Repurposing resources as open content: studying the experiences of new providers

Much educational content sits within institutional systems protected from global access, this proprietary approach restricts opportunities for informal learning and the exchange of materials between cultures. One response to reducing this particular digital divide is to open up access to existing courses by providing them as free to use Open Educational Resources (OERs). This is being addressed through work on OpenLearn (the open content initiative from The Open University developed with support from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation) and POCKET (The Project on Open Content for Knowledge Exposition and Teaching, supported by JISC under the repositories and preservation programme). The approach is evaluative considering transfer of lessons from work on the reworking of distance learning materials (within the OpenLearn initiative) to the reworking of material from campus-based universities (supported by the POCKET project). Analysis will include the role of supporting artifacts (guidelines, examples, tools) and the process support required (shared aims, workshops, structure). Evaluation tools that are being applied include logging of experience, stake holder interviews, and analytics data. We are building on existing evaluation of the OpenLearn initiative that has revealed models for learner use of open educational resources and studied the reuse of released open resources. Results include the need for a range of reworkable formats, support and time pressures on voluntary use – these results are supported by case study information and overall usage statistics. Further data that will be available from POCKET by September 2008 will include reflections from participants, workshop outcomes and initial stakeholder interviews, full evaluation of POCKET will be complete by April 2009. This paper will have examined our understanding of the process by which content can be transformed from existing learning materials to freely available open educational resources. Conclusions at this stage will focus on the process of adoption and transfer from OpenLearn and the effectiveness of the evaluation and project approach. Comparison will be made with the advantages and disadvantages of the self supported approach adopted initially in OpenLearn and suggestions given for structures that enable collaboration in producing open educational resources

Enhancing Educational Learning with Social Network Platform.

In our world today, education is important to improving and making life more comfortable. The traditional educational system developed in the last century is not fully capable of delivering effective and borderless learning. With the advent of social networks on the internet, interaction has been improved round the world and the reality of connecting everyone in the world is just at hand. As the use of social networks increases, there are no specific platforms that provide a way of structured learning in a social context. This work intends to make the process of learning in the educational system more effective by providing tools and services in the social networking space. The social network was implemented using a variety of programming languages and tools used for web development such as PHP and MYSQL, HTML, Ajax and Jquery with integration of other frameworks and libraries

Exploring the transformative potential of Bluetooth beacons in higher education

The growing ubiquity of smartphones and tablet devices integrated into personal, social and professional life, facilitated by expansive communication networks globally, has the potential to disrupt higher education. Academics and students are considering the future possibilities of exploiting these tools and utilising networks to consolidate and expand knowledge, enhancing learning gain. Bluetooth beacon technology has been developed by both Apple and Google as a way to situate digital information within physical spaces, and this paper reflects on a beacon intervention in a contemporary art school in higher education conducted by the authors intended to develop a situated community of practice in Art & Design. The paper describes the project, including relevant theoretical foundations and background to the beacon technology, with regards to the potential of using these devices to create a connected learning community by enhancing learning and facilitating knowledge creation in a borderless learning space

The potential of mobile phones to transform teacher professional development

Futures thinking is used by governments to consider long-term strategic approaches and develop policies and practices that are potentially resilient to future uncertainty. English in Action (EIA), arguably the world’s largest English language teacher professional development (TPD) project, used futures thinking to author possible, probable and preferable future scenarios to solve the project’s greatest technological challenge: how to deliver audio-visual TPD materials and hundreds of classroom audio resources to 75,000 teachers by 2017. Authoring future scenarios and engaging in possibility thinking (PT) provided us with a taxonomy of question-posing and question-responding that assisted the project team in being creative. This process informed the successful pilot testing of a mobile phone-based technology kit to deliver TPD resources within an open distance learning (ODL) platform. Taking the risk and having the foresight to trial mobile phones in remote rural areas with teachers and students led to unforeseen innovation. As a result EIA is currently using a mobile phone-based technology kit with 12,500 teachers to improve the English language proficiency of 700,000 students. As the project scales up in its third and final phase, we are using the new technology kit—known as the ‘trainer in your pocket’—to foster a ‘quiet revolution’ in the provision of teacher professional development at scale to an additional 67,500 teachers and 10 million students

Reshaping Student Life

Major changes are in the works to cultivate a richer campus environment for intellectual developent and social interaction

What Do ESL Learners Perceive as Effective 21st Century L2 Pedagogies?

Low proficiency in English, poor communication skills, problem-solving, and critical thinking cause unemployment among local graduates. This study explored learners’ perception of pedagogies that work effectively for language acquisition based on eight dimensions of 21st century L2 pedagogies. A descriptive research design combining quantitative and qualitative methods was utilised to extract data from 60 undergraduates. Findings revealed that TESL students had higher overall mean scores and preferences for Learner-centred Models compared to Mathematics students who chose Appropriate Tools and Promote Learning without Borders. Their preferences of pedagogies signify what works best for their mastery of L2. Keywords: 21st Century L2 (second language) pedagogies; ESL (L2) learners; dimensions; undergraduates eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6iSI4.290

Design and Development of Lifelong Skills-Enhancement e-Programmes Using Monitoring/Evaluation Tools: Exemplars with Policy Recommendations

