)
Web searches (note C-Link later)
Wikipedia
iTunesU
Collections, e.g. TED
Specific University websites
Resource banks: JORUM, Merlot etc.
A personal example:
Zimbardo’s prison expt
Old
teaching
And with OER?
Few Library texts
Library texts: books and journal articles – still limited
Film too costly;
limited off-air
YouTube: original experiment with footage of participants, both now and then;
commentaries; replications and simulations
Google videos: clips and documentaries; SlideShare: Yr 12 Psych example.
BOB – allows download and edits
Web searches (note C-Link later today): 75,000 results; you can quickly find both
the Prison website and Zimbardo’s website, and the challenging BBC Prison Study
Wikipedia: dedicated page (where first year students will go first!)
iTunesU: e.g. OU Critical Social Psychology course – inc transcripts
Web Collections, e.g. TED has Zimbardo profile with links plus 2008 talk inc photos
from Abu Ghraib (how people become monsters) plus links plus blog;
Specific University websites: MIT OpenCourseWare; OU OpenLearn;
How to teach Zimbardo?
An old way
Issues
Lecture
Any preparation?
leads to
reading
Can everyone get hold of it?
which takes you
into
seminar
discussion
Does everyone participate?
New flexibilities …
one possibility
An old way
A new possibility
Lecture
Everyone watches TED and chooses one key question
leads to
points at
reading
resources
which takes you
into
which (individually or collectively) take you into
seminar discussion online posting or discussion,
which then leads into
class session (may be mix of lecture and seminar activity)
which generates
the next questions …
Technology to match course
needs
Contrasting technologies on 2 postgraduate certificates:
Technologies
used …
Higher Education Circular
Practice
Economy
Environment
Delivery
Tutorial
Bookmarking
Key texts
Updating
Document share
Moodle
Elluminate
Skype
Diigo
LibraryThing
Contact Will Stewart, CED, Bradford
Ning
Elluminate
Skype
Diigo
LibraryThing
Twitter
Google Docs
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4. NEW ROLES FOR
TEACHING STAFF
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New roles?
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Lecturer as ‘Disc Jockey’
Lecturer as ‘investigator of the most
helpful OER’ (so students don’t keep
them to themselves)
e.g. the resources facilities in Dynamic
Learning Maps.
Lecturer as ‘curriculum designer’
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5. ROLE FOR SED
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Opportunities for SED
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OER into the PGCert.
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Develop a licence policy
Use OER in all
‘nudge’ the institution
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e.g. the Bradford projects
If OER is so ‘dangerous’ why are MIT and
Harvard doing it?
‘hassle’ the professional organisations.
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What could/should we have
done in this session?
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Could have:
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Survey Monkey in
advance
Collaborate the
whole session
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Did:
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Google Doc
‘Back-channel’
Examples
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Bradford projects
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Important trends re OER
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Taking advantage of improved graphics
and visual quality (e.g. new iPad)
Expansion of materials available.
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NB Note developments in JORUM
Repurposing materials to add
educational value.
Focus on involving staff and increasing
usage.
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Thank you for your
interest and participation
Peter Hartley
Professor of Education Development
University of Bradford
p.hartley@bradford.ac.uk
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A famous philosopher (X)
once said …
“X feared that Y would lead the culture
down a treacherous path of intellectual
and moral decay.” (Foer, 2011)
X was Socrates
Y was ‘writing’, the fear being that:
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‘people will become empty vessels’
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