Learning Development at a Distance

19 April 2013

The Open University in Scotland and Bridges Programmes co-hosted a symposium in Glasgow for researchers and practitioners to explore developing the use of OERs in work based learning, third sector and community settings to widen participation in informal and formal learning and to assist the transition to higher education. Attendees included representatives of Scottish Funding Council, SQA, colleges, Glasgow Caledonian University, WEA, Scottish Union Learning, Equality Challenge Unit, carers organisations, refugee and asylum seeker organisations as well as representatives of Bridges Programmes and The Open University, from Scotland and elsewhere in the UK.

The event also showcased the learning product, ‘Reflecting on Transitions’ http://LabSpace.open.ac.uk/Reflection_2_1.0 a bespoke OER developed by The Open University in Scotland in collaboration with Bridges Programmes funded through the Scottish Funding Council’s knowledge exchange ‘innovation voucher’ scheme. Maggie Lennon, Director of Bridges Programme, thanked the SFC for their financial support and explained how the resource is making a real difference in helping their clients to understand their competencies and how to gather evidence to assist them in planning for their futures.

The OU in Scotland is holding a Retention Symposium on Saturday 8^th June at Surgeons Hall in Edinburgh.  The event is aimed primarily at Associate Lecturers and is an opportunity to bring together, and reflect on, experience from a wide range of recent interventions.  The core part of the day will be a World Café designed to share initiatives that have involved Associate Lecturers and others.  Plenary speakers include John Richardson, Professor of Student Learning and Assessment in the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University and Dr Carol Craig, Chief Executive of the Centre for Confidence and Well-Being.

There are still some places available for Associate Lecturers if you wish to book a place please follow this link http://www3.open.ac.uk/forms/RetentionOUIS

This new book is freely available from the Commonwealth of Learning and looks well worth reading if you have an interest in Open Educational Resources.  It would be great to have a review for this blog.  The book is Perspectives on Open and Distance Learning: 
Open Educational Resources: Innovation, Research and Practice

Rory McGreal, Wanjira Kinuthia and Stewart Marshall, Eds. May 2013

Download it as a pdf by clicking this link.

Recently OU tutors Irene Hossack and Carol Anderson supported creative writing groups with members of the Prison Officers Association (POA) at Perth and Edinburgh prisons.  The initiative was supported by Scottish Union Learning. Some of the students presented their work at a well attended fringe meeting at the STUC congress in Perth this evening.  The quality of the writing was stunning with the audience moved to laughter and tears.

At the Learning and Teaching Reading Group on Monday 15th April we are looking at two papers on Transformative Learning and Critical Reflection – I’ve just reread this paper which was completed in 2011 on what was learnt about the effectiveness of ‘reflection’ in the processes of transition into education, training and employment in joint work with Bridges in Glasgow.

On a sunny but cold Saturday at the start of February, about 145 staff from the OU Science Faculty turned up to join me in in a day-long online staff development conference.  The event was about improving the student experience and our teaching quality when using online synchronous tools like Elluminate.   We used a site developed and managed in Scotland, Talking point, where we held two live synchronous sets of talks, and had an asynchronous forum running alongside for the day.  It turned out to be a really lively and interesting day, with topical presentations and thoughtful discussions in the forum.

It was a great experience preparing and developing this event, working in partnership with Mark Jones, a Senior Lecturer in Science Faculty, and of course all the inspirational ALs who presented and moderated on the day.

If you would like to view the recordings and see a summary of the forum discussions, have a look at the Talking point page for the event – it is open to all OU staff.

The next event in Talking point will beon 20th April and will be about how tutors can work with students on employability.

Back in June 2012 I did a workshop at the OU’s Aviemore staff development event on this topic.  The discussion among a group of about 25 Associate Lecturers was really interesting but i’d organised the workshop in a way that made it difficult to capture what was said.  Having now had the chance to repeat the workshop with another group of Associate Lecturers from North West England – I tweaked the format to make it easier to capture some of the discussion.  The notes can be found here and give an outline of the discussion, some ideas that were shared and some questions.  Comments and observations would be really welcome.

Between 2009 and 2012 the OU in Scotland received funding from the Scottish Funding Council to work on a skills utilisation project in the care sector.  The full report is now available and can be found here.

The 2013 Enhancement Themes conference is now open for registration.  There are a very limited number of free spaces being offered to staff and students from Scottish HEIs.  If you are interested in attending, do sign up as soon as possible.

The link is:

http://www.enhancementthemes.ac.uk/enhancement-themes-conference

The OU in Scotland regularly runs a residential staff development weekend for Associate Lecturers, often held at Tulliallan Castle near Kincardine. The event provides an opportunity to meet other ALs, as well as other staff from around the university, and a chance to discuss key issues related to teaching and learning. The most recent event was held in late November 2012.

Of course, not everyone is able to attend the weekend.  In order to provide a flavour of the event, we have produced a series of short videos that highlight some of the topics and issues that were discussed. We hope you find these useful.

What is the Tulliallan weekend and why should I attend?

If you not have been to Tulliallan before (or haven’t come along for a while), this video gives a broad overview of the weekend and the benefits of attending.

http://www.open.ac.uk/documents/5/xs13160118244590.mov

Transcript: http://www.open.ac.uk/documents/2/ab1310025306121277.doc  

The OU in Scotland: The Current Context

In this video, Jim Miller (Director, OU in Scotland) provides an overview of the key issues he discussed in his session at Tulliallan and highlights the importance of the staff development weekend as one way of strengthening the links between the OU community.

http://www.open.ac.uk/documents/6/ni13160108241687.mov

Transcipt: http://www.open.ac.uk/documents/8/bc1310025406381279.doc  

Session Snapshots

This video provides insights from some of the sessions that were held at Tulliallan in November. Presenters and participants highlight the key themes that were discussed and the relevance to their teaching practice.

http://www.open.ac.uk/documents/8/nl13160111242889.mov

Transcript: http://www.open.ac.uk/documents/8/vd1310025506281281.doc

Full Programme and Resources

The full programme of sessions and (where possible) the Powerpoints that were presented are now available.  These can be found here:

http://www.open.ac.uk/tutors/regions/r11/p4.shtml

If you would like any further information about these sessions or about future staff development events, please contact Rachel Leslie (Rachel.Leslie@open.ac.uk)

If you have any comments or feedback on the video ‘magazine’ highlighting aspects of the event, please contact Martha Caddell (Martha.Caddell@open.ac.uk)