Creating an environment for free education and technology-enhanced learning

The purpose of this paper is to present a project aimed at making knowledge publically available through opene ducational resources (OER). The focus is on open online courses which will be created by educational institutions and best practice examples offered by leading companies, with the purpose to support life-long education and enhancement of academic education with practical knowledge. The goal is to create diverse high quality educational materials in electronic format, which will be publically available. The educational material will follow basic pedagogical-didactic principles, in order to best meet the needs of the potential learners. In accordance with that a review of didactic principles that can contribute to producing OER content of excellence is given. The choice of a convenient platform, as well as the application of appropriate information technologies enable content representation in a suitable, innovative and meaningful way

TLAD 2011 Proceedings:9th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the ninth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2011), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2011 - the 28th British National Conference on Databases. TLAD 2011 is held on the 11th July at Manchester University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will present eight peer reviewed papers. Of these, six will be presented as full papers and two as short papers. These papers cover a number of themes, including: the teaching of data mining and data warehousing, databases and the cloud, and novel uses of technology in teaching and assessment. It is expected that these papers will stimulate discussion at the workshop itself and beyond. This year, the focus on providing a forum for discussion is enhanced through a panel discussion on assessment in database modules, with David Nelson (of the University of Sunderland), Al Monger (of Southampton Solent University) and Charles Boisvert (of Sheffield Hallam University) as the expert panel

TLAD 2011 Proceedings:9th international workshop on teaching, learning and assesment of databases (TLAD)

This is the ninth in the series of highly successful international workshops on the Teaching, Learning and Assessment of Databases (TLAD 2011), which once again is held as a workshop of BNCOD 2011 - the 28th British National Conference on Databases. TLAD 2011 is held on the 11th July at Manchester University, just before BNCOD, and hopes to be just as successful as its predecessors.The teaching of databases is central to all Computing Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems and Information Technology courses, and this year, the workshop aims to continue the tradition of bringing together both database teachers and researchers, in order to share good learning, teaching and assessment practice and experience, and further the growing community amongst database academics. As well as attracting academics from the UK community, the workshop has also been successful in attracting academics from the wider international community, through serving on the programme committee, and attending and presenting papers.Due to the healthy number of high quality submissions this year, the workshop will present eight peer reviewed papers. Of these, six will be presented as full papers and two as short papers. These papers cover a number of themes, including: the teaching of data mining and data warehousing, databases and the cloud, and novel uses of technology in teaching and assessment. It is expected that these papers will stimulate discussion at the workshop itself and beyond. This year, the focus on providing a forum for discussion is enhanced through a panel discussion on assessment in database modules, with David Nelson (of the University of Sunderland), Al Monger (of Southampton Solent University) and Charles Boisvert (of Sheffield Hallam University) as the expert panel

読んだことを書く：EFL におけるリーディングとライティングを融合する試み

This paper intends to offer rationale for combining the teaching of L2 reading and L2 writing as well as offer suggestions on how to design courses that bridge connections between reading material and writing assignments. The bifurcation of L2 reading and L2 writing courses can lead to incongruent pedagogical approaches and goals. An examination of the inherent relationship between reading and writing provides rationale for a reading-for-writing approach in EFL programs. In addition to the benefits for the second language learner, reading for writing can provide teachers with comprehensive feedback on how well students are able to use the targeted language elements. Since writing is a language skill that has a focus-on-form emphasis, combining reading and writing into one class can help instructors understand to what degree students comprehend grammatical structures and new vocabulary.本稿は、リーディングとライティングを結合させたL２指導法の理論的根拠を提示し、また、リーディングの教材とライティングの課題がうまく結びついた授業を立案する方法について、いくつかの提案をする。L2 のリーディングとライティングを分離させると、指導方法や目的に不調和が生じるかもしれない。「読むこと」と「書くこと」の間に存在する本来的な関係を考えれば、外国語として学ぶ英語のプログラムに「書くことを目的とした読み」の手法を取り入れることは理に適ったものと言える。また、このような授業は学習者にとって有益であるだけでなく、学習者が目標言語を実際に使用できるのかを教師が把握するためのフィードバックの提供にもなる。ライティングは形式に焦点を当てる活動であるから、リーディングとライティングが融合した授業を行う教師は、学習者の文法・語彙の理解度を容易に把握できるであろう

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

9. ročník Konference o šedé literatuře a repozitářích : 9th annual Conference on Grey Literature and Repositories

Program konference spolu s abstrakty jednotlivých příspěvků.Conference programme and abstracts

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