Open University Course Research Articles

Research on the transmission of the Open University of Japan courses via multi-device apps oriented to the learning ecosystem

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose the need for an integrated system for the production, authoring, addition and revision of webcast content and a multi-device apps mechanism with rights management for Internet transmission in the perspective of the OUJ course reuse.Design/methodology/approachThis paper designs systems that reuse the existing OUJ courses from the viewpoint of effective utilization, combine broadcasting lectures and online lectures of the OUJ courses and seamlessly link them as media-mix contents. In contrast to content development methodologies that assume embedded content production, this paper’s methodology takes an approach to producing and authoring webcasting content, flexibly adding and revising the content and transmitting that content over the internet via multi-device apps, taking rights management into account.FindingsThere is concern about the ELSI arising from the use of generative AI. It is directed at web content. This paper can contribute to resolving the ELSI surrounding the use of generative AI because it discusses a method of learning content development that clarifies the attribution of rights to content.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in the fact that it is oriented to reuse existing lectures of the OUJ courses and simplify the rights clearance for them, from the perspective of the learning ecosystem. The value of this paper is that it can also serve as a technical and legal response to the production, authoring and Internet transmission of open university courses in the era of generative AI.

PARIS IN THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION (REVIEW OF THE ARTICLE BY S.S. GLAGOLEV “BRUSSELS AND PARIS IN THE SCIENCE OF RELIGION”)

The article provides an overview of the second part of the work of the Russian theologian S.S. lagolev “Paris and Brussels in the Science of Religion”, dedicated to the development of the science of religion in Paris at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Centers for the study of religions and the public presentation of scientific results are described: open public lectures, university courses and museum collections. The concept of the Parisian religious tradition is presented through the prism of the principles of protecting the positions of faith in the process of scientific understanding of the phenomena of religions.

Legal issues of the broadcast and simultaneous Internet transmission of open university courses

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the legal issues of simultaneous Internet transmission of broadcasting programs of the Open University of Japan (OUJ) and to take legal measures to promote the mutual utilization of open university courses in Japan, the UK, China and Korea.Design/methodology/approachThe author examines the legal relationship regarding Internet simultaneous distribution of broadcast courses at the OUJ. The author then considers the legal relationship between the UK, China and South Korea regarding the simultaneous transmission of broadcast courses over the internet. Based on that consideration, this paper clarifies legal measures to promote its utilization.FindingsInternet transmission of broadcasting courses will be webcasting. Arguably, it can be assumed to be streaming and on-demand, albeit controversial. Webcasting will be publicly transmitted, but there is only an on-demand provision for Internet transmission. As webcasting is streaming and on-demand, it involves reproduction of broadcasting courses. Therefore, webcasting needs to provide streaming provision for public transmission rights and associate them with reproduction right.Originality/valueThe originality of this paper lies in clarifying the legal response of the object, subject and rights of webcasting from the perspective of the OUJ, in order to dispel legal problems that may arise in the future against this unexplored phenomenon. Additionally, this paper is valuable in that it presents legal consistency from the point of view of the comparative laws of Japan, the UK, China and South Korea, based on an examination of the legal response in Japan.

Predicting At-Risk Students Using Weekly Activities and Assessments

Abstract— Although Online learning has been so popular especially during epidemic crisis, it has a drawback of high dropouts and low completion rates. Institutes search for ways to support their students learning and increase completion rates. Institutes will be able to predict students’ performances and make interventions on time if they have some analytical strategy. Yet, efficient prediction and proactive intervention depends on using meaningful, reliable, and accurate data. Institutes different tools like Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) for teaching and content delivery. These tools provide large databases that are useful to improve prediction of students’ performance research. In this study, an Open University course VLE data is analyzed to investigate if weekly engagement alone, integrated with assessments scores (first approach), and accumulated previous assessments up to a certain week data ((second approach) lead to accurate student performance prediction. Importance of VLE data is highlighted here, which sheds light on students’ haviour and leads to developing models that can predict student’s outcome accurately. Second approach generated robust prediction models which outperformed the results obtained using first approach.

