Conference presentation to the 38th Annual CALRG conference on 14th June 2017. Looks at the barriers to participation in open, online learning. Draws on action research by the Opening Educational Practices in Scotland project working with HE, third sector, unions and other informal educators.

1. Opening Educational Practices in
Scotland
Exploring barriers to participation
in open, online learning
Rosemarie McIlwhan

2. 2
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
About us
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland is a cross-sector
project that facilitates best practice in Scottish open education.
We aim to enhance Scotland’s reputation and capacity for
developing publicly available and licenced online materials,
supported by high quality pedagogy and learning technology.

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
OEPS
• Final two months of 3-year
project (finish 31/7/17)
• Working with >60 partners
to identify and share good
practice.
• Working with some of
these partners to co-
design and co-produce
exemplar free openly
licensed courses
www.oepscotland.org

4. 4
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Defining OER and OEP
• Open Educational Resources (OER) - focus on
freedoms afforded by openly licensing content “The 5
Rs”: retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute (Wiley,
2014)) and the degree to which design, development
and distribution accounts for equity and openness.
• Open Educational Practices (OEP) are usually
understood as approaches to teaching and facilitation
using technology to support learning in the context of
high quality OER.

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
The promise of open education
• Free access to high quality education on a mass scale
• Widening access and participation
‘Promote and use OER to widen access to education at all
levels both formal and non-formal in a perspective of lifelong
learning …’ (UNESCO, 2012)
• However:
‘… there is little evidence of educational transformation
resulting from OER practices: [..]. The lack of sufficient
evidence hinders understanding of the role of OER in
widening access to education, social inclusion, and long-term
sustainability.’ (Butcher, 2011)

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Understanding Barriers
• Barriers can be situational, institutional and dispositional
(Fuller & Paton, 2008)
• Those most disadvantaged are least like to be
connected (Royal Society of Edinburgh, 2010)
• Disconnect between everyday digital skills and online
learning/study skills (Beetham et al, 2010)

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier: Looks/ feels like university
Credit:‘Courserahomepage’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier: Looks/ feels like university
Credit:‘FuturelearnStudySkills’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier: Looks/ feels like university
Credit:‘OpenLearn’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier: Looks/ feels like university
Credit:‘OLC’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier: Quantity of information
Credit:‘Courseracourses’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier: Quantity of information
Credit:‘TED’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier:
Quantity of
information
Credit:‘FuturelearnCourses’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

14. 14
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Barrier:
Quantity of
information
Credit:‘OpenLearnCreatecourses’screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Further barriers
• Perception that online learning =
individual learning
• Past negative experience of online
learning e.g. tickbox courses
• Limited digital literacy – second
digital divide
• Distinction formal learning v.
everyday self-directed learning
Credit:‘Workingwirelessly’,byAdamTanzonni/TimesAlliance,CCBY2.0

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Tackling barriers
• Focus on students and contextualise pedagogy
• Use technology as a tool rather than the subject
• Ensure opportunities to share social learning and
engage with idea
• Make connections between existing skills /digital
literacy and online learning
• Use trusted gate keepers/facilitators

17. 17
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Case study: Supporting
collective learning
http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/supporting-collective-learning
Credit:‘Supportingopenlearning’byOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0
• Designed for
use in
workplace or
community
groups
• Addresses
situational
institutional &
dispositional
barriers
• Peer support

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Case study: Parkinson’s UK
• Co-designed
• Addresses
situational
institutional &
dispositional
barriers
• Peer support
Credit:'UnderstandingParkinson’s-homepage’,screenshotbyOEPS,CCBYNCSA4.0
http://www.open.edu/openlearncreate/understanding-parkinsons

19. Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Contact Us:
Email: OEPScotland@open.ac.uk
Twitter: @OEPScotland
Web: www.oepscotland.org
Community hub: www.oeps.ac.uk

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Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
References
• Beetham, H., McGill, L. and Littlejohn, A. (2010) Learning Literacies in the Digital Age
report, Joint Information System Committee [Online]. Available at
www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/projects/elearningllida
• Butcher, N. (2011). Mainstreaming the use of open educational practices (OEP) will
transform education [Online debate]. Retrieved from http://www.wsis-
community.org/pg/debates/group:14358/viewstatement/400536/400537/401532
• The Royal Society of Edinburgh (2010) Digital Scotland, Edinburgh, The Royal Society of
Edinburgh.
• UNESCO (2012) Paris OER Declaration [Online]. Available at
http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/CI/WPFD2009/English_Declaration.ht
ml
• Wiley, D. (2014) ‘The Access Compromise and the 5th R’, Iterating towards progresss, 5
March 2014 [Blog]. Available at https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/3221
Further reading:
• Cannell, P. (2016) ‘Lifelong learning and partnerships: rethinking the boundaries of the
university in the digital age’, Widening Participation and Lifelong Learning, 18(1), 61–73.
• Cannell, P. and Macintyre, R. (2017) ‘Free open online resources in workplace and
community settings – a case study in overcoming barriers’, Widening Participation and
Lifelong Learning, 19(1), 111-122.