Musings about parallels between music and (qualitative) research ** originally published on my old WordPress site in error and moved here for PhD trail

This blog is a bit more ‘off the wall’ than usual, not backed up with evidence but reflections about a feeling, that persists in attracting my attention.  I have now completed year 1 of my PhD and I really feel that I have achieved in this year.  Milestone markers have been passed and everything is set up ready for recruitment and data collection come the autumn term.

Dare I say that I am struggling with ‘imposter syndrome’?  It keeps coming to haunt me.  At risk of appearing conceited or overconfident, my struggle is not because I feel like an imposter, but because I don’t (this time)!  It almost feels expected for PGR students to feel like an imposter.  A confession – this isn’t the first time that I have started to undertake a PhD.  It is however, the furthest I have ever got so far!  In the past I registered somewhere that wasn’t the right fit for me and the taught components that started that programme put me outside of my comfort zone, so that I did not progress.  I felt like an imposter then.  After registering for a second time was forced to stop studying after having cancer treatment that resulted in ‘chemo-brain’, an awful feeling that left me feeling powerless for a long time as I literally couldn’t have named what a ‘door’ or ‘window’ was, let alone engage in anything requiring higher level reading or analysis.  I felt like an imposter then.  I did also have a young family at that time so there wasn’t space to do the relearning of core academic skills as well as progress them.  I admitted defeat after redrafting a position paper 4 or 5 times and still not having a clue what it was about! 

Over time that all improved and I relearnt terms and redeveloped skills (such as deep reading and writing) that I had previously relied on.  I successfully completed some study programmes and finally, with the confidence of these things under my belt, I returned to study for a PhD.  My work experience over the last years has involved the provision of in-depth support for research with undergraduate students, that really helped me to develop my research skills to a strong degree, before recommencing my studies.  There is, and will always be, a lot more to learn and I have strengthened the foundations of my knowledge and skills significantly through engagement with the researcher development programme and through supervision over the last year.  It is this, which makes me ‘not’ feel like an imposter.  Now is my time to use my skills.

Whilst the focused researcher development programme workshops have strengthened my skills, I can’t help feeling that a life interest/skill also contributes to my feeling of being more comfortable as a research student than I was previously.  I can’t recall how I came to this awareness exactly, but I have come to reflect on it a number of times over the year.  The skill is the ability to play a musical instrument, alone and in a group of other musicians.  I believe my musical ability is in my blood, as my father was a Royal Marine Bandsman.  I played instruments as a child, but stopped for many years, restarting with a vengeance about 3 years ago.  I think that all the skills I use as a musician (or regret if I don’t use!) are analogous with aspects of undertaking (qualitative) research.  I refer to qualitative research specifically due to its focus on hearing and seeing patterns in the data collected.  This is highly relevant for the use of constructivist grounded theory methodology which I am using for my research study, exploring registered nurses’ experiences of using OER’s as CPD for revalidation with the NMC.

Fundamentally they are about being open and paying attention, skills that strike me as key in learning from the participants that I will be interviewing.

Table of analogies between aspects of the research process and musical skills and knowledge

I do firmly believe these musical skills support my confidence in being able to engage in my research in a meaningful and rigorous way – time will tell however! Now, I need to concentrate on accurately completing the transposing of data from my scoping review into the draft chapter.

Are there any other interests that develop or utilise skills that are relevant to research?  I’d love to hear if you have examples.

Tanya

Musings about parallels between music and (qualitative) research

This blog is a bit more ‘off the wall’ than usual, not backed up with evidence but reflections about a feeling, that persists in attracting my attention.  I have now completed year 1 of my PhD and I really feel that I have achieved in this year.  Milestone markers have been passed and everything is set up ready for recruitment and data collection come the autumn term.

