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Purpose There is a need for research that examines how digital networks can support all learners in open access to people, resources and experiences that were previously inaccessible in K-12 learning contexts. This study aims to examine the potential of open education theories and open practices in high school learning environments. Design/methodology/approach Using a design-based research approach, this study used the open learning design intervention framework to examine the experiences of a researcher, a teacher and Grade 10 students who expanded their learning from formal to informal learning environments by integrating open educational practices (OEP). The research occurred through three specific phases with iterative cycles that were responsive to research participants and data analysis at each phase. Findings The key findings suggest that open learning in high school is dependent upon opportunities for learners to co-design personally relevant learning pathways. The emerging design framework highlighted the need to emphasize the complexity of the students’ lived experiences in connection with the curriculum (formal learning environments) to promote a diversity of perspectives and shared connections (in informal learning environments). Second, learners need the opportunity to share their learning experiences collaboratively and individually by transparently demonstrating their learning processes in relevant ways and open practices provide the digital and community spaces to share knowledge. Finally, open learning occurs through stages and continuums and is a personal learning experience that transcends the boundaries of formal learning environments. Originality/value This study expands the current conceptual framework of open learning design by contributing a K-12 lens from which to consider the potential of OEP to promote personal learning pathways. Although the research considered a K-12 context, the OLDI Framework can be extended upon and used in any open learning design context including higher education.

This paper builds on student-instructor partnerships by describing how an instructor, students, program coordinator, and members of a research team were involved in the co-design of an open educational resource in a graduate program in education. A four-part open learning design framework was used to guide the course design: (a) clarifying the co-design process; (b) buildingand sharing knowledge, and making thinkingvisible; (c) building relationships; and (d) sustaininglearning beyond the course. The framework, alongwith the collaborative team effort that was part of alarger research project, enabled the developmentof an openly licensed and accessible digital book.The project brought together a collaborative teamwho were passionate about learning more aboutopen education and a small grant supported theadditional expense of professional copyediting torefine the book.

This design-based research aims to improve the quality of graduate supervision using a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). The Quality Graduate Supervision MOOC brings interdisciplinary faculty, postdoctoral scholars, and expert supervisors together in an online learning community to discuss and consider effective supervision practice, strategies for relationship building, supports for academic writing, mentoring for diverse careers, and how to combine excellence and wellness. The survey, interview, and system data were analyzed to inform and assess the design and development of the QGS MOOC, to gain insights into learner experience and engagement, and to assess the impact of the online learning community on graduate supervision practices. Through ongoing design and evaluation of this online learning course for graduate supervisors, the research team found the learning community influenced faculty members’ awareness, collective knowledge building, goal setting, and actions for graduate supervision practice. We present results from our evaluation of the design components in the QGS MOOC, the learning benefits for supervisors, impacts on graduate supervision practice, and make several recommendations for research and practice.

When the art of assessment in online and distributed learning is grounded in Freirean writings, instructors have the opportunity to craft a nuanced and layered learning environment where the potent...

In this case study research, we examined graduate student experiences with research-based learning in an online course-based master's degree in education at a Canadian university. Data were gathered during two sequential phases, starting with exit surveys and then interviews with graduates from the master of education program. Findings indicated the way students were grouped and progressed through their courses in cohorts and using a signature pedagogy called collaboratories of practice, where students were provided with opportunities to engage in field-focused inquiry online alongside their peers and with guided support from their instructor, which served to support students with continuity throughout their program and with support for developing and applying research-based learning skills. Participants described the cohort structure and signature pedagogy as key elements that contributed to their research-based learning experiences. These findings are consistent with earlier results from studying two previous cohorts of postgraduate students. Study results serve to inform scholarship and program designs for research-based learning in course-based, online master's degree programs. More broadly, the results will also benefit faculties and institutions developing structural supports and pedagogies for new online courses and program offerings.

This paper is based on the authors’ experiences and reflections working in educational technology and design support roles in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic. We retrace our lived experience from the beginning of the pandemic in the spring (from our vantage points in the UK and Canada) and the associated ‘pivot online’ enacted in education around the world, through to the autumn of 2020, when we appeared to be transitioning into a so-called ‘new normal’ of the mid-pandemic. As digital education practitioners, who are also educators, researchers, and also simply as humans and friends living through a global pandemic, we had turned to each other initially for support in terms of work, wellness, and sharing news, information and sense-making, during which we began to consider researching under-examined dimensions of the evolving situation. The experiences and issues we reference are drawn from our own work, as well as from our responses to popular narratives advanced by key voices who have encouraged certain interpretations of the pandemic and its educational effects. Using Schön’s (1983) reflection-in-action lens, we examine these experiences and narratives of pandemic pedagogy through the frame of our multiple identities. In particular, from our perspective as researchers and advocates of open education, we noted calls for openness (such as the use of open educational resources) in response to the online pivot, which did not appear to be cutting through the noise of the sudden deluge of information, advice and broadly negative coverage of online teaching. However, through our reflective narrative and synthesis, we offer an alternative interpretation, which is that openness was nonetheless flourishing, but that the ‘pivot open’ was to practices rather than resources. Open exchange, community building and support amongst educators were apparent in multiple contexts. While pandemic profiteering has highlighted the need for open resources and infrastructures, and we anticipate this case continuing to be made more strongly as we emerge from the emergency, it is the turn to open practices which has met the immediate needs of educators and learners through community, interactions, sharing and care.