Research on the Realization Path of Curriculum Ideological and Political Education System from the Perspective of Community <br/>—From the Perspective of Open University Curriculum Teaching

The ideological and political education of Open University courses from the perspective of Community refers to a series of curriculum-based ideological and political education carried out by Open University according to the actual teaching situation of distance and open education, in order to construct the form of a full staff, whole process and all-round education. All kinds of courses and ideological and political theory courses are incorporated into the teaching system, forming a cooperative education mechanism, and taking “building morality and cultivating people” as a comprehensive education concept, which is the fundamental task of education, to carry out ideological and political education to students imperceptibly.

Smart physics with an oscillating beverage can

A digital learning-teaching environment is introduced in which undergraduate students are challenged to connect the basic physical concepts of oscillation, buoyancy and data analysis via an authentic experiment. The damped oscillation of a cylindrical body swimming upright in water is measured via the MEMS acceleration sensor of a wireless MCU SensorTag. The data are recorded with the app phyphox on a smartphone or tablet. The theoretical oscillation period and the experimentally determined periods obtained via different data analysis roots are found to agree showing an excellent theory-experiment interplay. The proposed experiment is suited for the physics home lab e.g. under the current pandemic situation or for open university courses as well as for physics lab courses.

Engaged or entitled? Study orientations among traditional and non-traditional business students

ABSTRACT Research on student engagement, study engagement and academic entitlement has followed separate paths. This research examined how the concepts relate to each other among traditional and non-traditional Finnish business students (N = 476). A cluster analysis indicated that students form two clusters. Part-time students, students over the age of 25, students with more than 5 years of work experience and students taking open university courses or studying for a master’s degree were more likely to belong to the more engagement-oriented cluster than their comparison groups. Although respondents’ student engagement and study engagement scales correlated moderately, only the cognitive engagement dimension of student engagement had a strong correlation with study engagement subscales, indicating that student engagement is a much wider, if somewhat a fuzzy, construct than study engagement. Further analysis showed significant differences between the study and student engagement levels of traditional and non-traditional students.

A educação permanente protagonizada pelo idoso na universidade aberta para a terceira idade/UEPG

A pirâmide etária brasileira registra um envelhecimento populacional. Evidencia-se hoje o Paradigma do Envelhecimento Ativo, no qual a educação assume relevância. As universidades brasileiras têm oferecido projetos/programas específicos para o idoso, que são as Universidades Abertas para a Terceira Idade. Concentram-se na valorização do idoso, colocando-o no centro do processo educativo. Este artigo objetiva apresentar o Programa da UATI/UEPG; explicitar os objetivos e a estrutura desta ação extensionista. Esta pesquisa foi bibliográfica e documental. A Universidade Estadual de Ponta Grossa criou a UATI em 1992. A UATI baseia-se em 4 eixos articuladores, oferece disciplinas teóricas e práticas, nas diferentes áreas do conhecimento, totalizando 240 horas. O programa da UATI é composto pelos Cursos da Universidade Aberta para a Terceira idade e o Curso da Universidade Continuada para a Terceira Idade. A UATI é um programa de sucesso e reconhecimento social e acadêmico, nos seus 26 anos de atividades.

英国オープン大学編 (野村律夫訳) : 海洋堆積学の基礎(愛智出版, 1998, 192pp., 3400円)

英国オープン大学編 (野村律夫訳) : 海洋堆積学の基礎(愛智出版, 1998, 192pp., 3400円)

Monologues of Learning

In the award-winning film Educating Rita (1983), a hairdresser decides to find herself by taking an Open University course. Her English literature tutor is an alcoholic, in a failing marriage, and aspires to be a poet. The University of Liverpool don is saddened when Rita replaces her warm impulsive reactions by the sort of pretentious analytical approach he so much despises. Yet the teacher ends up learning as much from his pupil as she learns from him. The story is an inspiring tale of self-discovery and of the power of choice that comes through education, especially through the now unfashionable one-on-one tutoring. In the time of massive open online courses (MOOCs) is the education system ripe for a revolutionary change? One-on-one tutoring has existed since the beginning of civilization. Lecture-based instruction commenced before the invention of the printing press. Correspondence education is about a century old, and MOOC blasted off during the 2000s. There are already a number of journals devoted to online learning, teaching, and administration, for example, MOOCs Forum, Hybrid Pedagogy, and The Internet and Higher Education. In her influential lecture delivered at Oxford in 1947, “The Lost Tools of Learning,” celebrated crime writer, essayist, and Christian humanist Dorothy L. Sayers advocated a return to the method of the medieval university, which divided the syllabus into the trivium (grammar, logic, and rhetoric) and the Acad. Quest. (2014) 27:310–312 DOI 10.1007/s12129-014-9435-2

Spotlight on medicinal chemistry education.

