A presentation given at an HEA organised workshop under the Changing the Learning Landscape initiative (February, 2013). The focus of the presentation was on developing open academic practice in teaching research methods.

1. Changing the learning landscape
Reusing open educational resources (OER) and open data in social
science research methods teaching and learning

2. Changing the learning landscape
Reusing open educational
resources (OER) and open data
in social science research
methods teaching and learning
Dr Ester Ehiyazaryan-White, University Centre Doncaster

3. Changing the learning landscape
•SCORE teaching fellowship
02/2011-03/2012:
•Focus on raising awareness of
OER and open practice, working
closely with research methods
tutors across Social Sciences at
University Centre Doncaster
(UCD)
•UCD teaching fellowship
02/2012 – 09/2012
•Focus on the student experience
of learning with OER and open
data.
Role of the tutor
Useful types of OER
Different practices in
teaching research
methods
Learner experiences
OER and open data
Pedagogy of
embedding in T&L
practice
Context

4. Changing the learning landscape
•Raising awareness in UCD staff of the
value of OER; active involvement in the
evaluation and embedding of OER in
academic practice
•Exploring the potential of OER and open
data to research methods teaching and
learning.
•Working towards the embedding of OER in
teaching practice across several disciplines,
with a focus on research methods skills and
knowledge.
•Knowledge management, sustained
engagement with open practice in the
institution
Aims
engagement
pedagogy
embedding
sustainability

5. Changing the learning landscape
Teacher Education
Applied Social Sciences
Criminal Justice
•Questions focused on the pedagogical effectiveness/
responsiveness of the OER (LOAM tool, Windle et al, 2010)
•Questions focused on pedagogical, technical and quality issues
(ORIOLE project)
•Collection of existing OER set up through Cloudworks
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloud/view/5548
•OER on Coudworks selected to provide a range of pedagogical and
technical attributes allowing tutors to explore OER with different
granularity, context specificity, adaptability, interactivity.
OER evaluation by tutors

6. Changing the learning landscapeThe tutor’s role
•OER provide access to material which
tutors would find it difficult to generate
themselves
•E-moderating/ communities of learning -
Human contact is a necessary element in
the knowledge construction process
(Njenga and Fourie, 2010)
•Maintaining the boundaries between
providing access to information and
constructing knowledge
Tutors’ stance: OER provide access to
information. The tutor’s role is to facilitate
the underlying knowledge construction.
Read tutors’
comments

7. Changing the learning landscapeConcerns regarding reuse
Engaging in reuse
which offers
potential for
rethinking and
innovating
curricula
Prioritising OER
which are quick
and easy to reuse
(time saving)

8. Changing the learning landscape
Embedding OER in research methods
teaching

9. Changing the learning landscapeChallenges
Challenges for the learner
Key difficulty in research methods
learning – the knowledge and
concepts are not immediately related
to professional or subject contexts
which students have chosen to
study.
Research methods constitute
troublesome knowledge:
‘when what is to be assessed lies
outside their prior knowledge and
experience’
(Land and Meyer, 2010, p. 62)
• Contextualising abstract
concepts - OER flexible
enough to allow for
context specific
adaptation
• Discursive resources and
stimuli which create
opportunities for the
learner to think like a
researcher.
• ‘Real world’ ESDS data
The role of OER and
open data

10. Changing the learning landscapeEmbedding OER in T&L
Online QDA, University
of Huddersfield
Web link:
http://onlineqda.hud.ac
.uk/
Jorum persistent link:
http://resources.jorum.ac.u
k/xmlui/handle/123456789/
5644

11. Changing the learning landscape
•Key challenge – learners need
to acquire theoretical knowledge
as well as procedural skills – the
OER was seen as supporting self
directed study
•Advantages - interactivity and
learner control – being able to
pause, rewind, take notes at their
own pace. Supportive of self
directed learning.
Embedding OER in T&L
Read learners’
comments…

12. Changing the learning landscape
The value and dangers of interactivity
•Interactive coding exercises – useful as
they allow the learner to practice interactive
coding exercises.
•Danger – students may learn the procedural
layer without understanding the underlying
principles of constant comparison, or stages in
coding.
learning of troublesome knowledge requires
some form of transformation in the learner.
Unless this transformation takes place, the
learner may be unable to acquire knowledge
and could instead engage in a form of
‘mimicry’ or ritualistic/surface learning
(Meyer and Land, 2005: 382).
Read learners’
comments…
Embedding OER in T&L

