Developing sustainable business models for institutions’ provision of open educational resources: Learning from OpenLearn users’ motivations and experiences

Universities across the globe have, for some time, been exploring the possibilities for achieving public benefit and generating business and visibility through releasing and sharing open educational resources (OER). Many have written about the need to develop sustainable and profitable business models around the production and release of OER. Downes (2006), for example, has questioned the financial sustainability of OER production at scale. Many of the proposed business models focus on OER’s value in generating revenue and detractors of OER have questioned whether they are in competition with formal education. This paper reports on a study intended to broaden the conversation about OER business models to consider the motivations and experiences of OER users as the basis for making a better informed decision about whether OER and formal learning are competitive or complementary with each other. The study focused on OpenLearn - the Open University’s (OU) web-based platform for OER, which hosts hundreds of online courses and videos and is accessed by over 3,000,000 users a year. A large scale survey and follow-up interviews with OpenLearn users worldwide revealed that university provided OER can offer learners a bridge to formal education, allowing them to try out a subject before registering on a formal course and to build confidence in their abilities as learners. In addition, it was found that using OER during formal paid-for study can improve learners’ performance and self-reliance, leading to increased retention and satisfaction with the learning experience

Open educational resources for all? Comparing user motivations and characteristics across The Open University’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform.

With the rise in access to mobile multimedia devices, educational institutions have exploited the iTunes U platform as an additional channel to provide free educational resources with the aim of profile-raising and breaking down barriers to education. For those prepared to invest in content preparation, it is possible to produce interactive, portable material that can be made available globally. Commentators have questioned both the financial implications for platform-specific content production, and the availability of devices for learners to access it (Osborne, 2012). The Open University (OU) makes its free educational resources available on iTunes U and via its web-based open educational resources (OER) platform, OpenLearn. The OU’s OER on iTunes U reached the 60 million download mark in 2013; its OpenLearn platform boasts 27 million unique visitors since 2006. This paper reports the results of a large-scale study of users of the OU’s iTunes U channel and OpenLearn platform. A survey of several thousand users revealed key differences in demographics between those accessing OER via the web and via iTunes U. In addition, the data allowed comparison between three groups: formal learners, informal learners and educators. The study raises questions about whether university-provided OER meet the needs of users and makes recommendations for how content can be modified to suit their needs. As the publishing of OER becomes core to business, we reflect on reasons why understanding users’ motivations and demographics is vital, allowing for needs-led resource provision and content that is adapted to best achieve learner satisfaction, and to deliver institutions’ social mission

The Theory and Practice of Online Learning

Every chapter in the widely distributed first edition has been updated, and four new chapters on current issues such as connectivism and social software innovations have been added. Essays by practitioners and scholars active in the complex, diverse, and rapidly evolving field of distance education blend scholarship and research; practical attention to the details of teaching and learning; and mindful attention to the economics of the business of education

Roundtable Discussion (RTD03) - Is there a downside to using Simulated Patients to teach and assess communication skills?

Background Simulated Patients (SPs) are widely used to facilitate the learning of communication skills enabling students to receive detailed feedback on experiential practice in a safe environment. They are also used in the assessment of students’ communication skills in Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs). We have observed that our most experienced SPs are highly conversant with medical jargon and consultation skills and have almost become ‘medical faculty’. Consultations can therefore lack the true patient perspective, with SPs focussing their feedback on process rather than giving a true patient perspective. Roundtable objectives To consider the challenges in ensuring that highly experienced SPs continue to respond from a true patient perspective To critique whether the use of SPs in OSCE stations is a valid way to assess students’ communication skills with real patients To consider whether using consultations with Simulated Patients is useful for students in the later years of an Undergraduate medical course who are learning to integrate the different components of a consultation and reasoning clinically in a real-life clinical context To share best practice with colleagues Roundtable A brief interactive presentation including the authors’ experiences of working with experienced Simulated Patients which will draw on current literature regarding the evidence for using Simulated Patients in the teaching and assessing of communication skills Delegates will have the opportunity to take part in three roundtable discussions • OSCE Stations using SPs assess how good students are at communicating with SPs but not with real patients • Experienced SPs are in danger of responding with a faculty not a patient perspective • By using SPs in teaching we over focus on process and forget the global picture

WS19. From pedagogy to practice: implementing transformative learning in clinical reasoning

