Ten years of open practice:
a reflection on the impact
of OpenLearn
Patrina LawHead of Free Learning, The Open University@HigherEdPatrina
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Providing free learning
ELIZABETH THE SECOND
by the Grace of God of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland and of
Our other Realms and
Territories Queen, Head of the
Commonwealth, Defender of the
Faith…
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Benefits to institutions of OER
Increases access to education
Provides an opportunity to assess and plan education choices
Showcases intellectual outputs, promoting profile and attracting students
Converts learners into fee paying enrolments
Accelerates learning
Adds value to knowledge production
Reduces faculty preparation time
Generates cost savings
Enhances quality
Generates innovation through collaboration.
(Stacey, 2012)
For OU students in particular: A taster for online/distance Delivers improved progression for those that use OpenLearn A vehicle for module choice / qualification pathway
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How do they feel about their learning?
58%
‘A test to give confidence my next
module choice is appropriate for me’
38%
80%
Declare improved
confidence in ability to study.
Are students (of this --
100,000 OU students / year).
Want OU-branded recognition
for informal learning.
More likely to take
another free course.
More likely to
recommend OU
content to others.
80%
80%
‘The free extracts of courses gave me
confidence to enroll in my first module…I
have also been using them to practice
time management.’
‘A good talking point and something
to include on my CV’
‘Fees are now too high for me to
consider continuing my degree’
‘Thank you for providing a resource
for people that cannot get to a facility
due to physical or financial difficulty. ’
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Top ten courses on OpenLearn
1. Start writing fiction2. Introduction to bookkeeping and
accounting3. Essay and report writing skills4. Getting started on classical Latin5. Introduction to child psychology6. Introduction to music theory7. Spanish Espacios publicos8. The importance of interpersonal skills9. Nutrition, vitamins and minerals10. Starting psychology
2008 2016
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Comparing trends in search
2009: 45% of visitors came to the platform via Internet search;
45% from referral sites and 10% from typing a direct URL.
2016: >90% of learners come to the platform via Internet
search; <4% direct to homepage.
• Google favours OpenLearn due to quality of content + quality and quantity of inbound links e.g. bbc.co.uk .gov and .edu sites.
• Usually the no. 1 search result for free course and in the top 3 for subject-specific free course search.
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What OU students think of OpenLearn
Survey 2015: 1,127 respondents:
• 48% had used OpenLearn.
• Majority (72%) had viewed free courses, over videos, activities or othershort pieces of learning.
• Of those who had used OpenLearn, majority declared increase in
confidence in their studies as a result.
• Those who had used OpenLearn were 5-10% more likely to progress tothe next module.
Qualitative data
Identifies four main themes as to the opportunity that using OpenLearn affords:
1. To re-assure that they have the ability to study at HE level;
2. To see what study at the OU is like before making a commitment;3. To help students choose the right module as they move through a qualification;
4. To use OpenLearn materials as an additional resource to augment their learning.
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Integrating OEP – producing
OpenLearn courses
Module choice
RetentionKey skills + preparation
Postgraduate qualifications
Engaging learner groups
Mass appeal + profile raising
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OEP for OL courses: process
OU module conceived
OpenLearn course proposal agreed
OpenLearn course specified.
OU module specified.
LEARNING DESIGN
OpenLearn course produced.
OU module produced
Critical read, review and signoff
OpenLearn course live before OU
module
Syndication to YouTube, Google
Play, Amazon, iTunes U
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Guiding principles for OpenLearn courses
Learners most value quizzes with feedback Use of activities and video also highly rated Select the most engaging content within a module Make a key topic accessible to new learners Ensure the course works as a stand-alone piece of learning Learners value recognition for their achievement (statement of
participation)
● New assets, such as videos and animations are used in module● Others’ OER used in OpenLearn course
Closed environments with a start and finish date i.e. MOOCs, have lower completion rates than open courses Forced social activity encourages high drop-out Straight adaptation of module content performs poorly
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When done well…
● Data over 6 months: 1st December 2014 to 31st May 2015 (site averages in brackets)
● Unique browsers 10,703● Average pages viewed 11.07 (3.27)● % UK 79.4% (50%)● CTR to OU courses 21% (~11%)
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What are digital badges?
Image credits: Thornhill School http://thornhillschool.org.uk/current/latest-news/-/post/blue-peter-badges; and Patrina Law.
As a coming together of games culture and the traditional badge issuing by clubs and societies, a digital badge has developed to become “…an online visual representation of an accomplishment or skill” (Ostashewski & Reid, 2015) issued in a variety of formal and non formal settings.
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Badged Open Courses: assessment
• All BOCs are 24 hours of learning
• Automatically-assigned via Moodle quizzes
• Learners need to achieve 50% to pass an assessment
• Learners are given three attempts
• If they fail on the third attempt, they can retake after 24 hours
• Practice assessment is available throughout the course
• All pages of the course must have been ‘read’
• Formal assessment halfway and at end of course
Two successful assessments = 1 badge
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Badged Open Courses: impact
• 2500+ badges issued
• The BOCs are generating around 12,000 new visitors a month to OpenLearn
• They drive a very high proportion of learners to click-through to make an enquiry to the OU (26.2% Feb-Nov 2015)
• Completion rates of BOCs are higher than our MOOCs
• 350 formal module registrations have been made (mostly entry level)
• 2,500 prospectus requests
• >300 qualification sign-ups (mostly new students)
• Satisfaction rates very high (~98%)
• 57% say that they will be sharing their achievements with an employer
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Badge displayMozilla Backpack (or other aggregator)
My OpenLearn ProfileSocial networks
Printable certificate https://backpack.openbadges.org/backpack/login
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OpenLearn and OpenLearn Create
10th anniversary redesign
www.open.edu/openlearn
www.open.edu/openlearnworks
Thank you for listening!@HigherEdPatrina
http://www.slideshare.net/patrinalaw