http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/includes/news-rss.php openlearn latest news RSS feed. en-gb Wed, 14 March 2007 23:02:24 GMT Copyright: (C) Open University http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/includes/oulogo_hor.gif http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/includes/news-rss.php
COP15 provides an opportunity to create and realise a new global contract to reduce emissions, replacing the Kyoto protocol which is due to expire in 2012. Notable absences from the Kyoto protocol were Australia and the US, which it is hoped will change now that Barack Obama is in power.

The OU communications teams will be co-ordinating to widely cover the event via video and audio, online and print, reporting via numerous channels such as Twitter, Platform, Facebook, iTunes U, YouTube and OpenLearn (see Open University Channels link below).

OpenLearn content will be two-fold – there will be content in the LearningSpace to complement the units already available (see list on ‘Open Air Blog’ related link below) as well as new material in the LabSpace, which can be freely remixed and repurposed (in adherence to the Creative Commons license). LabSpace allows collaboration on topics, one major new project to create a space there being LLCC.

LLCC (Learning to Live with Climate Change) is a joint strategic collaboration between the Environment Agency of England and Wales and the OU. The project aims to support the development of new collaborative networks and practices required to move to a low-carbon and climate-adapted economy and society.

LabSpace also has a collaborative space for the 10:10 Climate change Campaign led by a coalition that includes the Guardian, NGOs to major companies, leading political figures, and the Carbon Trust.]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=17389 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
In the next 20 years, the over 80s will be the fastest growing age group in the country with more people in this age group than any other. The Open University has two academic advisors on the series, who are both involved in researching identity and environment in later life. The Open University is also carrying out an online survey to find out how much people about the options and services available for caring for the elderly (see related link below).

OpenLearn has study units on retirement and ageing as well as more broadly in the areas of care, community and social work. For a full list and links directly to the study unit, visit the Open Air blog related link below.

Study units include:

Ageing and disability: transitions into residential care (K216_1)
Moving into a care home can have a profound emotional impact on an individual – just the anticipation of residential care is one of the biggest sources of fear for the elderly. This unit discusses the role of social workers and care staff in supporting individuals through the transition, and how residential environments affect quality of life.

Retiring lives? Old age, work and welfare (DD305_3)
Retirement, pensions, care homes – old age may not be as rosy as we think. This unit looks at old age taking us from the Workhouse to the basic state pension. Why are people expected to stop work at a certain age and what impact does this have on their lives?

Caring: A Family Affair (K100_1)
Care is needed at all stages of life. This unit makes care in the family its focus because the overwhelming majority of care, including health care, is supplied in families, much of it in private, much of it unnoticed and unremarked upon. The meaning of the term (informal carer) and the word (care) itself are explored.

Living with death and dying (K260_1)
This unit will explore how knowledge and beliefs about death and encounters with death affect people’s lives. It will also examine the concept of a ‘good death’ from an individual perspective in order to enhance the quality of dying.

Addiction and neural ageing (SD805_2)
This unit looks at two topics that are of immense worldwide social, economic, ethical, and political importance – ‘addiction’ and ‘neural ageing’. You will develop a Master's level approach to the study of specific issues within these two important subject areas.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=16564 Wed, 29 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
The research report brings together several case studies, reports and reflections from the OpenLearn team over the last two years, delivering several perspectives on the provision of Open Educational Resources (OER).

Patrick McAndrew, Research and Evaluation Director for OpenLearn said:

“OpenLearn has been a really fascinating research opportunity. We wanted to find out what the impact was on us as an organisation; how we could help other people who wanted to provide their material available for free; and perhaps most importantly, what learners got out of having access to all this open material”.

The report highlights many successes – OpenLearn has made over 10,000 hours of content freely available; had over 5 million unique visitors; enabled new partnerships, as well as enhancing relationships with current strategic partners; and resulted in more than 10,000 Open University course registrations.

The publication of the research report comes at an interesting time as Prime Minister Gordon Brown recognises the achievements of the Open University and has donated £7.8 million to enhance it’s national role, working with other institutions to further develop distance learning for the benefit of the whole higher education sector (see National Role news story).

The Open University’s research into OER is now conducted for OLnet (see link below) in collaboration with Carnegie-Mellon University, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=16555 Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
The Prime Minister said:
'The success of distance learning, pioneered 40 years ago by the Open University, has been nothing short of a revolution for higher education. It has opened the doors to a whole new audience of students who have not only seen academic success but reaped the wider rewards learning brings’.

The HEFCE grant will be used for three projects. Of significant interest to OpenLearn is the Support Centre for Open Resources in Education (SCORE).

SCORE will focus on sharing OU expertise in Open Educational Resources (OER) with other universities. People are increasingly learning using freely available online content on sites such as OpenLearn and social networks. Universities need to harness these networks in order to develop students’ learning. This is where the OU comes in – leading collaborations to develop OER resources and services, as well as to lower course development costs. SCORE will give staff from across the higher education sector the opportunity to work with experienced Open University staff on developing and using open educational resources.

Professor Andy Lane, Director of OpenLearn commented that
‘Open educational resources involve sharing knowledge between teachers and with learners and that involves much collaboration and cooperation’.

Jonathan Darby, Project Director of the OU National Role Programme said it was ’Essentially setting up a national centre to provide a focus for the development of the Open Educational Resources community within higher education; to promote good practice - to provide opportunities for others to engage with us in the development of the whole field’.