The aim of this study was to examine a professional learning intervention designed to support new teachers with implementing professional practice competencies. Partners from a school authority joined researcher-practitioners from a university to engage in designing a professional learning series for new teachers. A design-based research approach using quantitative (pre- and post-surveys) and qualitative data (artifacts of learning, field notes, classroom observations) were analyzed over one year. There were over 450 participants involved in the professional learning series. The findings indicated the professional learning intervention positioned new teachers as designers of learning engaging in continuous cycles of design&ndash, enactment&ndash, reflection and strengthened their pedagogical capacity to interconnect professional practice competencies with support from a community of learners. The findings from this study have implications for supporting new teachers during a period of induction and demonstrate one way to provide new teachers with the foundation for continual growth throughout their career.

Anterior alpha asymmetry of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals has been suggested to index state approach (or avoidance) motivation. This model has not yet been extended to high approach-motivation sexual stimuli, which may represent an important model of reward system function. Sixty-five participants viewed a neutral and a sexually motivating film while their EEG was recorded, and reported their sexual feelings after each film. Greater alpha power in the left hemisphere during sexually motivated states was evident. A positive relationship between self-reported mental sexual arousal and alpha asymmetry was identified, where coherence between these indicators was higher in women. Notably, coherence was stronger when mental versus physical sexual arousal was rated. Alpha asymmetry appears to offer a new method for further examining this novel coherence pattern across men and women.

Introduction Women are often reported to have a low coherence (often referred to as “discordance” in sexuality literature) between their genital response and self-reported sexual arousal. Aim The purpose of this study was to determine whether differing instructions for rating sexual arousal would increase the coherence between genital response and self-reported arousal in women. Methods Genital responses were recorded, using vaginal photoplethysmography, from 32 young women while they fantasized in three different conditions. Conditions instructed women to rate their overall sexual arousal, any physical cues, and genital blood flow. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome measure was the coherence of vaginal pulse amplitude (VPA) and reported sexual response in the three conditions. Results Unexpectedly, both VPA response and self-reported sexual arousal were higher when women were asked to rate their genital blood flow. Examining only participants who reported at least some sexual arousal in all conditions (n = 17), coherence was highest when women were instructed to rate overall sexual arousal. Conclusion Results suggest that focusing on genital blood flow during sexual fantasy may increase women's (self-reported and genital) sexual response. Focusing on any physical arousal cues during sexual fantasy was associated with lower coherence of women's genital response and self-reported arousal compared with when they were instructed to rate their overall sexual arousal. Prause N, Barela J, Roberts V, and Graham C. Instructions to rate genital vasocongestion increases genital and self-reported sexual arousal but not coherence between genital and self-reported sexual arousal. J Sex Med 2013;10:2219–2231.

The parameters of vibrators used for sexual stimulation in laboratory settings and therapeutic contexts are usually unknown. The unidentified range of vibrator characteristics commonly used for sexual stimulation would help identify appropriate vibrator for different purposes and clients. Seven vibrators used for sexual stimulation were tested using a piezoelectric accelerometer mounted on their housing to quantify frequency, displacement, and acceleration of each. Vibratory frequency ranged from 43 to 148 Hz, displacement from 37 to 783 μm, and acceleration from 18 to 311 m/s2. The range suggests vibrators used in laboratory studies could greatly increase their stimulation, while some devices actually may decrease sexual sensitivity temporarily. An in vivo study could characterize patterns of use that could maximize sexual arousal while mitigating potential loss of sensitivity.

Distractions from sexual cues have been shown to decrease the sexual response, but it is unclear how distracters decrease sexual response. Individual differences may modulate the efficacy of distracters. Forty women viewed three sexual films while their labial temperature and continuous self-reported sexual arousal were monitored. One sexual film had simultaneous verbal distracters concerning dissatisfaction with one's physical appearance (higher salience distracter), a second had distracters concerning daily chores (lower salience distracter), and the third sexual film had no distracters. Participant's reporting greater relationship satisfaction and more communication with their partner about their own physical appearance were expected to decrease the efficacy (increased sexual arousal) of the distracters concerning physical appearance. Contrary to expectations, women who received less feedback about their body from their partners reported less sexual arousal during a sexual film with body distracters than a sexual film with general distracters or a sexual film with no distracters. All women exhibited lower labial temperature in Minutes 2 and 3 of the sexual film with body image distracters as compared to the other two sexual films. Possible explanations explored include self-verification theory and individual differences in the indicators that women consider when rating their sexual arousal.

Anterior alpha asymmetry of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals has been suggested to index state approach (or avoidance) motivation. This model has not yet been extended to high approach-motivation sexual stimuli, which may represent an important model of reward system function. Sixty-five participants viewed a neutral and a sexually motivating film while their EEG was recorded, and reported their sexual feelings after each film. Greater alpha power in the left hemisphere during sexually motivated states was evident. A positive relationship between self-reported mental sexual arousal and alpha asymmetry was identified, where coherence between these indicators was higher in women. Notably, coherence was stronger when mental versus physical sexual arousal was rated. Alpha asymmetry appears to offer a new method for further examining this novel coherence pattern across men and women.

Methodology can be one of the most challenging aspects for doctoral researchers. When we conduct research into education and/or technology, we can be confronted with a potentially confusing array of options. This is true even for those using a well-established approach, but can be especially acute if combining approaches in a mixed-methods study or trying to develop a completely new way of doing research. Choosing the right method for what we are interested in is a key part of high quality research, and this requires us to think about the scientific and philosophical foundations of what we do. In this guide we explore some of these issues with a focus on open research, drawing on insights from researchers within the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). Open practices in research can challenge assumptions about how to create and share new knowledge. In the handbook, we draw on insights from experienced open researchers to build understanding of research in the open. The advice given applies to all research, but is of particular relevance to those interested in open approaches.