Search

Copyright is now an inescapable aspect of learning and research when using digital technologies, and therefore awareness of it is a fundamental part of digital literacy. Rather than being a separate concept that can be considered in isolation, copyright implications arise whenever anyone creates, interacts with or shares content with others. It is therefore woven through all the key aspects of digital literacies and capabilities, with particular relevance for the ethics of sharing. This chapter from the book Digital Literacy Unpacked (Reedy & Parker, Facet 2018) identifies the relationships between copyright and digital literacy, discussing ideas of rules and risk in institutional and non-institutional contexts. In additional it summarises the author's approach to copyright education using games and other creative approaches.

In order to deliver high-quality learning and teaching, the Open University (OU) has adopted an approach to developing its curriculum called OU Learning Design, which supports a consistent and structured design, specification and review process. It provides a simple set of tools and resources to assist teams in choosing and integrating an effective range of media and technologies, defining their pedagogic approach, and sharing good practice across the institution (Subotzky and Prinsloo 2011). The objective of this study was to apply OU Learning Design tools in the context of the largest distance education university in Africa (Unisa) to identify areas that could be changed in order to improve student outcomes and retention. Two Unisa first-level mathematics modules were evaluated and mapped using OU Learning Design approaches and tools to identify areas for improvement. Qualitative and quantitative data on students’ educational experience in these modules and longitudinal academic progress data were used to better understand the challenges students are facing on those courses. The process uncovered areas where improvements need to be made and among the core recommendations were improvement of workload distribution across both modules, the timing of the examination period, and a greater variety of learning activities. These reflections will be used to inform the next “Plan” stage of the Action Research spiral.

Learning design approaches, such as those adopted by the Open University, provide a set of tools and resources for purposefully-designing modules with a focus on student experiences. However, many of the current learning design strategies have been situated within specific institutions in Europe and North America. This means that there are several issues worth considering around if and how established learning design approaches make sense in diverse institutional and cultural contexts. To critically assess the relevance and appropriateness of learning design strategies in new contexts, this article describes an in-depth participatory workshop with 34 education professionals from five African countries. Altogether, 10 suggestions for learning design practices were derived from the consensus of workshop participants, which provide a foundation for the development of learning design practices moving forward.

The iKnow (Information and Knowledge at Work) project at The Open University (OU) set out to explore and articulate the information skills requirements of the 21st century workplace. Although some existing research had highlighted the costs of ineffective information searching in the workplace, there appeared to be little online material to remedy this. The project was run in three phases, which involved identifying the key competencies, developing some prototype ‘bite-size’ materials and piloting them for their effectiveness in a variety of workplaces. The results of the study show that participants not only perceived the skills as relevant and useful, but also found that the bite-size model made training easier to schedule into a working day. The project team found that these materials could potentially be an important link between informal and formal learning, of particular relevance in the current economic climate.

There is an increased recognition that learning design drives both student learning experience and quality enhancements of teaching and learning. The Open University UK (OU) has been one of few institutions that have explicitly and systematically captured the designs for learning at a large scale. By applying advanced analytical techniques on large and fine-grained datasets, the OU has been unpacking the complexity of instructional practices, as well as providing conceptual and empirical evidence of how learning design influences student behaviour, satisfaction, and performance. This study discusses the implementation of learning design at the OU in the last ten years, and critically reviews empirical evidence from eight recent large-scale studies that have linked learning design with learning analytics. Four future research themes are identified to support future adoptions of learning design approaches.

This article explores the effectiveness of the Open University’s (OU’s) Digital and information literacy (DIL) framework (Reedy and Goodfellow, 2012) in promoting the integration of digital skills into modules and qualifications - a key strategic priority for the university - and in contributing to cultural change in the digital practices of teachers and learners - a key aim for the UK HE sector as a whole. We trace the history of digital and information literacy in the OU curriculum and elsewhere, leading up to the development of the framework. Four sets of interviews tell the story of academic and library staff engagement with it. These case studies are supplemented by two further interviews giving the perspective of OU middle managers responsible respectively for learning design and digital and information literacy development. We evaluate the success of the framework, and suggest how it might be further developed in future. Conclusions point strongly towards the need to involve students in shaping their own skills development, as found in other recent research (for example, Jisc, 2011a; 2011b).

