Ten years of open practice: a reflection on the impact of OpenLearn. Presented at OE Global, Krakow, April 2016.

1. Ten years of open practice:
a reflection on the impact
of OpenLearn
Patrina Law
Head of Free Learning, The Open University
@HigherEdPatrina

2. 2
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…

3. Engaging new learners
3

4. 4
What’s on the OpenLearn platform?
www.open.edu/openlearn

5. The journey into OpenLearn

6. 6 6
6
Reaching
other
platforms

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7
A commitment to openness

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Benefits to institutions of OER
Increasesaccess to education
Provides an opportunityto assess and plan education choices
Showcases intellectualoutputs, promoting profile and attracting students
Converts learners into fee paying enrolments
Accelerateslearning
Adds value to knowledge production
Reduces faculty preparationtime
Generatescost savings
Enhances quality
Generatesinnovation through collaboration.
(Stacey, 2012)
For OU studentsin particular:
 A taster for online/distance
 Delivers improved progression for those that use OpenLearn
 A vehicle for module choice / qualificationpathway

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Who are OpenLearn learners?

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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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OpenLearn launch in 2006

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OpenLearn in 2006: LearningSpace and
LabSpace

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OpenLearn merging of sites 2010

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Social learning support, then and now

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Top ten courses on OpenLearn
1. Start writing fiction
2. Introductionto bookkeeping and
accounting
3. Essay and report writing skills
4. Getting started on classical Latin
5. Introductionto child psychology
6. Introductionto music theory
7. Spanish Espacios publicos
8. The importance of interpersonal skills
9. Nutrition, vitamins and minerals
10. 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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OpenLearn today

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What this has achieved in 10 years

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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 other
short pieces of learning.
• Of those who had used OpenLearn, majority declared increase in
confidencein their studies as a result.
• Those who had used OpenLearn were 5-10% more likely to progress to
the next module.
Qualitativedata
Identifies four main themes as to the opportunity that using OpenLearn affords:
1. To re-assurethat 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 moduleas they move through a qualification;
4. To use OpenLearnmaterialsas an additional resource toaugment their learning.

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Integrating OEP – producing
OpenLearn courses
Module
choice
Retention
Key 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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OpenLearn learners want OU-
branded recognition for their
learning.
80%

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What are digital badges?
Image credits: Thornhill School http://thornhillschool.org.uk/current/latest-news/-/post/blue-
peter-badges;and PatrinaLaw.
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 display
Mozilla Backpack
(or other aggregator)
My OpenLearn Profile
Social networks
Printable certificate https://backpack.openbadges.org/backpack/login

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Integrating open principles

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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