Towards a more open Northampton

Tuesday 11:00-12:30 (5), Darwin Suite

Type: Lightning talk

Theme: Academic practice, development and pedagogy

https://sites.google.com/site/opennorthampton #oer14 #abs43

Authors

Dr Ming Nie and Professor Ale Armellini, Northampton University

Abstract

Introduction

Open Northampton (https://sites.google.com/site/opennorthampton) is a project funded by the University of Northampton (UoN). The project aims to release high quality, properly licensed learning and teaching content into open repositories to enhance UoN’s presence on the global OER map.

The project aligns with UoN’s ‘Raising the Bar’- Strategic Plan 2010-2015, and will impact directly on the following aspects of the strategic plan:

- Enhancing student experience and satisfaction through the use of quality, rich and diverse learning and teaching materials in the teaching programmes.
- Achieving financial sustainability by reducing the cost of producing high quality learning and teaching materials.
-Maximising UoN’s visibility and academic offerings globally by releasing materials as OER.
- Increasing institutional recognition and attracting students to specific courses of study through offering ‘tasters’ (McGill et al., 2013).
- Enhancing UoN’s links and partnership opportunities with local public, private and third-sector organisations, which will be able to access and reuse UoN’s materials at no cost to them.

Implementation

Open Northampton will operate in three phases. An evaluation of the project will be conducted at the different phases to ensure there is the alignment between deliverables and the project’s objectives:

- Phase 1 (August 2013 – July 2014): The objective is to release at least one OER from each subject area (40-50 OERs in total) into JORUM (http://www.jorum.ac.uk) by July 2014. The materials can come in different sizes and formats, such as: teaching units (in Word or PDF), lecture presentations (in PowerPoint or PDF), video clips, audio clips, assessment/learning activities, and other types of materials. In this phase some materials will be piloted and delivered in the form of a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) or a SOOC (Small Open Online Course). Evaluation will be conducted mainly with UoN academics who contribute materials to the project to establish the impact of the project on their perception of openness and teaching practice.

- Phase 2 (August 2014-July 2015): UoN will create its own OER repository. Proper research and evaluation will be conducted to provide regular and usable reports on the impact of the repository and resources on visibility and students (including page views, downloads, effect of OER on student recruitment, etc.). The delivery of MOOCs or SOOCs will spread and be evaluated across all schools and levels. The outcomes from the project will inform the development of UoN’s internal Learning and Teaching strategy.

- Phase 3 (August 2015-July 2016): Significant OER and open educational practices (OEP) are deployed. A critical mass of OER has been reached for MOOC or SOOC offerings. Further research outputs on OER and OEP are delivered.

Results

The talk will present a case of UoN’s development and release of open educational resources (OER). In the presentation we will share results from Phase 1 of the project. This will include: strategies used to engage stakeholders, an overview of the materials released into JORUM as OERs (i.e. subject, format, size, etc.), concerns or challenges encountered in the project, and the plan taking the project forward.

References

McGill, L., Falconer, I., Dempster, J.A., Littlejohn, A. and Beetham, H. (2013). Journeys to open educational practice: UKOER/SCORE review final report. Jisc. Available from: https://oersynth.pbworks.com/w/page/60338879/HEFCE-OER-Review-Final-Report. [Accessed 23 November 2013].

Files

• Open Northampton_OER14_29Apr2014.pptx

Recap recording

A recording of this presentation is available to view at https://campus.recap.ncl.ac.uk/Panopto/Pages/Viewer/Default.aspx?id=e962bd2f-c9f0-936a-d0c9-874bc266fd3a ©Northampton University 2014 Ming Nie and Ale Armellini cc-by 4.0.

Further details

Keywords: Open Northampton, OER, OEP, open educational resource, open educational practice, MOOC, SOOC, evaluation

Website: https://sites.google.com/site/opennorthampton