Presentation at Milton Keynes WP conference looking at barriers to engagement with OER from a WP perspective

1. Opening Educational Practices in
Scotland
Revisiting barriers to participation
Pete Cannell

2. 2
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
The Project
• Opening Educational
Practices in Scotland
is a three year project
led by the Open
University in Scotland
but involving all of the
higher education
sector.

3. 3
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Project objectives
The project encompasses a number of activities over a
three year period (2014-2017):
• Analysis of current open educational practices
• Events programme across Scotland to raise awareness of OEP
• Development of an online hub to encourage and share best practice in
open education
• Development of a small number of high quality OERs of particular
benefit to Scotland
• Badging of informal learning
• Learning design for widening participation
• Research and evaluation building strong evidence base
• Evaluation of various economic models of openness

4. 4
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
The promise of open education
• Free access to high quality education on a mass scale
• Widening participation
• UNESCO 2012
‘Promote and use OER to widen access to education at all
levels both formal and non-formal in a perspective of lifelong
learning …’
• Butcher 2011
‘… 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.’

5. 5
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Understanding the barriers to use of OER
• Partnership with Scottish Union
Learning
• Mutual interest in open learning
• Two series of workshops each
involving just under 100 Union
Learning Representatives
• Aim
to understand barriers
develop models for learning in the
workplace

6. 6
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Findings
•‘Traditional Barriers’ (situational, institutional,
dispositional) intersect and interact with specific
features of the open digital environment
•Too much choice – ‘looks like a University’
•Conceptions of online learning
ULRs at an OEPS workshop 2015
•Individualised
•Tick box
•Digital literacy – second
digital divide

7. 7
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Shifting the discussion

8. 8
Opening Educational Practices in Scotland
Social practice
• Developing evidence that models of
collective engagement and
pedagogical approaches that all peer
support and interaction are critical
• Hosting these on www.oeps.ac.uk
(OEPS hub)
• Builds on concepts of trusted
gatekeepers in WP practice
• Working with gatekeepers to co-
develop models of practice – identify
appropriate material and provide
structures and pathways to scaffold
support
• Shifts the boundaries of the university

9. Contact Us: Email:
OEPScotland@open.ac.uk
Twitter: @OEPScotland
Blog: www.oepscotland.org
Community hub: www.oeps.ac.uk