In addition, the OU is collaborating with Carnegie Mellon University to research open learning networks (OLnet) and works alongside the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) on their own OER programme. JISC has also funded another project, POCKET, which has already established a pilot network of universities collaborating over OERs.

The other two projects funded by the HEFCE grant are Shared Returns, an initiative to decrease student dropout from universities and an Academic Partnership Hub, enabling greater flexibility in the HE sector.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=16464 Fri, 10 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
World Environment Day was established on 5 June 1972 by the United Nations General Assembly to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) uses the commemoration of this event each year as an opportunity to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment and enhance political attention and action.

According to the UNEP website, the agenda for the day is to:
1. Give a human face to environmental issues;
2. Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;
3. Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;
4. Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for WED 2009 is 'Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change'

OpenLearn courses related to the theme and to environment include:

Climate Change (S250_3)
Climate change is a key issue on today’s social and political agenda. This unit explores the basic science that underpins climate change and global warming.

Climate Change: island life in a volatile world (DD205_3)
What impact will global warming really have? This unit examines the potential problems faced by the people of the Pacific Island of Tuvalu as a result of rising sea levels. Where would you go if your island is only a few feet above sea level? Who would you blame?

Global Warming (E500_11)
This unit provides an introduction to global warming. We will be considering the history of global warming by looking at the pattern of ice ages and analyisis of recorded temperatures. We will aim to gather meaningful information from this data. We will briefly assess the impact and influence of humans on global warming and, finally, we will examine climate models and how to predict future changes.

Working with our environment (T172_1)
Global warming: are we responsible? Is our environmental impact damaging the planet? This unit examines the use of ozone depleting technology, the impact of fossil fuel use and explores how the development of technology can influence the direction of a society. From the Industrial Revolution to the present day find out how we have changed the planet.

Water and human health (SDK125_1)
Water is a natural resource that is vital for human survival and health, although only a tiny fraction of the Earth's supply is available to humans and terrestrial animals. In this unit we look at threats, such as pollution, to water's capacity to support life around the world.

Earth’s physical resources: petroleum (S278_1)
The discovery of of the world's first major underground oilfield in Pennsylvania, USA in 1859 sparked the continuing era of the world's reliance on cheap energy from oil and gas. This unit begins by examining the geological characteristics of petroleum and the key ingredients necessary to form oil and gas accumulations. Then there is a brief description of industrial operations during the life cycle of an oilfield, starting with subsurface analysis and exploration drilling. The unit also highlights the role of safety and environmental management as an integral part of the petroleum business and concludes with a short review of global resources and non-conventional petroleum.

Practising science: reading the rocks and ecology (SXR103_1)
Have you ever wondered how scientists analyse the environment? This unit introduces you to the techniques used by science students at residential schools. You will learn how to determine where rocks have come from and how they were made. You will also examine the processes involved in determining the ecology of a particular area.

Animals at the extremes: the desert environment (S324_1)
Animal life has adapted to survive in the most unlikely and inhospitable habitats. This unit looks at the surprisingly diverse desert climates throughout the world and mammals, birds, lizards and amphibians that survive there. It splits these animals into three groups according to their strategy for survival: evaders, evaporators and endurers, then discusses how these strategies work on a biochemical and physiological level.
See also:
Animals at the extremes: hibernation and torpor (S324_2)
Animals at the extremes: polar biology (S324_3)

Other related courses:
Introducing Environment (Y161_1)
Managing coastal environments (U216_1)
Health and environment (SK220_2)
Surviving the winter (S204_1)
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=16249 Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Rob Humphreys, Director of The Open University in Wales said, "This is an open access website available throughout the world. It compliments the Open University’s Small country, big history: themes in the history of Wales course about the history of Wales but it also fulfils a much wider educational role.

"It provides students, teachers and others in and outside Wales with a completely free, multi-media resource for the teaching and learning of Welsh history.

"This is a tool for learners of all ages who are keen to learn more about our small nation's extraordinary past. Whether you are in school as part of history lessons, are overseas and want to learn more about your heritage or simply want to see new content such as history maps and a comprehensive timeline, OpenLearn Wales has what you need.

"We expect the collection to expand further as more resources come online, but we believe it's already the home for Welsh history on the web."

The collection holds over 40 maps of Wales, over 100 images and links to other academically approved sites for further resources on Welsh history. It also includes a timeline of the most important events in the history of Wales between 1150 and 2000. Visitors to the site are encouraged to add to the timeline and create their own versions.

Many of the resources are made available under a Creative Commons license which allows people to freely download and amend the content. Visitors who register on the site will also be able to see who else is studying the materials and form their own learning communities.]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=15779 Fri, 13 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Designed to take Scotland to the wider world, The Open University is launching OpenLearn Scotland, a new collection of free online learning resources. Covering Scottish history, literature, politics, society, environment, technology, education, law and social care, it offers an interactive learning facility on Scotland and its place in the world, both past and present.

Featuring written, video and audio resources from The Open University’s renowned course materials, OpenLearn Scotland also offers an opportunity to sample learning at higher education level for free. Backed by the latest technologies, OpenLearn Scotland can help develop confidence in learning online, while building new skills and knowledge.

Peter Syme, Director of The Open University in Scotland explains: "The launch of OpenLearn Scotland is an exciting development for The Open University and has two key objectives. The first is to open up the OU's archive of learning resources related to Scotland to provide an accessible facility people from home and abroad can use to find out more about our country. We hope this will complement the package of events and activities planned for Homecoming Scotland in 2009.