BackgroundHealthcare professionals must provide high quality care that is both efficient and safe. Underpinning this requirement is a presumption that individuals are able to make accurate clinical decisions. Knowledge is not sufficient: judgment and reasoning are required to translate clinical information into accurate decisions to produce effective care. Clinical reasoning skills need to be developed in healthcare professionals in a way that produces change in behaviour. This is aplies to the spectrum of healthcare education: from undergraduate to postgraduate to lifelong practice. Though much is understood about clinical decision-making theory, direction for systematic implementation of teaching in both undergraduate and postgraduate medical education programmes is lacking. In particular, evidence describing transformative teaching methods is limited. This workshop will explore how to design effective spiral curricula in clinical reasoning, compare and contrast experiences from three medical schools in the UK, discuss challenges in implementation, share a variety of teaching methods, provide hands on demonstration of technological resources that have produced changes in learner behaviour and support attendees to adapt methodology to their programmes.Structure of workshopWe will briefly review current knowledge on clinical decision-making learning before sharing experiences from three UK medical schools.Attendees will participate in discussions supported by interactive exercises to explore each subtopic. These exercises will include role play, video and trial of electronic teaching tools used in our current practice. The session will conclude with a reflection on principles and ideas shared during the event

Teacher Candidate Dispositions Identified by NCATE-Accredited Colleges of Education: How Professional Educators are Disposed Toward the Students, Curriculum, and Reasons They Teach

The education profession has a great deal of information on potential teachers\u27 knowledge and technical skills, but the study of affective attributes that are the human interface between teaching and student learning is still evolving. The central phenomenon exmined in this study is the affective and attitudinal attributes, or dispositions of teachers as defined by colleges of education. The researcher analyzed conceptual frameworks and affective attributes in Institutional Reports from colleges reviewed by the National Council on the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), whose standards require reporting on dispositions. The dispositional factors that these colleges surmise predict successful practice were coded and categorized, then compared with the prior literature regarding this phenomenon and student learning factor\u27s. Student learning factors were drawn from existing cognitive science research with potential parallels to the dispositions identified in the qualitative study. Dispositional codes were analyzed and categorized using a developmental model, resulting in four primary categories and nine subcategories: Cognitive Knowledge Thinking Skills Emotional/Values Personal Interpersonal Community Social Character Leadership Contextual Structure for Learning Philosophy Frequencies and rank orders of the specific dispositions identified are provided. Graphs comparing dispositional characteristics in the Institutional Report analysis to the Interstate New Teacher Support and Assessment Consortium (INTASC) Ten Core Principles are included within the discussion of findings. Subcategories of valued teacher dispositions were found to have marked similarity across the diverse colleges and universities. However, little consensus occurred in regard to the research literature-bases used by the colleges and almost no information regarding specific assessments was available at this level of analysis. Recommendations are included that encourage greater collaboration within the profession and across other professional domains to better articulate the research base and determine appropriate hierarchical measurement scales for evaluation. Recommendations for college of teacher education self-examination of dispositional research and assessments within the developmental model, with an emphasis on incorporation of cognitive science research are also provided. The self-examination includes probe questions for mapping where dispositions arc addressed in the program structure, validating the research base, and mapping evaluations across the program

Change management in higher education: an exploration of a cross-organisational change initiative and the development of a framework to support such endeavours

This action research project was based on the leadership of a collaborative change initiative which sought to effect changes across a consortium of higher education institutions in Ireland. The changes sought were defined and agreed with the Higher Education Authority as funding agency for the initiative. The changes sought to ensure that the higher education provision was more relevant and accessible to learners in the work place. Four specific strands of activity formed the basis of the initiative and in all cases the change processes were informed through an exploration and sharing of current practice and a collective agreement on priorities and actions arising from the exploration stages. A variety of research techniques was used in the collection of information on the existing practice and these were distilled into guidelines for the improvement of practice generally. In the case of each of the strands of activity the major outcome, in the form of a report, was widely disseminated throughout the Irish higher education sector and has had a significant impact on practice within the nine higher education institutions which formed the consortium and beyond. The particular leadership challenges associated with leading a collaborative project such as this are addressed. An analysis of the extant literature points to the lack of a suitable framework to support this type of cross-organisational change management initiative. Through an action research approach and the inclusion of a number of different perspectives in building a three dimensional focus of informed enquiry, a revised Framework for Change is developed. The Framework is informed by the analysis of in-depth interviews with participants in the change initiative and it is developed as a re-usable framework which will inform the design and leadership of broad, collaborative, cross-organisational change endeavours generally