Open Engagement Through Open Media

This case study outlines and characterises the broad range of public engagement activities using media technologies undertaken by The Open University and in particular draws out how both open access and open licensing of content is influencing the ways in which a university can engage with various publics from around the world. It also discusses how different channels and social media technologies are shaping the way that such engagement happens and how it is necessary to think about ‘learner journeys’ through different media and different types of educational content. This is all placed in the strategic view of how open media is supporting the enduring social justice mission of The Open University

The Disruptive Office: Mechanised Furniture to Promote Useful Conflicts

This exploratory project investigated the counter-utopian view that conflict can be used as a tool for innovation within collaborative groups. A series of proposals for disruptive office furniture embodied emerging ideas about innovation through conflict. The proposals for Disruptive Office Furniture offer an exaggerated viewpoint on solutions that actively promote innovation and collaboration. They are devised to be brash, outspoken, and confrontational whilst initiating discussion on what tools for innovative work environments may be

Collaborating over rich media: The Open University and BBC partnership

Open Educational Resources comprise many types of assets including rich media. However dynamic rich media offer different opportunities and challenges for learners, teachers and higher education institutions alike than do more static items such as text. The Open University in the UK (OUUK) has been extensively developing and using rich media in collaboration with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) for its distance teaching and outreach programmes since it was established in 1969. As new media technologies have arrived so have the capabilities of the OUUK and the BBC to create rich media in partnership and make them openly accessible. This paper describes these developments and then discusses the approaches and evidence required to guide them in a way that both serves the BBC, the OUUK, the higher education sector and the wider community. It concludes that rich media are an essential part of the developing OER landscape and that openly sharing them brings defined benefits to an HEI beyond their traditional student body

Form and Movement in Domestic Networked Systems

It is increasingly desirable for electronic artefacts in the home to be grouped as sets, sharing data and properties across a network. A range of strategies can be used by a designer to explore the value and use of the systems for users, in particular through the properties of form and dynamic behaviours, including visual output and movement. This paper focuses on a range recent work which exploits rich behaviour and novel forms to highlight opportunities for user engagement in the home

The effect of information channel on information source selection: students' information search

A plethora of research studies has examined the effect of information channel and information source on information search behavior respectively but scant research that examined them together is located. This study conducted a factorial repeated-measures ANOVA to examine the interaction effect between information channel and information source on students' internship information search behavior. Empirical findings indicated a significant interaction effect in students' information use. That is, how information is transmitted (information channel) is more influential than where information is from (information source) is in information use. Also, it was found that the selection of information channel and source is dependent on the type of internship in query. Internal working environment was found most important and external working environment was least important information in internship selection

The Video Window (Overview)

The Video Window is an interactive device developed by the Interaction Research Studio as part of the Equator project, a six-year Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). During the project, the piece was loaned to various households for field study

Chapter 14- The Mentoring Program as a Research Project

Chapter 14, “The Mentoring Program as a Research Project,” helps stakeholders, program coordinators, and researchers distinguish the differences and similarities between program evaluation and program research. If stakeholders choose to include program research, they will need approval from their university’s institutional review board (IRB). Therefore, the second section of this chapter helps stakeholders navigate the IRB. The third section of this chapter describes how theoretical frameworks, operational definitions of mentoring, and methodological designs factor into mentoring programs that contain research. While all formal mentoring programs in academia should include theoretical frameworks, operational definitions, and sound methodology, many do not. The third section of this chapter highlights the interconnectedness between theory, definitions, methods, and measurements. The fourth and final section provides examples of measurements that can be used. Some of these measurements may be used for both evaluative and research purposes

The History Tablecloth: Illuminating Domestic Activity

The History Tablecloth is a flexible substrate screen-printed with electroluminescent material forming a grid of lace-like elements. When objects are left on the table, cells beneath them light to form a halo that grows over a period of hours, highlighting the flow of objects in the home. The Tablecloth explores an approach to design that emphasizes engaging, open-ended situations over defined utilitarian purposes. Long-term deployment of the History Tablecloth in a volunteer household revealed complex ways that people experienced and interacted with the Tablecloth. Beyond evoking reflection on the flow of objects over a particular table, the Tablecloth served as a ground for interpretative reflection about technology, an asset for social interaction, and an aesthetic object. Even behaviours we saw as system errors were interpreted by the users as interactively rich. Their experience highlights the subtlety of domestic ubiquitous computing, illustrating alternatives to traditional views of technology’s domestic role