In the context of the global climate change debate, the integration of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in higher education institutions (HEIs) has been identified as one of the top priorities. This paper presents the CoDesignS ESD Framework (hereafter “Framework”) focused on HEIs, though the Framework is applicable to other types of educational institutions. The Framework introduces transformative pedagogies and teaching methods that extend beyond typical ESD competencies, encompassing cognitive, socio-emotional, and behavioral domains for a holistic design and delivery. It was evaluated using a focus group and interviews among sustainability practitioners and academics, learning and curriculum designers, students, and government officials involved in ESD. The evaluation demonstrates key stakeholders’ engagement with the Framework and appreciation of its potential to integrate sustainability into university curricula across different disciplines. The findings suggest that the Framework is easy to use, making sustainability explicit in the curriculum and actively developing the competencies students require to bring about change beyond the classroom. The feedback received has helped the further development of the Framework, including the CoDesignS ESD Toolkit Planner and Dashboard, which provide a more effective way of integrating the learning design and ESD components embedded as part of the CoDesignS ESD pillars.

There is an increased recognition that learning design drives both student learning experience and quality enhancements of teaching and learning. The Open University UK (OU) has been one of few institutions that have explicitly and systematically captured the designs for learning at a large scale. By applying advanced analytical techniques on large and fine-grained datasets, the OU has been unpacking the complexity of instructional practices, as well as providing conceptual and empirical evidence of how learning design influences student behaviour, satisfaction, and performance. This study discusses the implementation of learning design at the OU in the last ten years, and critically reviews empirical evidence from eight recent large-scale studies that have linked learning design with learning analytics. Four future research themes are identified to support future adoptions of learning design approaches.

This article explores the effectiveness of the Open University’s (OU’s) Digital and information literacy (DIL) framework (Reedy and Goodfellow, 2012) in promoting the integration of digital skills into modules and qualifications - a key strategic priority for the university - and in contributing to cultural change in the digital practices of teachers and learners - a key aim for the UK HE sector as a whole. We trace the history of digital and information literacy in the OU curriculum and elsewhere, leading up to the development of the framework. Four sets of interviews tell the story of academic and library staff engagement with it. These case studies are supplemented by two further interviews giving the perspective of OU middle managers responsible respectively for learning design and digital and information literacy development. We evaluate the success of the framework, and suggest how it might be further developed in future. Conclusions point strongly towards the need to involve students in shaping their own skills development, as found in other recent research (for example, Jisc, 2011a; 2011b).

The iKnow (Information and Knowledge at Work) project at The Open University (OU) set out to explore and articulate the information skills requirements of the 21st century workplace. Although some existing research had highlighted the costs of ineffective information searching in the workplace, there appeared to be little online material to remedy this. The project was run in three phases, which involved identifying the key competencies, developing some prototype ‘bite-size’ materials and piloting them for their effectiveness in a variety of workplaces. The results of the study show that participants not only perceived the skills as relevant and useful, but also found that the bite-size model made training easier to schedule into a working day. The project team found that these materials could potentially be an important link between informal and formal learning, of particular relevance in the current economic climate.

Learning design approaches, such as those adopted by the Open University, provide a set of tools and resources for purposefully-designing modules with a focus on student experiences. However, many of the current learning design strategies have been situated within specific institutions in Europe and North America. This means that there are several issues worth considering around if and how established learning design approaches make sense in diverse institutional and cultural contexts. To critically assess the relevance and appropriateness of learning design strategies in new contexts, this article describes an in-depth participatory workshop with 34 education professionals from five African countries. Altogether, 10 suggestions for learning design practices were derived from the consensus of workshop participants, which provide a foundation for the development of learning design practices moving forward.

In order to deliver high-quality learning and teaching, the Open University (OU) has adopted an approach to developing its curriculum called OU Learning Design, which supports a consistent and structured design, specification and review process. It provides a simple set of tools and resources to assist teams in choosing and integrating an effective range of media and technologies, defining their pedagogic approach, and sharing good practice across the institution (Subotzky and Prinsloo 2011). The objective of this study was to apply OU Learning Design tools in the context of the largest distance education university in Africa (Unisa) to identify areas that could be changed in order to improve student outcomes and retention. Two Unisa first-level mathematics modules were evaluated and mapped using OU Learning Design approaches and tools to identify areas for improvement. Qualitative and quantitative data on students’ educational experience in these modules and longitudinal academic progress data were used to better understand the challenges students are facing on those courses. The process uncovered areas where improvements need to be made and among the core recommendations were improvement of workload distribution across both modules, the timing of the examination period, and a greater variety of learning activities. These reflections will be used to inform the next “Plan” stage of the Action Research spiral.