"Secondly, OpenLearn Scotland is the latest development in our ongoing programme of activities to engage new learners in new ways. With modules available from introductory to advanced level, we believe there is something there for people whatever their learning background. We hope it will become an essential learning resource for schools, colleges and libraries, as well as offering a new way for all kinds of people to try out learning without commitment."

Modules available on OpenLearn Scotland vary in length from 3-15 hours of learning and include: an introduction to the law in Scotland; Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s Sunset Song; the poetry of Sorley MacLean; Robert Owen and New Lanark; the Tay Bridge disaster; Lennox Castle Hospital; and science in the Scottish Enlightenment.

OpenLearn Scotland is also a gateway to hundreds of other learning resources available on The Open University’s award-winning OpenLearn website. With inbuilt state-of-the-art learning support and social networking tools, OpenLearn is a door to a worldwide learning community.

The OpenLearn Scotland website is at http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/scotland.

Editor's Notes
OpenLearn Scotland is a new part of The Open University's free content website, OpenLearn. OpenLearn was launched in October 2006 with the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. It makes freely available to the public almost 5% of The Open University's course content. Since its launch over two million people in 160 countries have visited the OpenLearn website.

The Open University is Scotland’s largest provider of part-time higher education with over 14,000 students located in virtually every community in Scotland.]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=14853 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn at this week's Fifth Pan-Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning. OpenLearn was recognised as an outstanding example of interactive, electronically delivered distance education material.

The judges said: "The OpenLearn website of the Open University, UK is the unanimous winner for this category based on its Educational Value and Learning for Development Value. The OpenLearn website is one of the most significant contributions to the evolving world of Open Education Resources - the project is a benchmark for the design of asynchronous learning materials.

The breadth and scope of the collection of OpenLearn materials is impressive and the Open University has successfully implemented a number of robust and scalable technological innovations. Deserving particular mention is the excellent and creative support of RSS syndication, which puts this project at the forefront of work in this field. Above all, the OpenLearn website is not just a repository of materials but a platform for collaborative content development and recontextualisation, thus widening access to high quality learning resources around the world."

The Open University’s Vice Chancellor was also recognised for her achievements and given the title of Honorary Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning.

There are four categories of Commonwealth of Learning awards designed to recognise excellence: at the institutional level; in the development of learning materials; in student accomplishment and for a lifetime achievement in and contribution to open and distance learning.

PCF5 is exploring how open and distance learning can help to achieve the international development goals and education for all. The conference theme is Access to Learning for Development, with a focus on governance, conflict and social justice, health, livelihoods and provision for children and young people.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=14065 Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Globalisation and the changing world of work

Living and working in the new economy
This unit looks at the impact of information and communication technologies on the economy as a whole.

What is Europe?
Despite the EU's growing size and significance the question 'What is Europe?' still resonates through the continent.

Managing the European economy after the introduction of the Euro
The Euro was first adopted as a currency in 1999, but what impact has it had on the European economy?

Developing countries in the world trade regime
This unit will help you to analyse the relationship that exists between developed and developing countries.

Managing local practices in global contexts
From'Big Macs' in Moscow to Blockbuster video in Beijing, this unit examines the dimensions of globalisation.

Claiming connections: a distant world of sweatshops?
This unit examines how campaigners have successfully closed the distance between the brands and the sweatshops.

Textiles in Ghana
This unit will help you to understand how textiles can carry an assortment of meanings and values, including wealth, status and office.

Am I ready to study English?
This unit helps those considering studying in English at higher education level.

Environmental Sustainability

An introduction to sustainable energy
This unit takes a brief look at where the world may find energy in the future.

Working with our environment - an introduction
This unit explores how the development of technology can influence the direction of a society.

Health and environment
This unit will look at ways in which humans are altering the environment.

Climate change
This unit explores the basic science that underpins climate change and global warming.

Managing coastal environments
This unit looks at the example of the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England.

Technological Change

Living with the internet: learning online
This unit looks at the basic skills for online study, such as file management and installing software.

Information on the web
This unit will provide you with the foundation skills to use search engines confidently to locate both information and images on the Web.

Living with the Internet: online shopping
This unit will help you understand how to use online shopping sites.

ICTs: device to device communication
This unit will gently guide you to an understanding of how devices 'talk' to each other using Bluetooth, Ethernet and WiFi.

Citizenship and belonging in a diverse society

Life stories
This unit considers the contribution that our own life stories make to who we are.

Identity in question
This unit looks at the many different ways in which identity can be categorised.

Engendering citizenship
How do you create citizenship? How do you feel you belong? This unit examines social citizenship.

The politics of devolution
This unit contains material from the current Open University Politics course, Power, Equality and Dissent.

Children’s rights
This unit examines the implications of seeing children as citizens.

Retiring lives? Old age, work and welfare
This unit looks at why people are expected to stop work at a certain age and what impact this has on their lives.

Who counts as a refugee?
This unit explores the experiences of people seeking asylum in the UK.

Sexuality, parenthood and population
In this unit, we look at how attitudes to parenthood and sexuality have changed.

Economics explains discrimination in the labour market
This unit will help you look at discrimination with a new perspective: through economics.

Poverty reduction

Personal finance: Debt and borrowing in its wider context
In this unit, you will explore the different types of debt and loans.

Prices
This unit looks at a wide variety of ways of comparing prices and the construction of a price index.

Welfare reconstruction
This unit examines the approach adopted by Tony Blair and New Labour to welfare reconstruction in the United Kingdom.