The field of medicinal chemistry is constantly evolving and it is important for medicinal chemists to develop the skills and knowledge required to succeed and contribute to the advancement of the field. Future Medicinal Chemistry spoke with Simone Pitman (SP), Yao-Zhong Xu (YX), Peter Taylor (PT) and Nick Turner (NT) from The Open University (OU), which offers an MSc in Medicinal Chemistry. In the interview, they discuss the MSc course content, online teaching, the future of medicinal chemistry education and The OU's work towards promoting widening participation. SP is a Qualifications Manager in the Science Faculty at The OU. She joined The OU in 1993 and since 1998 has been involved in the Postgraduate Medicinal Chemistry provision at The OU. YX is a Senior Lecturer in Bioorganic Chemistry at The OU. He has been with The OU from 2001, teaching undergraduate courses of all years and chairing the master's course on medicinal chemistry. PT is a Professor of Organic Chemistry at The OU and has been involved with the production and presentation of The OU courses in Science and across the university for over 30 years, including medicinal chemistry modules at postgraduate level. NT is a Lecturer in Analytical Science at The OU since 2009 and has been involved in the production of analytical sciences courses, as well as contributing to the presentation of a number of science courses including medicinal chemistry.

Learners' Preparedness for Digital Learning Materials as Supplement of Self-Learning Materials of Open School of Bangladesh Open University

Despite the imperatives of policy and rhetoric about integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), the Open School of Bangladesh Open University often uses digital learning materials as an ‘add-on’ in few courses of programs. Current government’s agenda of implementing ‘Digital Bangladesh’ provides a key to harnessing the educational potential of digital resources, Internet communications, virtual interactive classroom and interactive multimedia to engage the interest, interaction, and knowledge construction of disadvantaged learners of the Open School at Bangladesh Open University. To the extent that such approaches go beyond and transform traditional open schooling model. This paper investigates the changing requirements and new possibilities represented by the challenges of integrating ICTs in open school programs in a way which at the same time connects more effectively with both the specific contents of the curriculum and the various stages and elements of the learning process. Case studies from Open School of Bangladesh Open University courses provide an exemplary focus of inquiry in order to better link relevant new theories or models of learning with digital materials, to see learner’s preparedness related learner-centered strategies for integrating ICTs resources and tools, and to incorporate interdependent functions of learning as information access, communication, and applied interactions. This study suggests that designers should provide “ICTs supported learning activity” keeping the preparedness of the learners so that it becomes effective.

PEDAGOGICAL PRINCIPLES OF SYNCHRONOUS VIRTUAL EDUCATION: THE ELLUMINATE LIVE CASE AT THE FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL AND LANGUAGE STUDIES (THE OPEN UNIVERSITY)

In the current document the efficiency of the Elluminate Live tool is analyzed when it is used as a synchronous media in a virtual learning environment. In most of the research discussed, as for the integration of the tool in the university studies, it has been found that its use makes easier communication, interaction, development of online tutorials, lectures and debates. The main goal of the research shown in the current paper is to present the results obtained when using the synchronous communication tool in the process of learning and teaching of Languages Studies in the Open University. The sample consisted of one teacher and six tutors of Languages Studies of the Open University. In order to analyze the experience developed with the Elluminate Live tool, an interview with 13 questions of open answer was designed. The experience described by the tutors and the academics pointed out the advantages of the integration of synchronous communication in the teaching-learning process. Interviewees highlighted the potential of the tool for language teaching in distance education. It was considered that Elluminate Live is a facilitator of the learning process for the Open University courses, since it allows online tutorials where students can practice speaking. Key words: distance education; intelligent tutoring systems; interactive learning environments; pedagogical issues.