Developing ‘Future Ready’ learners in preparation of Industrial Revolution (IR) through implementation of lifelong skills-enhancement programmes collaborating with various sectors is the recent global governmental aspiration. In response to call for quality technology-enhanced ‘Science, Technology, Reading, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics’ (STREAM) education, SEAMEO RECSAM initiated the ‘Learning Science and Mathematics Together’ [LeSMaT (Borderless)] project-based programme under the Golden SEAMEO Basic Education and Student Networking involving blended-mode lifelong education. This article reports SEAMEO Inter-Centre Collaboration (ICC) Education 4.0 project initiative as an offshoot programme of LeSMaT involving Design and Development Research (DDR) in developing lifelong skills-enhancement e-programmes integrating STREAM education with evidence-based output under sub-themes identified from LeSMaT(Borderless) involving ‘Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, Evaluation’ (ADDIE) instructional model. ‘Analysis’ of these sub-themes were made to develop criteria as guiding focus for project teams to design technology-enhanced learning (TEL) output that could showcase the knowledge/skills required during IR4.0. Literature research was also made on existing e-programmes fulfilling SEAMEO’s priorities. During ‘Design and Development’ phases, e-surveys were developed as monitoring/evaluation tools for tracking of skills-enhancement e-programmes in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).  During ‘Implementation/Evaluation’ phases, qualitative/quantitative data collection/analysis methods were implemented involving case study and validation of e-survey entitled ‘Motivation towards STREAM education’ (MoToS). The qualitative analysis integrating ‘type 4’ multiple-case design includes analysing output illustrating curriculum innovation through transdisciplinary studies reflecting Education 4.0 and SDGs whereas quantitative method involved Rasch model to validate MoToS  to monitor/evaluate participants’ engagement  in 1st Regional Workshop on SEAMEO-ICC Education 4.0. The findings using Rasch analysis in the ‘Evaluation’ phase revealed that MoToS is reliable with measure of CA 0.98 internal consistency and ‘feeling stressed on STREAM’ is the most difficult item.  After the e-course series 2020-2022, participants' output was examined using ‘Cross-Case Analysis’ (CCA), ‘Within/Exemplary-Case Analysis’ (WCA/ECA). The e-course series produced evidence-based SDG-related outputs with exemplars integrating SEAMEO Priority Areas No.7 and No.5. Policy recommendations and suggestions for future studies related to Education 4.0 are discussed including developing innovative programmes to improve transdisciplinary quality educatio

A brief critique on the future of learning (Assessing the potential for research)

Recent advances in computer and communications technologies are opening up new opportunities for learning design requiring a thorough (perhaps revolutionary) reappraisal of the goals and purpose of education. The potential of the Internet and the technologies it inspires makes it feasible to not only access and manage information in productive and efficient ways, but also to deliver dynamically interactive, personalised solutions tailored to the needs and preferences of all learners. Therefore, it is important to extend our understanding of how computer technologies can enhance student learning whilst providing some insight into the future of learning.If we accept for the moment that graduates are not adequately equipped to cope with current skill requirements, and combine this view with the complexity of devising suitable electronic delivery methods, there is cause for concern as to the capacity of current learning design models to cater for the diverse skill demands of a technologically driven world. Such concern for the future is not new, but certain emerging factors suggest there is merit in constructing advanced learning models that take advantage of the growing sophistication of computer technologies. The challenge will be to harness technological innovations in ways that will assist to deliver high quality learning outcomes relevant to the changing needs of learners

Pocketing the difference: Joint development of open educational resources

Web 2.0 tools and social software are changing the way in which formal and informal learners expect to work with learning resources. In response, educational providers may open up access to existing courses by providing them as free to use Open Educational Resources (OERs). The OpenLearn initiative of The Open University established a "LearningSpace" for learners to access OERs from the university and built up methods and processes for transforming material. OpenLearn also established a “LabSpace” to allow others to make changes to released content, or to provide new examples. A parallel project, POCKET, works with partner universities to transfer the model of production from OpenLearn and provide content from those universities for open use. In this paper we outline the issues that we have identified in our production process and the intended way to transfer this process to our partner institutions and then to others

Developing Global Collaboration Skills In the Era of Unlimited Learning

At this time, the world of education has entered an era of unlimited learning. In learning theory, the era of limitless learning is known as seamless learning. The era of limitless learning demands the renewal of strategies, methods, media, and learning models. The era of unlimited learning is a challenge for 21st-century education. This study aims to describe collaboration skills using a seamless learning model. The study method used was to collect, understand, analyze, then conclude as many as 28 international journal articles published from 2010 to 2021. The analysis used content analysis of journal articles and reference books. The data that has been collected is then searched for similarities and differences and then discussed to conclude. This study concludes that in an era of limitless learning, educators are not the only source of information, online learning resources greatly facilitate students and can be accessed quickly. The forms of learning resources vary from text-based ones packaged in e-journals, e-books to audio-visual-based ones such as YouTube and various other learning resources. In the "era of limitless learning," without being bound by sources, space, distance, and time which is different from the previous way of learning, which was limited by school or campus walls, using learning resources from books and educators. Educators are required to be able to adapt to technological advances and be able to provide innovations in the learning process. Learning in the era of borderless learning needs to apply learning technology innovations such as heutagogi, seamless learning, blended learning, online learning, and mobile learning