Changing expectations and perceptions of the Third Sector

ICTs: e-government
While studying this unit you look at the scope of e-government.

Managing relationships
This unit will help you to understand your role as a fundraiser by analysing a variety of issues about the fundraising.

Building relationships with donors
This unit will help you to gain the skills necessary to persuade individuals to become donors.

Creating an ethical organisation
This unit explores the business case for an ethical approach to human resources management.

Well-being and happiness

The meaning of home
This unit looks at the way people identify and become attached to places, buildings and objects, impacting on personal well-being.

Issues in complementary and alternative medicine
This unit explores why people use complementary and alternative medicine.

Young people’s wellbeing
This unit will examine the range of factors affecting young people’s wellbeing, such as obesity, binge drinking, depression and behavioural problems.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=13715 Mon, 19 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn This week OpenLearn reached its target of publishing 5400 learning hours of materials from Open University courses in the LearningSpace and 8100 hours in the LabSpace. OpenLearn launched in October 2006 with an ambitious target to publish almost 5% of the OU’s learning materials online by April 2008. The OpenLearn website now boasts almost 2 million users globally.

The next release of the website on May 6th will offer a range of new features. Visitors to the site will be able to rate the study units, using an Amazon style five star rating system and share units with friends via email.

The team have also responded to interest – initially from self organising groups of learners and organisations – in creating Learning Clubs. People will be able to set up their own Learning Club, with free access to a discussion forum and events calendar. Members can book and publicise online meetings using OpenLearn's communication tools such as MSG instant messenger and FM video conferencing. Anyone visiting the site can view the Learning Clubs on offer and either join an existing club or set up their own.

Patrick McAndrew, Research Director, explained the motivation behind this: "We have set up our Learning Clubs to help people who want to group around a shared interest. Just as with the growing number of social networking sites that provide features to help people connect with one another, we want our users to connect with each other. That may start with their shared interest in OpenLearn study materials and go much further. The support of other learners helps motivate and inform students and the clubs will provide space for collaborations between educators who want to reuse the materials."

Commenting on the most recent updates he added, "The Technical Team, led by Jenny Gray, have been working hard to make improvements based on feedback from our users. We’ve simplified the forum structures, improved the layout of the study unit homepages and de-cluttered the pages by removing links to the less popular features. From May we'll be able to provide our learning support tools anywhere in the site – before the learner could only access the tools from the unit homepage, now they can use them at any point in the learning journey.”

OpenLearn publishes cohesive learning objects taken from high quality Open University courses under a Creative Commons licence. This means that users can download and reuse the materials, amending them to suit their purpose and context.]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=13613 Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
From the data you've collected so far, what do people identify as the most important features of OpenLearn?
A large choice of content is definitely at the top of the list for both browsers and learners who are spending time studying the materials online. Top of learners' wish lists are more testing, assessment and interactive content. The ability to interact with other learners is not as important for many, but a smaller sub-group value the social tools. This sub-group also value being able to create their own personal space. One thing high on learners' wish lists is the opportunity to have Q&A sessions with experts. Perhaps it is not a surprise that users request the 'carrots and sticks' that formal learning provides and that the 'social learners' are a smaller group. Social learning using a combination of online tools, resources and communities is an emerging trend that a smaller group of early adopters are embracing.

What has most surprised you about how OpenLearn is being used?
There have been lots of interesting and unexpected uses of OpenLearn by the people I've interviewed. It brings home how differently everyone learns and the the nature of support people need. One of the most interesting uses of the Compendium knowledge mapping software is for mapping information around health. People are using it to help them make sense of the knowledge out there in the medical field. Compendium is helping them make sense of their condition.

You mentioned the need for support. Do you find the self learning and peer supported model in OpenLearn is a challenge for learners?
Many of those who've answered the questionnaire so far tend to identify themselves as well educated and confident learners. Some are returning to study for personal development, and some are driven purely by a leisure interest in the subject. The average age of the respondents is 46 and there are a lot of people saying they use OpenLearn to keep their brains active! We have to be careful what we make of this. Perhaps less confident learners are less likely to answer a questionnaire.

However, as academics we know the value to less confident learners of more interactive content, especially more quizzes for self assessment, so they can see how they are getting on. Learners often need the 'sticks and carrots' that motivate learning – such as assessment and qualifications. These aren't offered in OpenLearn which acts as a space for informal learning, so self-motivation needs to be stronger to carry people towards their learning goals. People often learn more quickly and gain higher attainment when their learning is supported from a teacher, peer or community of other learners. We hoped that support would come from the community using the social tools to support each other, but that is only happening on a small scale.

Why do you think that is?
I think part of it may be to do with critical mass but critical mass tempered with structures that encourage interaction. While we have a lot of people browsing the course materials, less people are actively studying online. These people need to be online at the same time, and confident enough to form study groups and use the tools before we'll see more examples of peer-supported study. You do see it happening with the most engaged learners who share knowledge in the forums or learning journals and find 'study buddies'. Another reason is that the main model of formal teaching at universities is still largely lecture based. OpenLearn is providing informal learning in a new way, so it will take time for people to see this kind of activity as commonplace.

What are the best and worst things about researching 'OpenLearning'?
The best are the new discoveries we're making, understanding how people are experimenting with technologies and open licenses in education. However it can be difficult to reach a global, anonymous group of learners and educators for the purpose of our research. It's really important that we can draw on their experiences if we are to take open educational resources in a new direction and encourage more universities to open access to their resources.

