The article presents the results of the study on the professional and pedagogical aspect of developing open education in higher education institutions in the UK. It is established that as a result of society informatization, the new requirements for training of future specialists arise. Solving requirements means to create an improved open…

A successful international learning initiative focusing on student agency began with a link facilitating OE-enhanced teaching between a UK university and a US high school class. It became an international trip organised and funded by five UK students and their teacher who travelled to California, teaching and performing music across formal and…

What difference does openness make to the ethics of teaching and research? This paper approaches this question both from the perspective of research into the use of open educational resources (OER) in teaching and learning. An outline of the nature and importance of ethics in education research is provided before the basic principles of research…

The global open education movement is striving toward openness as a feature of academic policy and practice, but evidence shows that these ambitions are far from mainstream, and levels of awareness in institutions is often disappointingly low. Those advocating for open education are seeking to widen engagement, but how targeted and persuasive are…

Open educational resources (OER) have been promoted as a path to universal education, supporting economic development and intercultural dialogue. However, to realise these benefits requires greater understanding of the factors that influence both OER supply and use. This paper examines an aspect of the supply side of the OER lifecycle--the motives…

Open education emerged when the state had an active role in shaping and financing post-secondary education. In the twenty-first century, two pressures influence the way openness is conceived. The first is the compounding of neo-liberal economics with austerity following the financial crash of 2008. The second is the consolidation of networked and…

Randomised control trials (RCTs) are an evidence-based research approach which has not yet been adopted and widely used in open and distance education to inform educational policy and practice. Despite the challenges entailed in their application, RCTs hold the power to robustly evaluate the effects of educational interventions in distance…

Several movements have emerged related to the general idea of promoting "openness" in science. Research councils are key institutions in bringing about changes proposed by these movements, as sponsors and facilitators of research. In this paper we identify the approaches used in Canada, the US and the UK to advance open science, as a…

This book describes the history, structure and institutions of open and distance education in six countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US. It discusses how open and distance education is evolving in a digital age to reflect the needs and circumstances of national higher education systems in these countries, and explores…

An analysis is presented of the experience and lessons learned of running a MOOC in introductory physical chemistry. The course was unique in allowing students to conduct experimental measurements using a virtual laboratory constructed using video and simulations. A breakdown of the student background and motivation for taking the course is…

By investigating how educational practitioners participate in activities around open educational practices (OEP), this paper aims at contributing to an understanding of open practices and how these practitioners learn to use OEP. Our research is guided by the following hypothesis: Different social configurations support a variety of social…

This article provides insight into different expectations between Chinese and British academic culture for distance learning. The article is based on a pedagogic research project, a case study, and is centered on a distance learning course in maritime law proposed by a British university for a university in China. Some important commonalities and…

Evidence suggests that MOOCs are being used as a strategic tool to explore alternative models of course delivery (Allen & Seaman, 2013) and this paper shares insight into an example of such innovation for Business School Education. Gateway MBA draws on examples of open learning worldwide to create a MOOC to extend the MBA distance learning…

Communication is an indispensable part of international cooperation and it requires managing different cultures. Being prepared to see and understand different values, trying to understand contrasting views in a consortium, can decrease the potential of misperception which otherwise may act as a real barrier to cooperation. This is why…

This paper explores the ways in which module and curriculum development in the context of a distance education (DE) programme play an important role in "constructing" a discipline's object of study, thus contributing to the ways in which knowledge is understood in society. The paper examines how the process of module production both…