ERIC Number: EJ1079986
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1179-7665
EISSN: N/A
Something for Everyone? The Different Approaches of Academic Disciplines to Open Educational Resources and the Effect on Widening Participation
Coughlan, Tony; Perryman, Leigh-Anne
Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, v15 n2 p11-27 2011
This article explores the relationship between academic disciplines' representation in the United Kingdom Open University's (OU) OpenLearn open educational resources (OER) repository and in the OU's fee-paying curriculum. Becher's (1989) typology was used to subdivide the OpenLearn and OU fee-paying curriculum content into four disciplinary categories: Hard Pure (e.g., Science), Hard Applied (e.g., Technology), Soft Pure (e.g., Arts) and Soft Applied (e.g., Education). It was found that while Hard Pure and Hard Applied disciplines enjoy an increased share of the OER curriculum, Soft Applied disciplines are under-represented as OER. Possible reasons for this disparity are proposed and Becher's typology is adapted to be more appropriate to 21st-century higher education.
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Open Universities, Resource Units, Computer Uses in Education, Shared Resources and Services, Intellectual Disciplines, Classification, Workplace Learning, Open Education, Electronic Learning, Inclusion, Study Skills, Undergraduate Study, Fees, Statistical Analysis, Comparative Analysis, Professional Development
DEANZ: New Zealand Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Learning. Open Polytechnic, 3 Cleary Street Private Bag 31914, Lower Hutt 5040, New Zealand. Tel: +64-3-345-8246; Web site: http://journals.akoaotearoa.ac.nz/index.php/JOFDL
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: United Kingdom
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A