Dare I say that I am struggling with ‘imposter syndrome’?  It keeps coming to haunt me.  At risk of appearing conceited or overconfident, my struggle is not because I feel like an imposter, but because I don’t (this time)!  It almost feels expected for PGR students to feel like an imposter.  A confession – this isn’t the first time that I have started to undertake a PhD.  It is however, the furthest I have ever got so far!  In the past I registered somewhere that wasn’t the right fit for me and the taught components that started that programme put me outside of my comfort zone, so that I did not progress.  I felt like an imposter then.  After registering for a second time was forced to stop studying after having cancer treatment that resulted in ‘chemo-brain’, an awful feeling that left me feeling powerless for a long time as I literally couldn’t have named what a ‘door’ or ‘window’ was, let alone engage in anything requiring higher level reading or analysis.  I felt like an imposter then.  I did also have a young family at that time so there wasn’t space to do the relearning of core academic skills as well as progress them.  I admitted defeat after redrafting a position paper 4 or 5 times and still not having a clue what it was about! 

Over time that all improved and I relearnt terms and redeveloped skills (such as deep reading and writing) that I had previously relied on.  I successfully completed some study programmes and finally, with the confidence of these things under my belt, I returned to study for a PhD.  My work experience over the last years has involved the provision of in-depth support for research with undergraduate students, that really helped me to develop my research skills to a strong degree, before recommencing my studies.  There is, and will always be, a lot more to learn and I have strengthened the foundations of my knowledge and skills significantly through engagement with the researcher development programme and through supervision over the last year.  It is this, which makes me ‘not’ feel like an imposter.  Now is my time to use my skills.

Whilst the focused researcher development programme workshops have strengthened my skills, I can’t help feeling that a life interest/skill also contributes to my feeling of being more comfortable as a research student than I was previously.  I can’t recall how I came to this awareness exactly, but I have come to reflect on it a number of times over the year.  The skill is the ability to play a musical instrument, alone and in a group of other musicians.  I believe my musical ability is in my blood, as my father was a Royal Marine Bandsman.  I played instruments as a child, but stopped for many years, restarting with a vengeance about 3 years ago.  I think that all the skills I use as a musician (or regret if I don’t use!) are analogous with aspects of undertaking (qualitative) research.  I refer to qualitative research specifically due to its focus on hearing and seeing patterns in the data collected.  This is highly relevant for the use of constructivist grounded theory methodology which I am using for my research study, exploring registered nurses’ experiences of using OER’s as CPD for revalidation with the NMC.

Fundamentally they are about being open and paying attention, skills that strike me as key in learning from the participants that I will be interviewing.

Table of analogies between aspects of the research process and musical skills and knowledge

I do firmly believe these musical skills support my confidence in being able to engage in my research in a meaningful and rigorous way – time will tell however! Now, I need to concentrate on accurately completing the transposing of data from my scoping review into the draft chapter.

Are there any other interests that develop or utilise skills that are relevant to research?  I’d love to hear if you have examples.

Tanya

Building a short course in digital skills for students waiting to join a nursing associate apprenticeship course at college.

This activity requires recasting of a proposed short course in digital skills for students awaiting the start of an apprenticeship programme in nursing, so that it reflects a connectivist approach, developed by Siemens (Kop and Hill 2008).  The purpose of the course is to prepare students for undergraduate study with a focus on using digital skills to support their studies.  The course will run for 5 weeks and students will study for around 6 hours per week.

