OE Global 2019

Until 2012 there was a nascent OER movement developing the UK, supported by government funding and agencies like JISC. This led to a network of OER projects at many higher education providers. With the withdrawal of funding under subsequent governments the OER movement in the UK became restricted to individual efforts alongside hubs of activity (OER World Map, 2019; JISC, 2013). While there is still little governmental support for OER - open access is generally a more consistent focus - there is an increasing interest at policy level in flexible and digital forms of delivery (Orr et al., 2018).

This presentation will report on two projects. Bringing Learning to Life is funded by the UK Department for Education under the Flexible Learning Fund. Flexible Essential Skills is funded by The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). Both projects involve making foundational English and Mathematics courses available to a wide range of learners through the OpenLearn repository and LMS (Law & Perryman, 2017). The content is made available as OER for use by a range of learners, including formal students in further education colleges (face-to-face, blended) and non-formal learning scenarios. Both projects are led by The Open University (UK) who provide programme management, content development, platform delivery and evaluation.

Evaluation methodologies are being harmonised in the interests of establishing a basis for comparison between the two datasets. Evaluation results based on original data will be presented. These will include a detailed description of the learners targeted and their needs; perceptions of the key challenges faced; attitudes towards technology and digital skills in adult learners; an exploration of learner motivation, strategy and outcomes; and an examination of the perceptions and views of staff. The impact evaluations combine survey and interview data with OpenLearn analytics and case studies for individual colleges.