iKnow: information skills in the 21st Century workplace

The iKnow (Information and Knowledge at Work) project at The Open University (OU) set out to explore and articulate the information skills requirements of the 21st century workplace. Although some existing research had highlighted the costs of ineffective information searching in the workplace, there appeared to be little online material to remedy this. The project was run in three phases, which involved identifying the key competencies, developing some prototype ‘bite-size’ materials and piloting them for their effectiveness in a variety of workplaces. The results of the study show that participants not only perceived the skills as relevant and useful, but also found that the bite-size model made training easier to schedule into a working day. The project team found that these materials could potentially be an important link between informal and formal learning, of particular relevance in the current economic climate

A review of ten years of implementation and research in aligning learning design with learning analytics at the Open University UK

There is an increased recognition that learning design drives both student learning experience and quality enhancements of teaching and learning. The Open University UK (OU) has been one of few institutions that have explicitly and systematically captured the designs for learning at a large scale. By applying advanced analytical techniques on large and fine-grained datasets, the OU has been unpacking the complexity of instructional practices, as well as providing conceptual and empirical evidence of how learning design influences student behaviour, satisfaction, and performance. This study discusses the implementation of learning design at the OU in the last ten years, and critically reviews empirical evidence from eight recent large-scale studies that have linked learning design with learning analytics. Four future research themes are identified to support future adoptions of learning design approaches

‘You’ve been frameworked’: evaluating an approach to digital and information literacy at the Open University

This article explores the effectiveness of the Open University’s (OU’s) Digital and information literacy (DIL) framework (Reedy and Goodfellow, 2012) in promoting the integration of digital skills into modules and qualifications - a key strategic priority for the university - and in contributing to cultural change in the digital practices of teachers and learners - a key aim for the UK HE sector as a whole. We trace the history of digital and information literacy in the OU curriculum and elsewhere, leading up to the development of the framework. Four sets of interviews tell the story of academic and library staff engagement with it. These case studies are supplemented by two further interviews giving the perspective of OU middle managers responsible respectively for learning design and digital and information literacy development. We evaluate the success of the framework, and suggest how it might be further developed in future. Conclusions point strongly towards the need to involve students in shaping their own skills development, as found in other recent research (for example, Jisc, 2011a; 2011b)

Learning design in diverse institutional and cultural contexts: suggestions from a participatory workshop with higher education professionals in Africa

Learning design approaches, such as those adopted by the Open University, provide a set of tools and resources for purposefully-designing modules with a focus on student experiences. However, many of the current learning design strategies have been situated within specific institutions in Europe and North America. This means that there are several issues worth considering around if and how established learning design approaches make sense in diverse institutional and cultural contexts. To critically assess the relevance and appropriateness of learning design strategies in new contexts, this article describes an in-depth participatory workshop with 34 education professionals from five African countries. Altogether, 10 suggestions for learning design practices were derived from the consensus of workshop participants, which provide a foundation for the development of learning design practices moving forward

Digital literacy and open educational practice: DigiLit Leicester

DigiLit Leicester was an award-winning project that ran as collaboration between Leicester City Council’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Programme, De Montfort University and 23 of the city’s secondary mainstream and SEN schools from 2012-2016. The project focused on supporting secondary school teaching and teaching support staff in developing their digital literacy knowledge, skills and practice, and their effective use of digital tools, environments and approaches in their work with learners. This chapter introduces the project, highlighting the new and innovative approach taken, and discussing lessons learned. Additionally, the project commitment to open educational practice is discussed with regard to design, delivery and evaluation. This commitment was explicitly taken to enhance accessibility and sustainability in terms of the project community, and to support broader public value