Week	Topic	Activities	Connectivist principles
1	Communicating online	Welcome and getting to know each other Introduction to communication systems and apps Introduction to sources of learning and knowledge Blogs Mailing lists Twitter Library resources Open resources Practical activities, i.e. write a short blog to introduce yourself	Nurturing and maintaining connections is needed to facilitate continual learning. Ability to see connections between fields, ideas and concepts is a core skill. Learning is a process of connecting specialised nodes or information sources. Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Learning may reside in non-human appliances (i.e. the personal learning network).   Welcome and introductions are important to give students the confidence to communicate online in their small group, then outside of that group.   Signposting the sources of knowledge and learning enables students to understand they can access knowledge in a broad context, reflecting their own needs and interests, rather than feeling it is all contained within ‘the teaching’.  It also introduces students to the fact that diversity of opinion is key to learning.
2	Assessing reliability of web sources	How to search for Internet (media) sources. How to critically appraise Internet sources.	Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision. Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known. Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities.   Diversity of opinion generates questions that lead to knowledge development.  Collaboration is key in that process.   Tools (i.e. PROMPT) may help us to analyse the reliability and validity of Internet/media sources.  NB: This tends to favour traditional ‘credible sources’.  Discussion needs to include Open Sources.    Emphasis on the changing landscape of the knowledge (relevant to nursing practice).  Ongoing learning is essential for effective practice, more than just knowing something.
3	Researching literature	How to search for literature	Capacity to know more is more critical than what is currently known. Currency (accurate, up-to-date knowledge) is the intent of all connectivist learning activities. Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.   Diversity of opinion generates questions that lead to knowledge development.  Collaboration is key in that process.   Emphasis on the changing landscape of the knowledge (relevant to nursing practice).  Ongoing learning is essential for effective practice, more than just knowing something is right ‘now’.  Strong emphasis on learning with and from others in the field and related social science fields.
4	Writing in academic English	Using online collaborative tools for feedback on English writing skills Introducing resources to assist writing in academic English	Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Decision making is itself a learning process.   Learning about process (writing) can be a purposeful decision.  Learning from peers can be less threatening than learning from ‘the teacher’ in terms of feedback on writing.  Collaborative writing development can help students develop feedback skills that will be critical for nursing practice.
5	Avoiding plagiarism	Exploring how to acknowledge the work of others. Thinking about reference sources (private and open). Active discussion activities around referencing and plagiarism (i.e. students write a paragraph that is or is not plagiarised and fellow students say which they think it is and why).	Learning and knowledge rests in diversity of opinions. Learning may reside in non-human appliances. Decision making is itself a learning process. Choosing what to learn and the meaning of incoming information is seen through the lens of a shifting reality. While there is a right answer now, it may be wrong tomorrow due to alterations in the information climate affecting the decision.   Collaborative writing development building on week 4, to incorporate referencing practice, can help students identify plagiarism and refine referencing skills.

I found this was an interesting activity, but that my original course proposition was not as focused on digital literacy as I had first thought.  This made it more difficult to apply the connectivist principles overall, I felt.  The activity really pushed me to try and think out of the box as on reflection, despite designing the course around OERs, there was still a very traditional model of delivery in mind to support learning.  As the activity progressed, I could see that there is much potential for a connectivist learning approach.

Do I find connectivism useful

I do find connectivism useful.  I can see it’s potential in a higher education setting, especially in higher level study.  I also see potential for informal (professional or personal) learning and knowledge development.  I have to battle with my own concept of a course being based on a traditional classroom model, with or without blended/online learning and OERs.  Perhaps this will change as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and the huge shift to online learning that has happened in order to maintain delivery of teaching for students.

Was connectivism was in conflict with the traditional concept of a course

Despite my initial focus of traditional/classroom concept of a course, reflection during the activity opened my mind to see that connectivism is not actually in conflict with it.  Fostering an open approach to network development and learning from others outside of the course is a positive action to instil from the start, to develop questioning practitioners, open to learning from a wide range of sources/people.

What it would be like to study or teach a course based around connectivism.

Thinking about H817, which encourages connectivist approaches through dialogue on blog posts, personal learning network development and connection with others, this felt uncomfortable at first as it is different to the traditional models of learning that I have previously experienced.  This may be in part to the professional group I reside in and the fact I first studied in that group in 1987.  My views, due the educational experiences I have had within that profession, are long established.  I can see the benefits of starting out with a connectivist approach and if I was starting fresh now, I think I would enjoy studying in this way and value the breadth of learning and knowledge it would afford.  For those starting now, it will feel natural and ‘normal’ to them.

Kop, R. and Hill, A., 2008. Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past? The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning,9 (3).

My Personal Learning Network

I approached this activity feeling worried that my PLN is a bit limited. Taking time out of a career to have children then to overcome illness, then returning part-time has changed my priorities. I feel that I have not developed a strong professional PLN but this is beginning to strengthen now.

After analysing my PLN, I realise that it is stronger than I thought, except for the area of social media. This is an area that can be developed and that will develop naturally through my continued studies.