If you would like to help Steve in his research, take a few minutes to answer the questionnaire at: http://elsa.open.ac.uk/survey.asp?id=GE95ID (or see link below)]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=13245 Tue, 11 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Learners can now create a list of personal interests in their OpenLearn profiles, connecting them to other learners with shared interests. OpenLearn’s MSG instant messenger will automatically create chat groups based on learners’ interests, enabling informal learning to take place through social networking.

Alex Little, developer of MSG explains: "We set up MSG so people could discover and chat directly with other learners studying the same OpenLearn units, providing peer support. So people studying ‘Start writing fiction’, for example, could contact others enrolled on the unit. The latest development means a Harry Potter fan could find other enthusiasts on OpenLearn and start a Harry Potter study group – regardless of what OpenLearn study units they may have enrolled on."

The new FlashVlog video blogging service means people can record, edit, annotate and publish short videos of themselves. Laura Dewis, OpenLearn's Communications Manager said: "Online learning is often very 'faceless' and anonymous, which can help some people feel more confident about communicating. Other people prefer to see and hear the people they are working with, so it'll be interesting to see if video blogging enables collaboration and adds to the wealth of learning materials on OpenLearn."

Improvements have been made to the myLearningSpace and myLabSpace personalised homepages. Learners can view the units they are enrolled on, keep up to date with forum entries and organise their learning toolkit.

Jenny Gray, OpenLearn's lead technical developer said: "Feedback from our users is critical to us developing the website to meet their needs. We’ve responded to user requests and the results of usability tests to deliver an improved service and one that gives greater control to the independent learner."

Supporting the learner has also been a focus for Cohere, a Web 2.0 knowledge mapping website. Learners can make meaningful, possibly controversial, connections between their ideas and websites (e.g. Iraq’s 2003 political context is analogous to The Vietnam War). These may be private or public, and can be built on top of their social bookmarks if they are already dedicated users of tools like del.icio.us or flickr.

Simon Buckingham Shum of the Knowledge Media Institute at The Open University explained: "Learners can connect resources from around the web with their ideas, creating a visual network of their ideas and others. They can then share these 'idea webs' inside Cohere, or as hyperlinks, or embed them in their blogs or websites."

Creators of Cohere knowledge maps can identify ideas, problems, critical questions and answers in their maps. Some ideas already mapped by Cohere users include an e-Dance project, attitudes about change, philosophy and retirement transitions.

Another development has been the introduction of the download facility in the LearningSpace. Open University material is made available on OpenLearn under a Creative Commons license that allows for study units to be downloaded and derivative works to be created. Amended study units can be uploaded to the LabSpace to create a larger repository of localised open educational resources for the community to benefit from. While the LearningSpace is home to quality assured materials from Open University courses, anyone can add new content to the LabSpace.

Dr Patrick McAndrew, OpenLearn’s Research Director commented: "A widely accepted rule is that 1% of Web 2.0 users create content, 10% comment or add to the content and the remaining 89% consume content without adding to it. We expect the people visiting the LabSpace to be early adopters and open content evangelists, amending our resources and uploading new versions. However our main body of 'consumers' are in the LearningSpace. Allowing downloading to happen from the LearningSpace will hopefully encourage more people to take our materials away with them to use flexibly in the spaces they want to work in."

Other developments to improve the interoperability and sharing of resources include the introduction of an OPML feed of all content, RSS feeds of forums and the introduction of the IMS Common cartridge format for downloading and uploading units.

With the new release of these features, there are now over 4,130 learning hours of materials in the LearningSpace and 7,245 learning hours in the LabSpace.

Over 1.2 million learners worldwide have accessed the free learning materials made available by OpenLearn since its launch in late 2006.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=12857 Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Since launching in October 2006, OpenLearn has provided free access to Open University study materials to over 1.2 million learners and educators. The free online learning resources reduce cost and time barriers for learners wanting to access quality educational materials and social software enables learning communities to self organise. Use of open-source software and Creative Commons licensing enables educators to reduce the costs of course development and training.

Working with key partners, such as unionlearn, the Workers Educational Association (WEA), the Third Age Trust and Lifelong Learning Networks, the website has been used to reach learners from under represented groups in higher education, supporting the University’s mission to open up access to education for all.

Sue Morris, Associate Lecturer at The Open University, has been working in an area on the North coast of the UK with large areas of deprivation and isolation from amenities and services. She said, "I've used OpenLearn to help introduce people to online study and supplement their current study programmes with study skills support. The students I've worked with are all highly motivated but with few or no qualifications. The materials on OpenLearn have been an extremely valuable resource."

OpenLearn's Communications Manager Laura Dewis added: "OpenLearn is working with The Open University’s Centre for Outcomes Based Education to help deliver the skills improvements referred to in the Government's final report of the Leitch Review of Skills. Over 30 study skills units are available to prepare learners with the practical skills required in higher education and we offer study units in the key skills areas of ICT, business and management and health and social care. OpenLearn offers economic and social benefits to learners and the people who work with them, so it's great to have this recognised by the Awards."

The categories for the 2008 Awards are:
Better Ways of Working
Building Community Networks
Business Applications
Reaching the Digitally Excluded
Greening IT
Improving Public Services
Independent Living
Low Carbon and Environmental Efficiency

Sponsors of this year’s awards include Brother, BT, e-government bulletin, UK CEED, PCPro and eGov monitor.