Transforming the workplace through digital literacy

In this chapter we explore the role of digital literacy in the workplace to enable employees to work productively and effectively together, and ultimately to shape and deliver company strategy. The rapid advancement of technology offers new opportunities and challenges for many organisations. Employees from five generations working under one roof have very different (and constantly changing) expectations of the digital services they need to get their work done. By building employees’ digital capabilities at all levels, the full potential of technology to transform ways of working that create value for employees and customers can be unlocked. This chapter draws on an example whereby an enterprise-wide social networking, communication and collaboration platform is introduced as a strategic initiative to become a more agile and responsive organisation, with the need to transform the way employees connect, communicate and collaborate across boundaries. We discuss the opportunities and challenges that companies face when these kind of disruptive technologies are introduced, how digital literacies gaps are exposed, and what it means to be a digitally capable employee in this fast changing world. Drawing on Dervin’s Sense-Making Methodology, we also explore digital leadership – digital literacies at the highest level. This is where leaders not only set a new direction to use digital technologies to create a new business model and operating model, they also need to embrace a leadership style that is human - “communicative” - in order to draw on the ideas from the whole network to experiment, co-create and learn/unlearn ways of working and solutions made possible by new technologies

Improving distance learning mathematics modules in South Africa: a learning design perspective

In order to deliver high-quality learning and teaching, the Open University (OU) has adopted an approach to developing its curriculum called OU Learning Design, which supports a consistent and structured design, specification and review process. It provides a simple set of tools and resources to assist teams in choosing and integrating an effective range of media and technologies, defining their pedagogic approach, and sharing good practice across the institution (Subotzky and Prinsloo 2011). The objective of this study was to apply OU Learning Design tools in the context of the largest distance education university in Africa (Unisa) to identify areas that could be changed in order to improve student outcomes and retention. Two Unisa first-level mathematics modules were evaluated and mapped using OU Learning Design approaches and tools to identify areas for improvement. Qualitative and quantitative data on students’ educational experience in these modules and longitudinal academic progress data were used to better understand the challenges students are facing on those courses. The process uncovered areas where improvements need to be made and among the core recommendations were improvement of workload distribution across both modules, the timing of the examination period, and a greater variety of learning activities. These reflections will be used to inform the next “Plan” stage of the Action Research spiral

CoDesignS Education for Sustainable Development: A Framework for Embedding Education for Sustainable Development in Curriculum Design

In the context of the global climate change debate, the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education institutions (HEIs) has been identified as one of the top priorities. This paper presents the CoDesignS ESD Framework (hereafter “Framework”) focused on HEIs, though the Framework is applicable to other types of educational institutions. The Framework introduces transformative pedagogies and teaching methods that extend beyond typical ESD competencies, encompassing cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral domains for a holistic design and delivery. It was evaluated using a focus group and interviews among sustainability practitioners and academics, learning and curriculum designers, students, and government officials involved in ESD. The evaluation demonstrates key stakeholders’ engagement with the Framework and appreciation of its potential to integrate sustainability into university curricula across different disciplines. The findings suggest that the Framework is easy to use, making sustainability explicit in the curriculum and actively developing the competencies students require to bring about change beyond the classroom. The feedback received has helped the further development of the Framework, including the CoDesignS ESD Toolkit Planner and Dashboard, which provide a more effective way of integrating the learning design and ESD components embedded as part of the CoDesignS ESD pillars

Learning Design in Higher Education

This chapter presents the findings from four case studies by higher education curriculum teams who used the CoDesignS Learning Design Framework for designing online or blended learning modules as part of the Learning Design Bootcamp and/or an institutional community of practice (CoP). The aim of the bootcamp was to inspire and empower learning technologists, learning designers, and academics from different disciplines to acquire a learning design mindset. The learning design journeys of each team are explored and analysed. The CoDesignS Framework enabled the teams to develop their designs and to systematically scale up learning design practices within their organisations. The sharing of good practice through the Learning Design Bootcamp and institutional CoPs was a key factor in the development of educator identity and confidence. Together, the framework and CoPs positively impacted culture and mindset, resulting in improved quality of learning and teaching and enhanced student experience and outcomes