My PLN is represented in an image at https://padlet.com/tanyaandrewes/6yhlb8vqdob000ls

Tanya

Comparing ds106 and FutureLearn

For this activity I have compared ds106 (www.ds106.us) and an ‘introduction to cybersecurity’ course that I previously undertook on FutureLearn (www.futurelearn.com). 

ds106 is an open course for digital story-telling, based at the University of Mary Washington in America  (University of Mary Washington 2020).  An introduction to cybersecurity is a short course that was developed by The Open University in the UK (NB – it does not appear to be running anymore, replaced by two alternative courses).

Technology

Technology requirements for ds106 are ‘a real computer, a hardy internet connection, preferably a domain of your own and some commodity web hosting, and all the creativity you can muster’ (UMW 2020).  ds106 is a learner led programme of learning.  As such new technologies are integrated by the learners and a range of social media/communication tools are used.   The website itself feels dated and is a bit clunky to use.

FutureLearn lists requirements for each course separately (FutureLearn 2020).  I did not see technology requirements listed, despite a specific search for this.  The courses deliver content using written word, videos and audio.  There are discussion boards for learners to contribute to, so access to a computer or mobile device is essential to engage in the courses.

Pedagogy

ds106 reflects a cMOOC model, where the emphasis is on connectivism with other learners.  The ongoing open ds106 course does not have an assigned ‘teacher’.  Learners help to co-create knowledge through dialogue.

An introduction to cybersecurity reflects an xMOOC, a model where there is emphasis on delivery of content, similar to (or an extension of) a university curriculum.  Each of the courses has a named ‘teacher’ who engages with learners in the discussion forum or through response to questions. Achievement is commonly measured through ‘quizzes’ at points throughout and at the end of the course.

General approach and philosophy.

ds106 ‘runs’ at several times during the year, but also enables registration at any point in the year (not linked to a cohort or presentation) within an open ongoing course.  Student engagement and interaction are actively encouraged and supported.  There is a real sense of openness with students contributing images and assignments to the course website for use by others.  I feel I would be welcome to sign up for this course.

FutureLearn has a very corporate feel.  It offers access to short courses, microcredentials (professional and academic accreditation) and online degrees, formally developed by selected partner universities.  The requirements state who the course is appropriate for (i.e. allergies and when the immune system backfires is designed for healthcare professionals or students studying health sciences, and may be of interest to the general public looking to gain insight into the subject) (FutureLearn 2020).  Some access is ‘open’, but payment is required for long term access and certificates of achievement.  I feel nervous about signing up for these courses that feel more formal.

FutureLearn, 2020. Introduction to Cyber Security – The Open University [online]. Online: FutureLearn. Available from: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/introduction-to-cyber-security/2/todo/1496 [Accessed 19 April 2020].

University of Mary Washington, 2020. About ds106 [online]. Online: University of Mary Washington. Available from: http://ds106.us/about/ [Accessed 19 April 2020].

Thinking about MOOCs in the context of nursing education

After reviewing Weller’s (2012) video where he interviews George Siemens and Dave Cormier about the development of MOOCs, and reviewing the OpenEd trend report on MOOCs (Jansen et al. 2018) I have considered whether there is a place for the adoption of MOOCs in my own area of nursing education.

Nursing education is quite territorial in terms of being a profession and under the regulation of a professional body.  The Nursing and Midwifery Council (in the UK) set out firm requirements for practice and theory, along with standards for supervision and assessment, that must be met in order for an individual to enter the professional register and practice as a nurse or midwife (NMC 2018).  University providers of nursing programmes are subject to accreditation from the NMC.  Historically, ongoing professional development courses studied after registration have also been accredited and recordable on the professional register.  So, at first glance I would not think that MOOCs would be suitable for adoption in my area.

However, the courses that were accredited and recordable were often funded and supported with study leave.  This is no longer the case with many nurses funding their own postgraduate development and studying in their own time.  In terms of ongoing professional development, that must be evidenced in order to remain on the professional register, I think that MOOCs offer a clear potential source of development.  The Royal College of Nursing Institute (RCNi 2015) has developed a range of short professional development learning activities, some that are ‘free of cost’ but this requires registration, so only available to registered nursing students or practising nurses and midwives.  In the spirit of exploring OERs for nursing I did a brief search on Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/), where I found some resources for professional development, focusing predominantly on nursing and health informatics.  I also did a brief search on MERLOT (https://www.merlot.org/), which returned a number of results, predominantly around nursing theories and nursing care.  There were also some apps available on MERLOT to support nursing practice. 

