From Open Educational Resources to Open Educational Practices

Professional development of language teachers through

collaborative writing and peer review

Annette Duensing (a.duensing@open.ac.uk)

and Matilde Gallardo (m.gallardo@open.ac.uk),

The Open University

Overview of presentation

• Context of the project: Languages at the OU

• LORO and its use by teachers

• Rationale and set up of our staff development project

• Resources developed

• Initial evaluation

• Conclusion and future plans

Languages at The Open University

• English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Welsh & Chinese (beginners to advanced) to 10000+ language students

• Blended approach: independent study using mixed media and support inc. face-to-face, synchronous and asynchronous online teaching

• Course materials produced centrally, teaching support provided locally

• Students study independently with materials, supported by ‘tutors/associate lecturers’

• 300+ part-time tutors. Line-managed in regional teams by ‘staff tutors’

• 1.5 mill. page views

• 50.000 downloads (July 2011 to June 2012)

• Over 2500 resources

• Over 1200 registered users

• Accessed from over 100 countries around the world

Benefits of using LORO (1)

• All teaching materials available to all users.• OU teaching materials available to the wider

languages community.• Users can share with the whole languages

community.• Firmly aimed at teaching practitioners• Easier access > promote dialogue > knowledge

sharing and creation > enhanced quality of teaching and learning.

Benefits of using LORO (2)• Value of feedback on one’s work

“gives me an opportunity to gain useful feedback on the work I do”

• … but there are constraints“peer comment should be extended, but the restraints of all our workloads make this a problem”

• Increase quality of teaching materials“sharing the resources I have created with colleagues stimulates me to write very good materials, test them and improve them so that they can be used by someone else. LORO really pushes me to produce better materials”

Teacher use of LORO

Rationale

“What is now needed is the opportunity for tutors to engage with aspects such as the collaborative creation of online resources for teaching, the benefits of peer observation and peer review of OER, and the incorporation of LORO into tutors’ own workflows as regards the location, creation and/or sharing of teaching resources.”

Aims of the Project

Staff development: The opportunity for tutors to engage with the collaborative creation of online resources for teaching, the benefits of peer review of OER, and the incorporation of LORO into tutors’ own workflows as regards the location, creation and / or sharing of teaching resources.

Technical development: To improve the functionality of LORO in order to enhance tutors’ engagement with the repository.

Initial questions

How does the use and reuse of OER relate to the tutors’ perception of their professional practice?

In particular, how do tutors make sense of their professional practice when producing their own materials from scratch, and when using existing OER or adapting materials produced by others. What is the role of creativity in this process, and how do tutors perceive this?

Stages in the Project

• Selection of participants.

• Synchronous online briefing and training session

• Follow up meetings 

• Asynchronous collaborative activities

• Publicising the project

• Evaluation questionnaire

Participants What we looked for:Up to 20 Associate Lecturers who had:• An ability to deliver good, communicative language

tutorials • Enthusiasm to run inclusive tutorials on Elluminate• A good understanding of student needs on OU modules• Evidence of previous experience in creating imaginative,

effective materials• Desirable: Evidence of previous experience in

collaborating with others

Found: 12 Associate Lecturers from different levels and languages, who met these requirements

Events• Training sessions

– Run synchronously online for participants only– Concept of OER and OEP– Practicalities (LORO functionality, finding pictures, copyright

issues, licences)– Evaluating resources– Issues of collaborative working and peer review– Meetings to discuss progress– Presenting resources to others

• Awareness raising of project and OER in general– Face-to-face events– Awareness raising for LORO– Concepts of OER and OEP– Create interest in the project

Collaborative tools

• Dedicated Elluminate room for training

• Dedicated project forum and wiki

• Email

• Participants Elluminate rooms

• other

Group work and resources developed

Adapted from a slide by Caroline Rowan-Olive

Working across languages – adapting resources from different languages

slide by Caroline Rowan-Olive

Feedback from tutors

• I found bouncing ideas around really stimulating, both in the Elluminate sessions and in our group.

• I enjoyed working with other members of the OU who I did not know. I found their experience, ideas and knowledge of language etc highly motivating.

• It was a very interesting and useful exercise. It encouraged me to work collaboratively and I appreciated the benefit of it. I have certainly learnt different things such as how to use new tools in order to make my material more interesting and interactive. Furthermore, since I took part in this project I started re-using and adapting existing materials and it is saving me lot of time. Finally the project encouraged me share my work and ideas with other: I liked to have feedback on my work before publishing it online (I thought it was very encouraging and reassuring), I have also been inspired from the work of other people.

• It was very interesting and definitely worthwhile, but collaborative writing is more time consuming than can be realistically expected from part time tutors. Unfortunately, we all need to pay bills at the end of the month ...

• I really enjoyed the project as I do believe in collaborative work. My partners were really nice and I enjoyed knowing them better. It is a pity, though, that so few people like working together and that collaborative work seems to only happen as part of special projects.

• I always like them. They are great and fun to do. I want to continue doing more of them.

Concluding remarks

After having participated in the project:• The number of tutors engaged in peer-review

increased.• The number of tutors who uploaded resources also

increased• More use of the resources produced during the

project • Valuable SD opportunity for participants. General

perception of a successful project.• Scope for dissemination and research in the near

future (e.g. extend project to other tutors, explore peer review further)

Thank you for listening!

Project Team:

T. Beaven, A. Comas-Quinn, A. Duensing, M. Gallardo,

S. Heiser, C. Pleines

The Open University

http://loro.open.ac.uk/