Shortlisted entries will be judged on the 21st January 2008. Winners will be announced on the 20th March at the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London.

Editor’s Notes
The Open University has more than 200,000 students studying its courses. Since its foundation in 1969, the University has pursued a social justice mission to open education to all.

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation has been a leading investor in the area of Open Educational Resources over the past five years and supports the OpenLearn project.

SustainIT, an initiative of leading charity UK CEED, focuses on the relationship between and sustainable development and seeks to demonstrate how the technologies can be used to realise these benefits.
Current programme partners include the EU Commission, East of England Development Agency, East Midlands Regional Assembly, BT, Brother, Vodafone, Sony, Hewlett Packard. The Awards are now entering their sixth successful year. Since the first Awards were launched in 2002, over 600 high quality entries have been received from a diverse range of organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Over 700 people have attended the prestigious award ceremonies and 500,000 copies of the awards brochures have been published by the national media partners.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=12792 Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Richard McCracken, Head of Intellectual Property at The Open University said: "Thanks to these rights-holders we have been able to provide third party materials in our open educational resources, giving the learner a complete learning experience. Earlier this year McGraw-Hill Higher Education and MERLOT announced a strategic alliance to explore strategies for blending publisher and open-education resources. It’s just one more sign that the world is becoming more open. By working in partnership with publishers we hope to better understand the potential of opening up education for everyone."

However for many publishers, the Creative Commons license is seen as a risk to commercial interests. Rick Mayston from Getty Images said: "Rights holders such as image libraries and publishers will only get involved in open educational projects if use of their materials is limited to within the learning community. When access is open to the public, rather than to a trusted business community that recognises rights limitations, we have to consider protection such as reduced file sizes and image watermarking."

Unlike the majority of OpenLearn content made available under a Creative Commons license, third-party materials are not available to download and reuse.

Richard McCracken said: "We negotiate with publishers every day and understand their concerns because we’ve had the same debates within the university. The non-commercial clause in the license does give a degree of protection against unauthorised commercial exploitation of resources, but we have had to offer further protection for third party materials on OpenLearn."

Alma Hales, Deputy Head of Intellectual Property at the OU added: "When materials aren't owned by us we offer several levels of protection: we make it clear to users that only OU content is available under a Creative Commons license; a caption acknowledges the rights holder and the file size is kept to 72dpi which ensures it is practically less likely to be reused in other settings."

With many online companies developing 'freemium' business models, rights holders were interested in how free content might provide incentives for publishers.

Laura Dewis, OpenLearn's Communications Manager said: "OpenLearn provides an opportunity for publishers to experiment with open content. We have a role to play in investigating how open educational resources can provide revenue streams for publishers, in the same way other free services provided by Google and Amazon do. Already OpenLearn brings greater attention to the content, for example through high visibility in Google image search. This may lead to increased business for the rights holder."

"At the workshop we shared some of the statistics behind the website. This is data that can inform business development and give publishers some value back for the contribution they’re making to the open educational resource movement."

Commercial interests are not the only limiting factor for rights holders. With a responsibility for the context in which the content is provided, rights-holders are often unable to open up their content for unlimited re-use.

Corinna Reicher of the Imperial War Museum explained: "The Museum’s remit is to ‘Educate and illustrate’ and support making educational resources accessible. However our content is sensitive and we have a responsibility to ensure it is displayed in the proper context. Opening it up to any reuse could leave it open to abuse. There are also copyright issues. We need to know who is using our material and how."

The Open University is the first UK University to publish a large collection of its course materials under a Creative Commons license, allowing learners and educators to freely download and share the online resources.

Visitors to the OpenLearn website are able to access free open educational resources. Material created by The Open University is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike Creative Commons license. Learners and educators are able to copy, distribute, amend and re-use the learning materials on the condition they acknowledge the original source of material; do not use the resources for commercial purposes and if they alter, transform or build upon the material, the resulting work must be distributed only under an identical license.

The Open University sees this as an important catalyst for creativity in education and hopes that opening up opportunities for educators to collaborate in course development will lead to a valuable pool of open educational resources that will benefit learners and the academic community.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=12492 Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
This year’s awards focus on social inclusion and the use of innovative technology to deliver services to help the disadvantaged. In its first year OpenLearn has provided free access to Open University study materials to over 1 million learners and educators, supporting the University’s mission to open up access to education for all. Working with key partners, such as unionlearn, the Workers Educational Association (WEA), the Third Age Trust and Lifelong Learning Networks, the website has been used to reach learners from under represented groups in higher education.

Billy Khokhar, Assistant Director of Regional Collaboration and Widening Participation for the OU in Yorkshire has been using OpenLearn to introduce people to learning. He said, "We’ve been recently working with a group of Asian women in community centres in the region. Many of these women would be lost to the system because family, cultural and traditional ties often make their participation at traditional campuses difficult. OpenLearn introduces and provides a flexible method of study and we work to ensure that they have the IT skills necessary to be able to continue e-learning on their own."

OpenLearn has also been used to train staff working with disadvantaged children. The Children's Workforce Network in Plymouth City Council is using OpenLearn to provide a common learning experience for a team of practitioners from different disciplines, based at over 15 locations around the city.

Gillian Merron MP, Cabinet Office Minister with responsibility for Transformational Government said: "I would like to congratulate all the finalists in this year’s e-Government National Awards on having come this far. This is a very strong set of shortlisted nominees whom I hope will inspire others and show what can be done to improve public services for more people".

