Category: Learning design

  • Perfect partners: how we work with others to support learning design

    Perfect partners: how we work with others to support learning design

    Over the last year I’ve been reflecting on how much the success of our work depends on effective partnerships with a range of people – within and external to the Open University. As Learning Designers, it’s inherent in our role that we work collaboratively with curriculum teams to elicit and capture ideas for module creation.…

  • Learning analytics: the patchwork quilt visualisation

    Learning analytics: the patchwork quilt visualisation

    In the Open University, we have developed a suite of LA (Learning Analytics) visualisations called ‘Action for Analytics’ (A4A: slides from a presentation giving more detail) designed to help those responsible for producing modules to see the effects of their designs.  For example, it’s possible to track just how much use videos we produce for…

  • Analytics4Action: emphasis on the ACTION

    Analytics4Action: emphasis on the ACTION

    It is no secret that we live in a world driven by data. The insight gained from analytics underpins success in almost every industry, from strategic consumer research in commercial sales to the in-play behavioural patterns of leading men and women in sports; a great deal of importance is afforded to the reporting of “The…

  • OneNote: an eportfolio-type tool to support PDP

    OneNote: an eportfolio-type tool to support PDP

    By Sue Lowe, Senior Learning Designer What is PDP? The OU Student employability policy states that all students are entitled to be supported in Personal Development Planning (PDP) (Open University, 2011). The OU defines PDP as a framework to support students in their analysis of and development of their own skills, and a means of…

  • Flavours of design – what’s in a name?

    Our team at The Open University has gone through a rebrand. Where before we had Learning Design (LD) and TEL Design components to our team, we are now all Learning Designers. A small change in terminology, but hopefully a big change in mindset. So why have we done this? First, it better encapsulates what we’re…