University of Bath, Academic Practice in Context: OERs for Exploring Discipline-based Learning & Teaching

  • Start date: 2011-10-27
  • End date: 2012-09-30
  • Amount: £20,000
  • Status: in progress

Over the last 15 years or so there has been a wealth of learning and teaching research and resources produced within the academic disciplines both in the UK and internationally. In the UK, staff who teach in higher education institutions (HEIs) have had the opportunity to find out about these through the discipline-based work of the Higher Education Academy. In addition, generic courses and accredited programmes, run by academic developers within HEIs, have introduced staff to this material through activities such as work-based learning portfolios, action research projects and subject-based assignments. In order to support such courses, this project will produce new Open Education Resources (OERs) that will enable academic developers and their course participants to better discover, explore, understand and use discipline-specific learning and teaching resources. This approach draws on the discipline-specific ways of thinking and practising and so will help to enhance the applicability and effectiveness of such courses as it explicitly explores the specific context within which staff are teaching.

The OERs will mostly be developed from scratch; however, if owners of appropriate existing resources would like to contribute, the project will support them in releasing these openly for wider use and customisation. The resources will be in the form of a variety of activities including workshops, classroom exercises, quizzes, guidance for independent study and assignments.

The project will also facilitate the development of an informal, international network of colleagues who are interested in developing and/or using open materials in academic development. This will be achieved through publicity at relevant conferences (such as the Staff & Educational Development Association, Higher Education Academy and the International Consortium for Educational Development), via email lists and personal contacts, and through a project blog.

Aims and Objectives

The project has one main objective and one subsidiary objective. These are respectively:

• To produce (by the end of May2012) and review (by the end of September 2012) the equivalent of 300 study hours of open resources, in the form of learning activities, to enable academic developers and their course participants to better discover, explore, understand and use discipline-specific learning and teaching resources.
• To engage at least 30 colleagues (by the end of September 2012), in the UK or internationally, in an informal network of academic developers interested in creating and/or using OERs

Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes

• OERs: More than 300 study hours equivalent of activities to enable staff to explore disciplinary ways of thinking and practising.
• Blog: project information and comment/ review of materials.
• JISCmail list: national / international correspondence on the creation and use of OERs for educational development (OER4EdDev@jiscmail.ac.uk)
• Webinar and discussion forum: to brief potential national and international contributors.
• Workshop: To engage stakeholders at the host institution and others in the region, and to inform the development of the new resources.
• Conference Presentations: SEDA, Threshold Concepts, HEA, ICED
• Publications: Educational Developments and International Journal for Academic Development

Organisations

Lead Institution:

Contact details