Therefore, I think there is potential to develop MOOCs for professional development activities, post-registration.

References

Jansen, D., Brown, M., Read, T., Barcena, E., Sedano, B., Lapworth, A., Aydin, C. H., Traxler, J., Fueyo, A., Hevia, I., Velasco, S., Creelman, A., Witthaus, G., Friedl, C., Staubitz, T., Karachristos, C. V., Lazarinis, F., Stavropoulos, E. C. and Verykios, V. S., 2018. The 2018 OpenupEd trend report on MOOCs [online]. Netherlands ,  Europe: European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU). Available from: https://www.oerknowledgecloud.org/record2260 [Accessed 13 April 2020].

NMC, 2018. Realising professionalism: Standards for education and training. [online]. London: Nursing and Midwifery Council. Available from: https://www.nmc.org.uk/globalassets/sitedocuments/education-standards/programme-standards-nursing.pdf [Accessed 13 April 2020].

RCNi, 2015. About us | RCNi [online]. Online: @rcni. Available from: https://rcni.com/about-us [Accessed 13 April 2020].

Weller, M., 2012. MOOCs [online]. YouTube: Martin Weller. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1G4SU [Accessed 12 April 2020].

The advantages and disadvantages of big and little OER

This activity required review of a slidecast  (Weller 2011) and analysis of disadvantages and advantages of BIG/little OER.

BIG OER refers to large-scale, externally funded OER projects, such as MIT’s Open Courseware and the Open University’s OpenLearn projects (Weller 2012). BIG OERs are usually quality assured, uniform in their presentation and well-focused, containing explicit teaching aims. Because they are generated through projects, they enable research and data collection.

Little OER refers to resources produced by individuals, shared on third party sites, such as YouTube, Slideshare, Flickr (Weller 2012), or latterly apps such as Quizlet or Padlet.  Little OERs can be produced by anyone, not just educators.  There is no quality assurance mechanism.  Weller (2012) notes that little OERs frequently fail to state teaching aims.  As such, they may need significant adaptation for use.

The disadvantages and advantages of BIG and little OER are captured in the Padlet board at https://padlet.com/tanyaandrewes/uoprtu813b20x8jl (image below, or use the link to add comments on the board).

Padlet capture image

In a previous activity we searched for OERs in repositories.  It was apparent that BIG OERs were easy to find in 3 repositories (MERLOT; FutureLearn and OpenLearn).  I did not find any significantly useful little OERs in my search, which raises concerns for marketing and sustainability.

Both BIG OERs and little OERs have advantages in open education.  BIG OERs are high quality, reliable sources, likely to demonstrate sustainability well with research evidence around their development and use.  Little EORs are produced by individuals in a bottom up approach, which is responsive to current practice concerns and issues.  They face greater sustainability concerns as a result of being less explicitly focused on teaching aims, of lower quality and more difficult to find in a search engine or repository.

References:

Shirky, C., 2008. Where do people find the time Part 1 [online]. YouTube: Clay Shirky. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyoNHIl-QLQ [Accessed 11 April 2020].

Weller, M., 2009. Future Interview [online]. YouTube: Martin Weller. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jt5bqMqY0 [Accessed 11 April 2020].

Weller, M., 2011. Academic output as collateral damage [online]. Online: Martin Weller. Available from: https://www.slideshare.net/mweller/academic-output-as-collateral-damage [Accessed 10 April 2020].

Weller, M., 2012. The openness-creativity cycle in education. Journal of Interactive Media in Education,2012 (1).

Zittrain, J., 2009. The Disruptive Power of the Generative Internet [online]. YouTube: Fora.tv. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=–viB3zTznA [Accessed 11 April 2020].

Reflecting on the sustainability of OERs in Higher Education

For this activity, we were required to read the paper by Wiley (2007) in order to understand sustainability issues of OERs.

Wiley defines sustainability, in the context of OERs as “an OER project’s ongoing ability to meet its goals” (p5).

He presents 3 models of sustainability:

1. The MIT model.  This is highly centralised, relying predominantly on paid employees.  The MIT OCW model seeks to publish every course in the entire university catalogue and to republish updated versions, archiving previous versions.

