open and informal: opening up the open university
DESCRIPTION
The Open University is exploring the development of pathways between more open and informal learning and formal learning, and is changing the nature of audience and learner interaction and participation, through the creative use of open educational resources and different media channels. Developing from the University’s main hosting website for open educational resources (http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/), the OU is extending its reach into Africa, as well as transforming teaching and learning practice in the UK. Other media channels (e.g. YouTube and ITunesU) allow us to explore how to engage different audiences in different ways to bring them into the educational sphere. Within the Institute, we have large projects running which also bring learning to wider audiences, allowing us to understand much more about how learners work with open educational resources, both in terms of consumption and creation, allowing them to cross many apparent boundaries between formal, informal, non-formal content, learner and teacher, guide and mentor, personal and institutional.TRANSCRIPT
Open and Informal: Opening up The Open
University
Josie TaylorDirectorInstitute of Educational Technology
Henry Jenkins"If it were possible to define generally the mission of
education, it could be said that its fundamental purpose is to ensure that all students benefit from learning in ways that allow them to participate fully in public, community, [Creative] and economic life." -- New London Group
Henry Jenkins’ blog (accessed 21 December 2009) http://henryjenkins.org/2006/10/confronting_the_challenges_of.html
The Open University
Challenge for the OU: People
Challenge for the OU: Media
Science at the OU
Science at the OU
8
9
GOING MULTI-CHANNEL/DEVICE
Free to browse | Free to register | Free to use | Free to adapt | Free to share
openlearn
KNOWLEDGE
World Service
Global News
Where are we going?
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_Cxldf9lKk
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
TVYouTubeFacebookTwitter BloggersopenlearniTunesU PodcastingSecondLifeiSpot
….
…to guide media use, development and integration
1970's 1980's 1990's 2000's
Broadcastcourse related
TelevisionInteractivePrint media
Broadcastcourse related
RadioTutors
f2f/phone/post
Broadcastcourse related
Television
InteractiveVideocassette
Broadcastcourse related
Radio
InteractiveAudiocassette
InteractivePrint media
InteractiveVideocassette
InteractiveAudiocassette
InteractiveintegratedMultimedia
Print media
Outreach TVA/V digital
media
social media
Web 2.0
Support mediaconferencing/
Tutorsf2f/phone/
post
Tutorsf2f/phone/
post
Support mediaconferencing/
Non courserelated TV(outreach)
Internet/Web 1.0
On-line and postal delivery
InteractiveintegratedMultimedia
Disk-based media and postaldelivery
Support mediaconferencing/
Broadcast and postaldelivery
Broadcast and postaldelivery
Print mediaTutors
f2f/phone/post
Web 3.0 andbeyond
VirtualWorlds
Mobile technology
Members feel some connection – they care
Contribute when you want
Ecological approach• interrelationship among all the different communication
technologies• the cultural communities that grow up around them• the activities they support.
• Interactivity is a property of the technology, while participation is a property of culture.
Platform
Faculty
OtherBroadcast
BBC UK Research
iSpot
SecondLife
Newton
YouTube
iTunesU
bbc.co.uk
TwitterFacebook
etc
OpenLearn/SocialLearn
Study@OU
RetainConvertAware Engage
Course
s
Intra
net, S
tudent &
Tuto
r Hom
e
Challenge for learners
Personal development or major cultural shift?
Informal learning cultures…
Why do people learn more, participate more actively, engage more deeply with popular culture than they do with the contents of their textbooks?
James Paul Gee (2009)
Affinity Spaces: James Paul Gee (2009)
Gee’s distinctions
Formal education system• Conservative• Static• Structures to sustain are
institutional • Remain little changed over long
periods of time• Communities are bureaucratic
and often national• Does not allow for easy
movement in and out
Informal affinity space• Experimental• Innovative• Structures to sustain are
provisional• Can respond to short-term
needs and temporary interests• Communities are ad hoc and
localised• Allows for easy moves in and
out of informal learning communities
SocialLearn• This work is at the heart of our SocialLearn project• Understanding communities• Understanding how to move people along through
various culture shifts toward and through higher education
• Supporting them to achieve their short-term and long-term goals – at a national scale
Acknowledgements• Henry Jenkins’ blog (accessed 21 December 2009)
http://henryjenkins.org/2006/10/confronting_the_challenges_of.html• James Gee, Situated Language and Learning: A Critique of
Traditional Schooling. New York: Routledge, 2004. • Andrew Law, Peter Scott, Patrick McAndrew, Grainne Conole, The
Open University