Category: Collaborative Working

Evolving design: shaping our work around a service-led model

Gerald Evans ~ Head of Learning Design

Since 2020 our experiences as a Learning Design (LD) team have been heavily influenced by much of our work moving online. The pandemic led to us resetting how we operated and in particular required us to find effective online mechanisms for running collaborative sessions while continuing to have the richness of conversations needed for learning design to be successful.

We’ve achieved this through a combination of intentional and emergent activity over the period since 2020. Intentional in that we’ve been consciously moving all of our learning design activity away from face-to-face delivery. And emergent in that we’ve learnt as we’ve gone along, and tried and tested out many online tools and approaches before settling on the core parts of the toolkit that we now work with. Continue reading “Evolving design: shaping our work around a service-led model”

Virtually reality: Learning while we play with VR at work

Mary Simper and Paul Astles  ~ Learning Designers

Who knew that meeting other humans inside a virtual world could create a sense of togetherness and promote positive wellbeing. Well, it turns out that it can. The Learning Design team have been experimenting with the use of virtual reality (VR). This article will explore how it made us feel, some of the limitations of using VR, and some possible use cases we have identified from our experiences. We’ll also share our own experience of using VR to help us plan and write this blog post.

We’re keen to hear about your experiences of the technology too so look out for the call for thoughts a little later. For now, let’s start where all good stories start, with a little bit of genuine humanity.

Continue reading “Virtually reality: Learning while we play with VR at work”

The Learning Design Cross Institutional Network: Creating a space for Learning Design discussions

Mark Williams ~ Senior Learning Designer

 Natasha Huckle and Mark Williams were excited to host the Learning Design Cross Institutional Network this year at the Open University campus in Milton Keynes. With support from Jim Harris (University of Northampton) and Simon Walker (UCL) they identified themes for exploration and called out for learning designers across the network to present keynotes and workshops. This is what happened!

Hosting the LD CIN

It was the turn of the OU to host the Learning Design Cross Institutional Network on 27th July. And it was great to bring a range of institutions onto our campus as well as welcoming our online attendees. The aim of the network is to create a less formal occasion, a gathering rather than a conference, as a way of sharing practice and resources. It seems incredibly relevant to have such a space to communicate, because our work is never carried out in isolation. As learning designers, we are constantly researching ideas and theories whilst working within our own teams to implement them most successfully.

Continue reading “The Learning Design Cross Institutional Network: Creating a space for Learning Design discussions”

From email alert to delivering a talk: Unexpected scholarship

Paul Astles and Catriona Matthews ~ Learning Designers

 

Scholarship can happen in unexpected ways and an opportunity can present itself when you least expect it. In this instance, a colleague from the Open University Library shared a call for content at a webinar series curated by the University of Kent. The theme of the event was around the role of the ‘learning designer’ in supporting student retention and success. We felt that this provided an excellent opportunity for us to share the role of the Learning Designer at the Open University and to specifically discuss how we support module teams in relation to student retention and success. Continue reading “From email alert to delivering a talk: Unexpected scholarship”