By Pete Cannell, Co-director, the Opening Educational Practices in Scotland Project
FREE, openly licensed, online courses are part of the educational mainstream in Scotland and it’s not fanciful to think they could be opened up to a greater range of learners, not just graduates. Equally, such courses could play a key role in erasing barriers to learning as openly licensed materials are freely available online to all, which means that the time has come for more educators and institutions to use these to widen access to learning at a time and pace that suits learners.
This has been the subject of Opening Educational Practices in Scotland (OEPS), a £1.3 million, three-year project funded by the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and led by the Open University in Scotland. Open Educational Resources enable materials to be copied, revised or redistributed to promote both development and sharing of knowledge.
The availability of free, openly licensed online courses and the ubiquity of digital technology are relevant to learners in the formal and informal learning sectors. To date, developments in open education have tended to focus on technology but, to ensure effective use, a strong case for reorienting effort on practice, pedagogy and new models of student support is emerging.
In informal settings, this type of education offers opportunities for curriculum development, short courses and flexible pathways for lifelong learning while supporting transitions into formal education, between further and higher education, education and employment and in the workplace.
The OEPS project worked with 68 organisations across Scotland, including universities, colleges, schools, the third sector and trade unions. It was an illuminating time with the project yielding 15 new openly licensed courses co-created with organisations. From the outset we found a high level of interest in the use of these courses in the informal education sector. Over the lifetime of our project, almost half of the organisations we worked with were from the third sector, trade unions or employers.
That open resources are “free” was often the catalyst for initial interest. These bodies and their learners gave valuable insights into barriers faced by learners and organisations in using free, openly licensed courses.
Our partners included Parkinson’s UK, Dyslexia Scotland, the University of Glasgow, the Equality Challenge Unit and Education Scotland. Nine of the courses are live, with six more due for release over the autumn. These range from understanding Parkinson’s, supporting people with dyslexia and global trends in death and dying to how to become an open educator, do genetic testing or find out if seaweed looks weird. They are so diversified.
While we have made progress over the project’s lifetime, we strongly encourage the SFC to support further sharing and collaboration between institutions. We also urge colleges and universities to work in partnership with the informal learning and third sector to create open resources and open practice and we would welcome educational institutions releasing more of their content in openly licensed format.
To enable widening access to colleges and university, as well as to support lifelong learning, they should work with the informal learning and third sector to create open resources and practice. Also, the Scottish Government and the SFC should consider support mechanisms and policies to facilitate and sustain institutional alliances in open education. In a world where digital technology is ubiquitous and online content is readily available, open education is an issue for everyone associated with learning.
Dr Cannell is co-director of the Opening Educational Practices in Scotland Project.
www.open.edu/openlearncreate/OEPS
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