81 finalists across 11 categories have been selected from over 500 nominations. Other nominees in the Learning and Skills category include the NHS in Scotland, North Eastern Education and Library Board, Welsh Assembly Government, Pembrokeshire College, Opening the Book, Gloucestershire College and Emerson Park School. The judging panel, headed by Government Chief Information Officer John Suffolk, includes Keith Bannister from KPMG, Rose Crozier of the Society of Information Technology Management (SOCITM), Ray Whitehouse of the London Borough of Havering, Stephen Baker of the Suffolk Coastal District Council and Mark Armstrong of O2.

The winners will be announced on the 22nd January 2008 at the Dorchester Hotel in London.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=12261 Mon, 05 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Focussing on the research agenda, sustainability, user experience and software and tools, over 30 presentations will be given during the 2 day conference. Keynote speeches will be given by John Seeley Brown, former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corporation and Dr Cathy Casserly of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Research panels focus on Opening Up Education: Removing Barriers, Fostering Participation and Promoting Sustainability and The future of open content. Other papers include Embracing Web2.0: Online Video - Beyond Entertainment, From Africa through Germany to the UK and back again: the potential of Open Educational resources, Feeding From OpenLearn - Exploring the Potential of OpenLearn RSS Feeds, Learning about learning in Wikiversity through action research and Video conferencing in open learning. Selected papers will be developed for publication in a special issue of the Journal of Interactive Media in Education.

OpenLearn Research Director, Dr Patrick McAndrew, said: "OpenLearn2007 has attracted great interest. We see this as the beginning of research into the use of open content to support free learning; we know we can produce open content, now we are moving on to see the benefits, understand what open learning is like, and plan for better ways to support open learners in the future. The conference will help form a community of those working on open content, looking at how we research and linking with those working in related areas such as mobile and informal learning."

OpenLearn Director, Professor Andy Lane added: "The ways in which people can learn are changing with new opportunities to learn at a distance, to learn as part of global community and to learn using new technologies. The conference aims to explore the part open and free educational resources play in this expanded world of learning. The conference recognises the research challenge alongside the business challenge of providing, using and sustaining free and open resources."

Conference papers have been made publicly available online and bloggers will be reporting live from the conference. A webcast of John Seeley Brown's keynote speech will be available following the conference along with audio recordings.

OpenLearn takes place at the Accenture conference centre, Kents Hill, Milton Keynes, UK between the 30th and 31st October 2007. Registration opens today.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=12212 Mon, 29 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
The website launched with 900 learning hours of study materials from Open University courses. This has risen to over 3700 hours in the LearningSpace and over 6500 hours in the experimental LabSpace and covers a full range of subjects from arts and history to science and nature. Thousands more hours of materials will be made available in 2008.

The first year has seen the website opening access to hard-to-reach groups and tackling educational disadvantage within the developed and developing worlds.

In Bradford College OpenLearn has been used to introduce Asian women to e-learning. Project leader Billy Khokar said: "Many of these women would be lost to the system because family or cultural ties make their participation at traditional campuses difficult. Equipping them with the skills to continue e-learning on their own sets them on a path to lifelong learning."

Users of the website include teachers in schools in Cameroon, professional cricket players in New Zealand, members of the armed forces in Iraq and Union Learning Representatives in the UK.

Andy Lane, Director of OpenLearn recognises the impact the website has had: "The most striking thing about this year has been the reaction of all the people 'out there'. Our aim is to share some of the University's content with the world and create the opportunity and the environment for anyone to do interesting things with it - whether that is studying it as it is, translating it, sticking it on YouTube, discussing it on Facebook or adding to it to create new content. But this is about more than sharing content. Through the website we are connecting with fellow OpenLearners who want to share knowledge and experiences, and to learn from each other in new and interesting ways."

Next week researchers will be arriving from around the world to the OpenLearn 2007 research conference. Research findings from the first year will be shared on sustainability, user experience, software and tools and the research agenda. Keynote speakers include John Seeley Brown and Cathy Casserly of The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Image by Quasimondo. Some rights reserved.]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=12175 Thu, 25 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
The entry was judged on its demonstration of an 'innovative, strategic and potentially far-reaching use of ICT in support of the goals of that institution'. Key criteria were innovation, institutional impact and implications for the HE sector.

Professor Andy Lane, Director of OpenLearn said: "It's a real honour for OpenLearn to be recognised in this way for its contribution to innovation in higher education. Making our course materials freely available to the world is a huge step for any university to take. This will help raise awareness of our work and help us share our experience as widely as possible to help others investigating the future of learning."

The JISC ICT Award, one of the THES 2007 awards, was launched in April of this year and attracted a total of nearly 40 entries from around the UK.

Alison Allden, Deputy Registrar & Director of Information Services, University of Bristol, and one of the judges of the ICT award, said: "We were delighted with the number and quality of the entries in this, the first year of JISC’s ICT award. There is clearly an abundance of exciting and innovative work being undertaken in the sector and being able to recognise some of the best in this way will, we hope, encourage us all to think about how ICT can support all our learners, researchers and staff."

