Professional and practice learning is a boundary zone between academic study and social practices in work places and elsewhere. This boundary has already stimulated innovative forms of teaching and learning. Our vision is to expand these practices and to deepen our understanding of how they can be developed to address the new challenges we face in seeking to teach at scale while also providing learning opportunities both up to date and relevant to specific groups and localities, wherever our students happen to be. We also seek to diversify as new intersections open up between academic courses and awards on one hand, and work and social practices on the other. We work with the CETL Directors, and with the OU’s Professional Development Co-ordination Group.
As a result of our work the Open University is:
- learning more about how to teach and support the learning of practices that bring together theoretical and practical knowledge
- providing even better modules for students coming to the OU for work-related and professional learning reasons
- is able to expand this area of our teaching and increase student recruitment to it
- strengthening our cross-faculty learning and capability
- creating new capacity in our use of technology and supported open learning for development of the learning of target groups (work-place learners/professionals and registered OU students)
- improving our use of pedagogy and technology for the support of learning associated with important social goals such as effective professional practice and development, employee development
Current projects included in this programme include:
- Social Networking for Practice Learning (SNPL)
- Practice and Professional Learning Environment for Social Work (PePLE)
- Survey of students’ experience of practice learning
- Development of Elluminate on Arts Heritage Courses – funded by PBPL CETL
- A study of mobile devices in use at UCL – PBPL CETL funded.
- Learning through Work – a project to provide an evidence base for the development of the Foundation Degree in Combined Professional Studies, through a combination of accredited prior learning and work-based learning courses.
- Masters in Online and Distance Education (MAODE) modules involve students in developing their own practices with technology. H808 the eLearning Professional focuses on this aspect in particular and has engaged intensively with the eportfolio tool as one way of delivering the learning outcomes.
- E-portfolio project working with the Centre for Inclusion and Curriculum, Learning Innovations Office, Faculty of Education and Language Studies and Faculty of Health and Social Care on requirements for e-portfolios in the workplace.
- GET IT project – developing a video repository of AL practice based learning videos from OU Business School, Faculty of Education and Language Studies , IET and Faculty of Health and Social Care funded by PBPL
- Mobile Clinical Learning – collaborating with UCL distance learning for NHS clinicians and Turkish medical training through smart phone activities. Funded by PBPL