Facilitating new forms of discourse for learning and teaching: harnessing the power of Web 2.0 practices

When asked what they would find most helpful to enable them to use technologies more in their teaching, most teachers say "give me examples, in my subject area" and "point me to relevant people I can discuss these issues with". Web 2.0 technologies - with their emphasis on sharing, networking and user production - seem to offer a potential solution. However uptake and use of web 2.0 sites such as blogs, social networking and wikis by teachers for sharing and discussing practice has being marginal so far. This paper focuses on work we are undertaking as part of the OU Learning Design Initiative (http://ouldi.open.ac.uk) and the Hewlett-funded Olnet initiative (http://olnet.org). A key focus of our work is the development of tools, methods and approaches to support the design of innovative learning activities and Open Educational Resources (OER). In this paper I want to focus on one strand of our work; namely how to leverage technologies to promote better sharing and discussing of learning and teaching ideas and designs

Post impact evaluation of an E-learning cross-infection control CD-ROM provided to all general dental practitioners in England

Aim To carry out a post-impact evaluation of a cross-infection control CD-ROM, developed for NHS dental teams as a continuing professional development e-learning tool. The program was commissioned by the Department of Health and developed by a project team through the UK Committee of Postgraduate Dental Deans. The Dental Practice Boardhad originally sent one copy of the CD-ROM to each dental practice in England in 2004. Method A quantitative statistical analysis of the results of 326 online respondents to the learning package and a survey of 118 dental practitioners drawn from the Dental Practice Board database. Results Practitioners felt the CD-ROM in this instance was well designed and appropriate for their needs. It is inclusive and accessible to a wide range of dental professionals including nurses and hygienists. Conclusions This form of continuing professional development is popular with dental practitioners, although it should not be the only form of continuing professional development available. However, whilst the project was generally regarded as successful, there were problems with the distribution of the CD-ROM. This suggests that anonline resource should be made available in the future

The Quality Reference Framework for MOOC Design

This paper introduces "The Quality Reference Framework (QRF) for the Quality of MOOCs". It was developed by the European Alliance for the Quality of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), called MOOQ that could involve in the QRF finalization more than 10,000 MOOC learners, designers, facilitators and providers. The QRF consists of three dimensions: Phases, Perspectives and Roles. It includes two quality instruments: the QRF Key Quality Criteria for MOOC experts and QRF Quality Checklist for MOOC beginners

Challenges while MOOCifying a HE eLearning course on Universal Accessibility

There are some similarities in developing a traditional Higher Education (HE) eLearning course and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses), due to the use of the basis of eLearning instructional design. But in MOOCs, students should be continually influenced by information, social interactions and experiences forcing the faculty to come up with new approaches and ideas to develop a really engaging course. In this paper, the process of MOOCifying an online course on Universal Accessibility is detailed. The needed quality model is based upon the one used for all online degree programs at our university and on a variable metric specially designed for UNED MOOC courses making possible to control how each course was structured, what kind of resources were used and how activities, interaction and assessment were included. The learning activities were completely adapted, along with the content itself and the on-line assessment. For this purpose, the Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Product Grid has been selected

Using learning environments as a metaphor for educational change

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that the online learning environment can be seen as the means by which higher education can explore the challenges and opportunities raised by online and digital society. Design/methodology/approach – The paper argues that the online learning environment can be seen as a metaphor for how universities respond to the requirements and challenges of the digital age. Current learning management systems (LMSs) are examined, and compared with the values found in web 2.0 and social media. Current thinking on pedagogy for online learning is then examined. The SocialLearn project at the Open University in the UK is then explained, which seeks to create a disaggregated, decentralised, social system for learners. Findings – The conclusion from the analysis is that there is a conflict between the centralised learning management system (LMS) and the requirements of online pedagogy. The traditional LMS can be seen as embodying the wrong metaphor, that of the traditional classroom. The paper concludes by arguing that such learning environments will be more useful to higher education in coming to understand its response to many of the changes being seen in society, which are facilitated by the new technologies. Originality/value – The paper provides a framework for considering LMSs and their relation to universities and pedagogy, and an argument for the promotion of more decentralised systems

Retrieving and retaining older and advancing novel rodenticides-as alternatives to anticoagulants

Eason, C.T., Henderson, R., Murphy, E., Shapiro, L., MacMorran, D., Blackie, H., Brimble, M., Conole, D., Rennison, D., Gibson, T.J., Gregory N.G

Impact of COVID-19 on Formal Education: An International Review of Practices and Potentials of Open Education at a Distance.

In terms of scale, shock, and disenfranchisement, the disruption to formal education arising from COVID-19 has been unprecedented. Anecdotally, responses from teachers and educators around the world range from heightened caution to being inspired by distance education as the 'new normal.' Of all the challenges, face-to-face and formal teaching have been most heavily affected. Despite some education systems demonstrating resilience, a major challenge is sustaining quality and inclusiveness in formal education suddenly delivered at a distance. In probing these issues, this article profiles international perspectives on the role of open education in responding to the impact on formal school and higher education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We proceed by highlighting and analysing practices and case studies from 13 countries representing all global regions, identifying and discussing the challenges and opportunities that have presented themselves. Reports cover the period from the beginning of 2020 until 11 March 2021, the first anniversary of the COVID-19 outbreak as declared by the World Health Organization. In our comparative study, we identify seven key aspects of which three (missing infrastructure and sharing OER, open education and access to OER, and urgent need for professional development and training for teachers) are directly related to open education at a distance. After comparing examples of existing practice, we make recommendations and offer insights into how open education strategies can lead to interventions that are effective and innovative¿to improve formal education at a distance in schools and universities in the future

Digital identity of researchers and their personal learning network

Paper produzido no âmbito da Tese de Doutoramento em Educação, especialidade de Educação a Distância e eLearning (EDeL), Universidade Aberta.In a networked society, everyday experience is shared in networks at a personal, professional and academic level. Thus, there is a need to have digital literacy skills to obtain and produce contents in a collaborative way, sharing the knowledge acquired in the personal learning network. This paper is a reflection of literature revision in the PhD project of Online Distance Education and e-learning, concerning themes such as digital identity and personal learning networks. In this way we aim to make a literature analysis about the necessity of digital literacy so that we may obtain competencies for a personal learning network.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Community indicators: a framework for observing and supporting community activity on Cloudworks

Cloudworks (Cloudworks.ac.uk) is a social networking site designed for sharing, finding and discussing learning and teaching ideas and experiences. Design and development of the site has been based on an iterative analysis, development and implementation approach, underpinned by ongoing research and evaluation. To this end, we have been seeking to establish strategies to enable us to systematically position transactions and emerging patterns of activity on the site so that we can more reliably use the empirical evidence we have gathered (Galley, 2009a, Galley 2009b, Alevizou et al., 2010a, Conole et al, 2010). In this paper we will introduce a framework we have developed for observing and supporting community development on the site. In building our framework we have used empirical evidence gathered from the site, then related it to the literature from a range of disciplines concerned with professional and learning communities. We link research relating to distance learning communities with studies into Computer Mediated Communication (CMC), self-organising communities on the web, and wider research about the nature of learning organisations and continuous professional development. We argue that this framework can be used to capture the development of productive communities in the space (i.e. how far cohesive, productive groups can be said to be emerging or not) and also help focus futur