1. The USU model.  This model is a blend of centralisation and decentralisation of both organisation and services.  There are some paid staff and some volunteers who complete the work.  The goal of the USU project is to publish as many of the courses in the USU course catalogue as possible.

1. The Rice model.  This model is almost fully provided by volunteers.  The Rice Connexions project seeks to enable collaborative development of educational modules and courses across the world.

We were asked to review 4 open education initiatives and to consider the model for sustainability in each.

Coursera (https://www.coursera.org/)

BCCampus (https://bccampus.ca/)

FutureLearn (https://www.futurelearn.com/)

OpenLearn (https://www.open.edu/openlearn/)

Both BCCampus and OpenLearn focused on a corporate collection of resources, akin to the MIT model.  Coursera and FutureLearn reflected collaborations of authors/contributors from a wide variety of Higher Education Providers, more akin to the Rice model but not wholly reflective of it.  In no case was there an explicit statement around sustainability.  It would appear that there was a blend of sustainability models in practice, perhaps reflective of developments over time, since Wiley’s paper was written in 2007. 

In general, it would appear that there is a blend of ‘cost free’ and paid for learning.  The progression from a free OER to paid learning would be a means of sustaining the free content.

References:

Wiley, D., 2007. On the Sustainability of Open Educational Resource Initiatives in Higher Education

Sourcing a short course through OER repositories

Week 8 activity 8

Building a short course in digital skills for students waiting to join a nursing associate apprenticeship course at college.

I am constructing a course in digital skills for students awaiting the start of an apprenticeship programme in nursing, the purpose to prepare them for undergraduate study with a focus on using digital skills to support their studies.  The course will run for 5 weeks and students will study for around 6 hours per week.

In order to cover the topics with open resources, I have done a search for OER in the following repositories:

• Solvonauts (a search engine for OER repositories) at http://solvonauts.org 
• Merlot at http://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
• MIT at http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
• OpenLearn at http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/  
• OpenStax at http://cnx.org/      
• Saylor at http://solvonauts.org          

The results are summarised in the table below.

Week	Topic	Resources
1	Communicating online	Merlot – several good resources, including a link to OU resources (http://www.open.ac.uk/libraryservices/beingdigital/pathways/9/8)  and a ‘communicating in cyberspace course’ (also on MIT) OpenLearn – a range of useful resources. MIT – good in parts but not as useful as Merlot. Nothing found on Solvonauts, OpenStax and Saylor.
2	Assessing reliability of web sources	Merlot.  3 useful resources. OpenLearn.  1 useful resource. Nothing relevant found on MIT, Solvonauts, OpenStax and Saylor.
3	Researching literature	Merlot.  A range of relevant resources. OpenLearn.  Some resources, however none relevant to context. OpenStax.  Some relevant open text books. Nothing relevant found on MIT, Solvonauts and Saylor.
4	Writing in academic English	Merlot.  Some very useful resources, including aimed at the specific college population.  Some open text books as well as courses. OpenLearn. Some relevant resources available. MIT.  A range of relevant resources available. Saylor.  1 relevant resource and 1 broadly relevant. Nothing relevant found on Solvonauts or OpenStax.
5	Avoiding plagiarism	Merlot.  Several relevant resources, including lesson plans and resources for students directly. OpenLearn.  A range of useful and relevant resources around avoiding plagiarism. MIT.  1 very good resource and a range of other resources available. Solvonauts.  1 lesson resource. OpenStax.  Several broadly relevant resources. Nothing found on Saylor.

Summary of OER repository search

The process of searching for resources was time consuming and at times frustrating.  I was surprised at the lack of resources in some of the searches.  Merlot and OpenLearn proved to be the strongest consistently.  I was quite fixed on what I wanted to teach, so didn’t change it based on the availability of OERs as there was something for every topic area.

Because the materials in most cases need some adaptation to suit the audience, I don’t feel that sourcing everything through OER repositories saved any time.  If there were more sharing of OERs in repositories this might change in the future.   

Tanya

Exploring OER issues. All data taken from de los Arcos (2014).