13. Changing the learning landscape
•The Economic and Social
Data Service - a jointly-funded
initiative sponsored by the
Economic and Social Research
Council (ESRC) and the Joint
Information Systems Committee
(JISC).
•Giving access to large scale
quantitative and qualitative data
•Covering a broad range of
subjects including economics,
education, employment and
labour, environment, health,
housing, law, crime and legal
systems, population statistics
and society and culture etc…
http://www.esds.ac.uk/
Open data

14. Changing the learning landscape
Advantages of using real
world data:
•Addresses troublesome
knowledge – the data is
subject specific and situates
learning in context.
•Statistical analyses return
results which learners can
relate to knowledge acquired
in other modules (examples:
social policy; child
development)
•For more on the value of
secondary data (Smith,
2011):
•http://www.bera.ac.uk/resour
ces/using-numeric-
secondary-data-education-
research
Open data

15. Changing the learning landscapeOpen data
•Growing Up in
Scotland – large
scale child
development
survey; similar to
the Millennium
Cohort Study
•Openly accessible
data through the
Economic and Social
Data Service (ESDS)

16. Changing the learning landscape
Learners explored:
•Food and nutrition – formation of healthy eating habits
•Neighbourhood and community – active citizenship;
social policy
•Activities with others – distributions of outdoor/ indoor
play
•Demographic factors – work, employment and income
Learners’ perceptions:
•SPSS was considered user friendly
•The scale of real world data – daunting; students
would have preferred to work with their own data
•Learners needed to establish a personal connection
with the study and a better understanding before
analysing the ESDS data
Read learners’
comments…
Learner feedback

17. Changing the learning landscapeOpen data
Understanding
quantitative
research
methodologies:
longitudinal cohort
studies
Understanding
social policy:
children’s health,
education, welfare
GUS open
data
Understanding
descriptive
statistics
Skills in SPSS
use

18. Changing the learning landscape
Sustainability

19. Changing the learning landscape
Activities to promote sustainability:
Virtual Graduate School – Doncaster college hosted website aimed
at supporting postgraduate study through providing a range of
resources:
•Qualitative and quantitative research methods
•Writing for publication and dissemination of research
•Ethics guidance on research projects
•Advanced literature searching
Open access
Drawing on OER and linking out to open courseware modules of
study.
Content being developed by teaching staff at University Centre
Doncaster
Sustainability

20. Changing the learning landscape
Thank you
Dr Ester Ehiyazaryan-White, Lecturer in Professional and eLearning
Development, University Centre Doncaster
Email: ester.ehiyazaryan@don.ac.uk
Tel: 0130 255 3809
Twitter: @eehiyazaryan
SlideShare: http://www.slideshare.net/EsterEhiyazaryan

21. Changing the learning landscapeReferences
Ehiyazaryan-White, E. (2012) ‘Developing Open Academic Practices in Research Methods Teaching within an HE in FE
Context’, Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JIME), [online], Available from: http://www-jime.open.ac.uk/,
Accessed: 04/10/2012.
Land R. and Meyer, J. (2010) Threshold Concepts and Troublesome Knowledge (5): Dynamics of Assessment. In Eds.
Meyer, J., Land, R., Baillie, C., Threshold Concepts and Transformational Learning. London: Sense Publishers.
Njenga, J. K., & Fourie, L. C. H. (2010) The Myths about e-Learning in Higher Education. British Journal of Educational
Technology, 41(2): 199-212.
School of Human and Health Sciences (2013) Online QDA: Learning qualitative data analysis on the web. University of
Huddersfield. [Online]. Available from: http://onlineqda.hud.ac.uk/. [Accessed: 21st March, 2013].
Scottish Centre for Social Research (2012) Growing Up in Scotland Study: Providing Information to Help Develop
Policies Affecting Children and their Families in Scotland. [Online]. Available from: http://www.crfr.ac.uk/gus/index.html
[Accessed 4th October, 2012].
Smith, E. (2008) Secondary data analysis: an introduction. In Using Secondary Data in Educational and Social
Research, Maidenhead: McGraw-Hill Education.
Smith, E. (2011) Using numeric secondary data in educational research, British Educational Association online resource.
[Online]. Available from: http://www.bera.ac.uk/resources/using-numeric-secondary-data-education-research [Accessed
13 September 2012].
Windle, R, Wharrad, H., Leeder, D., Morales, R. (2010) ‘Analysis of the Pedagogical Attributes of Learning Objects’
[Online], SONET: Educational Technology Group, The University of Nottingham, Available from:
http://sonet.nottingham.ac.uk/projects/loam/, Accessed: 30/11/2011.