A Comparison of Non-Mandatory Online Dialogic Behavior in Two Higher Education Blended Environments

This study compares dialogic behavior in asynchronous course forums with non-mandatory student participation at a campus-based college and at a distance education, Open University. The goal is to document similarities and differences in students' and instructors' dialogic behavior that occur in two similar instructional resources used in two dissimilar learning environments. Quantitative content analysis, derived from the "Community of Inquiry" model, was performed on a year-long course forum from the college. These data were compared with data obtained previously from the Open University course forums. Findings showed that the dialogic behavior in the college forum differed greatly from the dialogic behavior exhibited in distance education forums. Specifically, the frequencies of "social presence", "teaching presence" and "cognitive presence" in the forums differed significantly. However, high frequencies of social presence coupled with low frequencies of cognitive presence at both institutions raise doubts regarding the popular assumption that deep and meaningful learning occurs in asynchronous course forums.

Why people need plants

Why do botanists do what they do? A perfectly acceptable response – in my view – is that they are fascinated by plants and want to discover how they ‘work’. Others – particularly those who may fund such work via their taxes – might prefer a more applied answer, maybe along the lines of ‘plants are extremely useful resources and to exploit them fully we need to study them’. Well, for those practitioners who might need a reminder of just how useful plants are, and why people need them, and for those who want to be assured that their taxes are being put to good use, Wood and Habgood's Why people need plants (hereafter referred to as Plants!) might be just the thing. Plants! justifies its existence by dealing with the more obvious uses of plants in separate chapters: as providers of food (where do you think ‘our daily bread’ comes from?), drinks (tea, coffee, ultimately alcoholic beverages, too …), medicines (e.g. aspirin, morphine, anti-cancer drugs, quinine …), sources of protection (e.g. timber as a construction material and fibres to clothe us …). To a great extent those are well-established, often ancient, uses of plants and absolutely have to be covered in such a tome. But, to emphasise our continued and future exploitation of (maybe even dependence upon?) plants and plant products, Plants! also covers uses that may be less obvious to the general public (and maybe even some botanists?). Accordingly, it has chapters devoted to biofuels (featuring short-rotation coppice, elephant grass and switch grass, biogas, biodiesel and bioethanol); plants in crime – both as ‘weapons’ (e.g. plant-derived poisons) and as sources of evidence (e.g. flowers at a crime scene and their pollen on the suspect's clothes); and plants for nutrition and well-being (although the nutritional value of plants should be well known – yes, vitamin C-containing fruits combating scurvy get a prominent mention – plant flavours, aromas and colours all also have a role to play, and these may be more subtle). One of the most contentious areas of modern plant science – genetic modification – is tackled in a dedicated chapter that provides appropriate genetic background and outlines the techniques and their current applications in a reasonably straightforward way. This chapter is careful not to say whether GM is ‘good’ or ‘bad’: the reader must make up his or her own mind on that score. Plants! is also careful to make the extremely important point that this valuable resource is not to be taken for granted; it is under serious and increasing threat and needs both protection and management. Three chapters towards the end of the book – ‘The impact of humankind on the planet’, ‘Conservation’ and ‘Plant collecting and trading’ – deal with aspects of that problem, which include loss of habitat (sometimes to exploit one plant resource such as oil from palms to the detriment of others), over-exploitation due to trade in rare plants, and threats posed by invasive alien plants. On a more positive note, Plants! provides information about conservation projects that are helping to conserve/preserve the plant resource. And – as you'd expect given its Kew pedigree – Plants! also makes mention of seed banks/vaults wherein seeds are preserved to maintain important stocks of plant genetic diversity for future generations. Plants! is also the set book that accompanies the Open University (UK-based provider of distance and adult learning education) course ‘Plants and People’ (Open University, 2011), which ‘explains the importance of plants on a local and global scale and how they impact on the everyday lives of humans’. Fittingly, then, Plants! represents a collaboration between one of the UK's major higher education institutions and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, one of the world's greatest collections of plants and plant-based enquiry. Plants!'s pedagogy is evident in the organisation of the sections and the typically clear explanations and illustrations. But Plants! is not ‘just a textbook’, it is written in an accessible way and can be recommended to all those who want to learn more about plants and people. My only gripe is that this otherwise great little book contains neither references nor ‘further reading’, making it difficult for interested readers to pursue particular topics. Why people need plants could just as easily be called Why people need plant biologists! Refer your interrogators to Plants! when next they ask, ‘why do we need plants/plant biologists?’!