The Open Educational Resource Research Hub (OERRH) undertakes research and publishes data around the impact of OER on learning and teaching practices and around the influence of openness. Data collection is collaborative, across four educational sectors. 

The areas for research focus broadly sit within the themes of the impact of OER on learners/learning, the impact of OER on learning and teaching practices and the influence of openness (reuse of resources).  Three key issues are set out below.

Access/accessibility and justice

This theme is important since there several hypotheses are put forward around the benefits of access and accessibility with OERs

Access: OER widen participation in education linked to

Finance: OER adoption brings financial benefits for students

Whilst there is access to informal education through OER, uptake has been found to be negatively correlated in respect of demographics. De los Arcos (2014) report that between 57% and 80% of those accessing OER already have a degree qualification.  31% of learners had signed up for OER as a means of trialling higher education, with 10% of those who accessed OU open education signing up for formal study.

Some learners use OER as a means to achieve otherwise inaccessible formal education.  The provision of the OER at no cost is a significant benefit.  Some learners use OER to learn a subject that they could not otherwise afford to access, supporting diversity of learning.

Access and accessibility are linked to justice in education provision.  OER can increase access to education for informal learners with disabilities (16% ‘disabled’ users in the OU, compared with 8% in HE within the UK). Additionally, 47% of OpenLearn users use OER to improve their English language skills. 

OER can be used to support at risk students but those who are at risk may not have sufficient access to technical resources to engage with OER.  This factor might also influence whether informal learners have an awareness of, or have the facility to search for OER in the first place.

The OU has begun some longitudinal research to explore the influence of OER in learners signing up to formal study.  I feel that it would be helpful to also explore what factors impact on learners’ decisions to search for OER, especially with groups of learners who are under-represented in education access.  

Assessment and accreditation

This theme is important since there is evidence that learners find accreditation of learning an incentive when using OER.

Assessment: Informal assessments motivate learners using OER

The hypothesis above suggests that informal assessments motivate learners, however evidence from de los Arcos (2014) reveals that whilst feedback and quizzes are popular, human support remains highly valued.  This is significant because cost of OER are linked to the levels of support available.  Informal assessment and feedback built into OERs enables learners to review their learning and focus future learning and development.  Formal support is built into accredited programmes of learning, which are not free at the point of access like OERs are.  The Open University (Law 2015) have developed the use of digital badges to formalise learning.  My perspective is as a health care professional for whom we have always had to have formal ‘evidence’ of study, so I am more active in seeking out open education that has badges.  I do appreciate that learning can be ‘for its own sake/value).  I have completed open learning units, but value being able to capture the ‘evidence’ of completion/success (i.e. a screen capture of the test results if a badge is not available).  There is potential for further research into the incentives of learners in selecting OERs (i.e. personal interest or professional requirement) and whether needs are met by informal feedback or badging.

Embedding OER into practice through policy development

Research in this area explores the development of OER use, including awareness of OER repositories, tracking of resources and measuring the impact OERs have had both on learners and on educators.  Overall, awareness of OER repositories is low.  Once educators become aware of these repositories and begin to use OERs in their work, they become more engaged with searching out further resources for use.  The evidence states that OER use stimulates refection on practice for educators.  Notably, the oerrh report reveals that there is little evidence of bottom-up implementation of OER use, through policy development.  This is an area for further research.  There is high support for open textbooks, that reduce the financial burden for learners and organisations and that mean learners have easy access to learning materials at all times.  I feel that this is an area would more research would be beneficial, to fully explore the extent of use of open resources (textbooks), including how this is built into organisational policy on accredited programmes of learning.  Where creative commons licenses enable adaptation of OERs the impact of that OER have is not always transparent.  This is an area for further research, perhaps through exploring comments and feedback in the repositories.

Further scholarship in the areas above, should help to provide evidence of the impact of OER in order to guide future practice development. 

References.

de los Arcos, B., Farrow, R., Perryman, L. A., Pitt, R. and Weller, M., 2014. OER Evidence Report 2013-2014. Available from http://oerresearchhub.org/about-2/reports/: OER Research Hub.

Law, P., 2015. Digital badging at The Open University: recognition for informal learning. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning,30 (3), 221-234.