7 Evaluating open learning
I mentioned the term ‘Open University Classic’ to describe the original print-based materials with audio-visual elements and
face-to-face support that has been the University's principal method of teaching since 1969 and is still used on many courses.
Another feature of the way that Open University materials have traditionally been produced is by a ‘course team’, typically
of four to six academics who would work on the production of a course for perhaps two years before presenting it to Open University
students. OpenLearn study units are only an extract from such courses but they would have been through such a process before
being transferred to the website. This system has been called a ‘Fordist’ approach to course production as such a lot of work
has to go into the design and production of a course as – just with the production of a car – it is very expensive if the
final course is not as popular as envisaged or if it needs a lot of post-production amendments. The model is one of very high
initial costs but relatively small on-going or ‘marginal’ costs.
To ensure the material is as correct as possible, a course goes through a number of drafts.
Click here to view the draft process (1 page,0.05MB)
View document
Not only are the drafts considered internally by colleagues, they are sent for comment to experts outside the University and
also shown to volunteer students who help by ‘developmental testing’ the emerging materials. Finally they are edited by someone
who is both a professional editor and familiar with the subject area.
This study unit went through a similar process. It was seen by my colleagues and I amended it in the light of their comments.
However, OpenLearn and other online environments enable us to move away from this ‘classic’ model to find a better compromise
between speed of production, responsiveness to changes in the external environment, and ensuring a study unit is as of good
quality in terms of accuracy and production values.
Online production, and making the materials open to everyone, has some considerable benefits over the former ‘Fordist’ production
process.
- It is not too expensive to change the study unit after it has been published in the light of comments received. Although the
comments of colleagues are valuable, the need for external validation is reduced as both learners and other teachers can give
feedback to aid improvement.
- When open to everyone, experts from around the world can comment and offer new insights which can contribute to subsequent
versions. This has already happened on some of our units.
- If a unit topic is subject to rapid change – for example one about new technologies or influenced by changing government requirements
(as is often the case with study units for teachers) – the unit can be easily updated and keep pace with change at a reasonable
cost.
Activity 9
You should allow 0 hour(s), 30 minute(s).
Join a study unit that you are particularly interested in or which you have already studied.
- Investigate the rating and reviewing systems provided. Look at the questions about quality, interest and difficulty.
- Look at any ‘constructive comments’ in the unit forum.
What other questions would you wish to ask to obtain feedback on your OER?
- Look at the unit forum discussion for this study unit on OERs.
Now read the discussion
Comment
I would want to obtain specific feedback in addition to the general comments under the rating and reviewing systems and, for
this study unit, I have set these out as a first posting on the ‘unit review’ discussion forum. I am interested in how people
have engaged with Compendium and FM, and how easy (or rather how difficult!) people find the different ways that study units
can be downloaded.
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