Exploring Open Education Practices (OEP) in Undergraduate, Interprofessional Education (IPE)

Vollständiger Abstract

Worum geht es in dieser Arbeit?

Advancement in information and communication technology (ICT) laid the foundation for open education practices (OEP). The open educational resources (OER) movement has been high on the accessibility and inclusivity agenda, however, the OPAL report: Beyond OER – Shifting Focus to Open Educational Practices (OPAL, 2011) suggests extending the focus beyond the use of OER in higher education to innovative OEP. OEP is defined as “a broad description of collaborative practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, as well as pedagogical practices employing participatory technologies and social networks for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners” (Cronin, 2017, p. 18). // Lecturers introduced OEP into a second-year module. Working in interprofessional teams, health and social care students (N:1734) conducted research and used open technologies to design a learning object. Learning objects were assessed, and with students’ consent, shared as OER. Within the evolving OEP domain, this SoTL research project explored students’ perceptions on the use of OEP in undergraduate, interprofessional education (IPE). Ethics approval was granted. Voluntary non-probability sampling was used. The study population comprised of all students registered for the module (N:1734) with 1145 (n) students giving written consent. // This qualitative study was anchored in a constructivist-interpretivist paradigm. A scoping review provided the theoretical foundation and empirical data was collected through an online reflection activity. Data was anonymised, thematically analysed, co-coded, and interpreted. // Participants perceived the introduction of OEP as very positive. Participants valued working collaboratively, gaining insight into diverse disciplinary approaches, and learning with, form, and about their peers. OEP allowed for increased engagement with the subject matter, better understanding, and knowledge retention. Participants valued learning new skills, being creative, co-constructing knowledge, and developing a learning object that can be used for more than just assessment purposes. Students recommended the inclusion of OEP in other modules. // References. Cronin, C. (2017). Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5), 15–34 doi: https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.3096