The relationship between academic discipline and dialogic behavior in open university course forums

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between disciplinary difference (exact and natural sciences versus humanities) and the dialogic behavior that occurred in Open University course forums. Dialogic behavior was measured in terms of students’ and instructors’ active participation in the forum (posting a message) as well as amounts and proportions of “teaching presence,” “cognitive presence,” and “social presence.” We found that active participation in the science forums was much higher than in the humanities forums. We also found a ratio among the three presences that was constant across different academic disciplines, as well as across different group sizes and course types.

Working Together: A Participative Approach to Learning

A new Open University course, “Patterns for Living: Working Together”, was launched in 1989. It is the first University course for people with learning difficulties. A series of “Familiarisation Days” were held throughout the UK in order to promote use of the course. This article describes how the Familiarisation Days contributed to a “participative approach to learning”.

Crossing borders: issues in music technology education

Music technology can be construed in a variety of ways, ranging from the design to the use of technologies for musical purposes, thus involving skills across the traditional disciplinary divide that polarizes art and technology. This creates a conundrum for curriculum developers who are aiming to create learning opportunities that are relevant and exciting for students with widely varying backgrounds. This paper examines some of the issues that arise in music technology curriculum development, illustrated with examples taken from the experience of the team responsible for the production of the UK Open University course TA225 The Technology of Music and its expanded version TA212. The paper discusses the rationale negotiated by the team to guide course-related decision making, while bearing in mind the fundamental question of how to create an interesting learning context for students with very different educational experiences and reasons for studying.

Decolonizing the (Distance) Curriculum

Postcolonial theory remains part of the challenge of literary theory to curriculum development. As the author's personal history suggests, it is more than simply another way of reading and interpretation, but enables an engagement with, a bearing witness to, the gross inequalities of the world today. Drama is a good example, evidenced by the production and impact of South African Athol Fugard's work — introduced as a set text for the first time in an Open University course, while becoming part of the author's published research. The positive response to Fugard made possible the inclusion of substantial new areas of literature in a modern literature course coinciding with the global changes of the late I980s, in turn aiding the inclusion of postcolonial writings and theory in the departmental curriculum and raising awareness of issues outside the students' immediate experience. The texts studied demand an understanding beyond merely formal or `close' critical readings, and it is teachers' responsibility to be alive to the claims of contemporary history and politics.

Arthur Marwick (1936–2006): An Appreciation

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Notes Notes 1. Arthur Marwick, The Nature of History (London, 1970), 189. 2. Arthur Marwick, Unit 1: Introducing the Course, Open University course A318 War, Peace and Social Change: Europe 1900–1955. Book 1: Europe on the Eve of War 1900–1914 (Milton Keynes, 1990), 33. 3. The Listener, 1 May 1969. 4. Noble Frankland, History at War: the campaigns of an historian (London, 1998), 188. 5. Marwick, The Nature of History, 164–165. 6. Arthur Marwick, Film in university teaching, in: Paul Smith (ed.) The Historian and Film (Cambridge, 1976), 142. 7. Arthur Marwick, The Nature of History (3rd edn) (London, 1989), 314–315. 8. Ibid., 315. 9. Arthur Marwick, Class: image and reality in Britain, France and the USA since 1930 (New York, 1980), 22. 10. Arthur Marwick, Room at the Top, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and the “Cultural Revolution” in Britain, Journal of Contemporary History, 19(1) (January 1984), 130. 11. Richard J. Evans, In Defence of History (London, 1997), 72. 12. Arthur Marwick, Two approaches to historical study: the metaphysical (including “postmodernism”) and the historical, Journal of Contemporary History, 30(1) (January 1995), 5–36. 13. Hayden White, Response to Arthur Marwick, Journal of Contemporary History, 30(2) (April 1995), 233–234. 14. Arthur Marwick, Conclusion, in: Anthony Aldgate, James Chapman and Arthur Marwick (eds) Windows on the Sixties: exploring key texts of media and culture (London, 2000), 185. 15. Arthur Marwick, The Sixties: cultural revolution in Britain, France, Italy and the United States, c.1958–c.1974 (Oxford, 1998), 15.