The five other shortlisted entries are:

Community@Brighton at the University of Brighton
The Media Zoo at Leicester University
The e-course team at the School of Dentistry, University of Birmingham
The Technocafe at Durham University
The Virtual Pedagogy Initiative at Aston University

The winner will be announced at a gala dinner and awards ceremony at the Grosvenor House Hotel, London, on the 29th November.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=11959 Fri, 28 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
This latest addition, FlashMeeting, makes online meetings possible via video-conferencing. In addition to text chat, voting and URL sharing, users can record the video and audio content of the meeting. This can be edited, annotated and published online for anyone to access. FlashMeeting can be used for seminars, interviews, web-casts, peer-to-peer meetings and other events, which can be made public and shared with anyone in the world who wishes to learn from them.

Commenting on the new technology, Laura Dewis, OpenLearn Communications Manager said: "This is an exciting time for OpenLearn – FlashMeeting will not only encourage learners and educators to engage with each other, but will also help them make sense of the learning materials. The site launched last year with the intention of making educational resources freely available to everyone with web access and it's our hope that this new technology will encourage instant contact between learners who can exchange ideas, discuss the topic and form study partnerships worldwide."

FlashMeeting has been available in the LabSpace for ten months where researchers around the world have used it to discuss innovations in educational technology. Elia Tomadaki, a researcher working the Knowledge Media Institute (KMi) at the OU said: "We’ve seen people come to the LabSpace to record online meetings from Norway, Mexico, Brazil and across the UK. We’re hoping that by making the technology freely available in the LearningSpace, learners will use it to enhance their experience of studying online and share knowledge with people with similar interests. Anyone can join a study unit, book a FlashMeeting and invite others studying the same materials to join them in a discussion, or use the technology to organise related virtual lectures and seminars."

Two other distinct sense-making tools, also developed by KMi, have been integrated into OpenLearn’s virtual learning environment:

Compendium (knowledge maps) is software for learners and educators to create visual maps of the connections between ideas, issues, arguments, documents and websites. Users create a private multimedia workspace which they can choose to share in part or whole with other users. They can map concepts, debates and meetings, or remix new learning pathways simply by dragging and dropping web resources. The Knowledge Map Exchange helps peers share their maps through social tagging and linking, giving rise to multiple, possibly contested, interpretations of materials overlaid on the Web.

MSG (instant messaging) is the open source tool developed to provide a style of enhanced instant messaging aimed specifically at the learning community. MSG allows learners to identify when others studying the same material are online and enables them to support each other and discuss the study materials using text chat. The technology has been mashed up with Google Maps to show where learners are based geographically, facilitating the formation of learning groups locally, enabling perspectives to be shared around the world. Currently, registered users of OpenLearn come from more than 160 countries.

OpenLearn publishes cohesive learning objects taken from high quality OU courses under a Creative Commons licence. This means that users can download and reuse the materials, amending them to suit their purpose and context. Already, more than half a million learners worldwide have experienced the free learning materials made available by OpenLearn since its launch in late 2006 and the site now boasts more than 3500 hours of free study materials.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=11735 Thu, 30 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn
Why were you interested in the International Fellowship?
My university in Pakistan is interested in how we can increase capacity on our teacher training courses. We currently train around 50 teachers at a time in the classroom but there is a higher demand that distance education could help us meet. The BeaconHouse Group alone has set up over100 schools dotted all over Pakistan with around 4,000 teachers, many of whom would like to enrol in teacher education programmes without leaving their jobs. Distance education is perhaps the only available option which can make that happen.

As we are building a new campus, Dr Paul Lefrere visited us as a consultant to World Bank’s IFC to advice on our ICT structure. Through him I heard about the International Fellowship opportunity and OpenLearn. Not only was the Open University the expert in distance education but they were also making it freely available to the public – it was the obvious place for me to learn best practice and new approaches.

What has been your experience so far?
I was impressed by the elaborate infrastructure behind the Open University – this is not just a few computers but thousands of staff. The approach of the University is not just about the delivery systems and processes but the construction of knowledge and research into pedagogical themes. The academic content is prepared by tutors with an involved knowledge of the needs of distance learner. Tutorial support is a crucial element of the success and I can see learners who use the free study units on the OpenLearn website might want to pay small amounts to access that tutorial support and assessment of their learning.

What will you take back to your university in Pakistan?
At the Open University, I have had an insight into a professional academic approach to distance learning. I hadn’t been convinced by any of the commercial products I’d seen but my experience here has shown me how we can replicate this model on a smaller scale for our university. As far as I know there are no other institutions in Pakistan using the open source virtual learning environment, Moodle. I plan to introduce this to my colleagues and once we have it set up we will be able to share open educational resources with the Open University through OpenLearn. I’m already planning to rework a study unit related to digital communications – perhaps adding more examples to help clarify difficult concepts as I would do in the classroom.


Editor’s Notes
OpenLearn
The OpenLearn website makes educational resources freely available on the internet to anyone in the world, with state of the art learning support and collaboration tools to connect learners and educators. This £5.65 million project is of particular significance in The Open University’s efforts to open access to hard-to-reach groups and tackle educational disadvantage both within the developed and developing worlds.

International Fellowships
The OU International Fellowship Programme is sponsored by the Open University Foundation to facilitate interchange and exploration among the global community that will influence the direction of open education during the next decade.

BeaconHouse National University (BNU)
Chartered by the Government of Punjab, the Beaconhouse National University (BNU), was established in 2003 for the purpose of imparting education with a modern, rational, course content while ensuring that the history, culture and the demands of Pakistani society are respected.

Moodle
Moodle is a course management system (CMS) - a free, open source software package designed using sound pedagogical principles, to help educators create effective online learning communities.
]]> http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/news/news-full.php?id=11654 Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT openlearn