The annual ALT Conference ALTC: Connect, Collaborate, Create takes place at the University of Warwick next week and there are a number of papers under the Collaborate theme that focus on open education initiatives in Scotland and open education more generally.

If you’re unable to attend the conference in person you can participate remotely by following @A_L_T and the #altc hashtag on twitter. All keynotes will also be live streamed on the ALT Youtube channel.

Open Education in Scotland

Designing Open Educational Resources in, for and through Partnership
Tue, Sep 6 2016, 11:30am – 1:00pm
Ronald Macintyre & Anna Page, Open University

The Opening Educational Practices in Scotland project focusses on how to use Open Educational Resources (OER) to support those distanced from education. At the start we were keen to avoid the easy reading of ‘openness in education’ as a matter of educators in organisations releasing openly licenced learning materials online. However, as educators have “lived with” OER in various forms and free online has seeped into the classroom we have moved from considering how to make the resource open, to considering what open resources enable us to do – what one might call “the practice turn”.
Full abstract

Making movies: Democratising the use of media in learning and teaching
Tue, Sep 6 2016, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Anne-Marie Scott, University of Edinburgh

Strategic planning in many of our institutions places media use at the heart of teaching, learning, research and public engagement activities. Our initiatives in online education, student experience, and innovative teaching have surfaced many requirements for the collection, management and delivery of video and audio assets.

The presentation will include a summary of the scenarios that our academic community prioritised and how the IT solution selected (Kaltura) has met the challenge. We will reflect on our plans for expanding the use of media in the next academic year, focussing on assessment, feedback, and sharing as OERs in particular. We will share our ‘DIY Film School’ pilot training courses, teaching our staff and students how to make movies using their smartphones, and discuss the impact that all of this work is having on digital skills development, learning and teaching experience, and fostering a new culture of creativity, sharing and experimentation.

Full abstract

Into the Open – a critical overview of open education policy and practice in Scotland
Thu, Sep 8 2016, 1:30pm – 3:00pm
Lorna M. Campbell, University of Edinburgh

This paper will present a broad overview of current open education initiatives in Scottish Higher and Further education sectors and reflect on both progress and barriers to the development of open education policy and practice. Although strategic open education policy drivers may be lacking at national and sector level and awareness of open education appears to be minimal at government level, a range of innovative open education initiatives have arisen across the sector.

The collaborative Open Scotland initiative, now supported by the University of Edinburgh and the ALT Scotland SIG, continues to raise awareness of all aspects of open education and lobby for policies that support open practice at the national level. Open Scotland also supports the Scottish Open Education Declaration, which, although it has yet to gain support at national level, continues to be influential within institutions as a tool to open discussions about the strategic benefits of open education.

Full Abstract

Developing literacies of ‘open’ across an institution, and beyond
Thu, Sep 8 2016, 1:30pm – 3:00pm
Stuart Nicol, University of Edinburgh

This paper will discuss a number of related initiatives at the University of Edinburgh in the context of supporting communities within the institution to acclimatise to the changing “semiotic landscape” and shifting “materiality of literacy” (Barton et al. 2005, p 23) brought about by the technologies and policies of open education. The University of Edinburgh is committed to supporting open and sustainable learning and teaching practices by encouraging engagement with Open Educational Resources (OERs) within the curriculum, and supporting the development of digital literacies for both staff and students in their use of OERs. In support of this vision an OER learning and teaching policy has recently been approved (University of Edinburgh 2016), underpinned by a central OER support service. The Open.Ed (www.ed.ac.uk) website has also been launched as a one-stop-shop about OERs at the University, which includes guidance, showcasing of best practice and blogs by prominent open practitioners.

This position has been developed over a number of years through discussion and collaboration with staff and students both inside the institution and from the wider educational community. Highton, Sekar and Nicol (2015) discussed how the driver for broader engagement with OERs came from the student body represented through Edinburgh University Student Association (EUSA). The OER policy itself is derived from openly licenced policies developed at Leeds and Glasgow Caledonian Universities and the OER position paper from Greenwich University.

Full abstract

Open Education

Developing flexible open courses (“cMOOCs”) with international collaborators
Tue, Sep 6 2016, 2:00pm – 3:00pm
Sarah Honeychurch, Maha Bali, and Kevin Hodgson

Collaborate to Create: Stakeholder Participation in Open Content Creation
Tue, Sep 6 2016, 3:15pm – 4:15pm
Richard Windle, Heather Wharrad, Kirstie Coolin, and Michael Taylor

Repositories for open education: a reflection and look forward for EPrints
Wed, Sep 7 2016, 10:25am – 12:05pm
Kelly Terrell

Different Aspects of the Emerging Open Education Discipline
Wed, Sep 7 2016, 10:25am – 12:05pm
Martin Weller

Collaborative partnerships to produce accessible open educational resources
Wed, Sep 7 2016, 12:15pm – 1:15pm
Abi James, E.a. Draffan, and Mike Wald

Lecture capture: risky business or evolving open practice
Wed, Sep 7 2016, 2:15pm – 3:30pm
Jane Secker, and Chris Morrison