OER in the Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities, De Montfort University
Tina Barnes-Powell, De Montfort University
Early on within the Practising Open Education project the Faculty agreed that an OER was any type of learning or teaching material that was freely available for anyone to use. This inclusive definition was developed so that it encouraged and enabled the maximum amount of academic and professional service staff to engage with, and support, the developing initiative. The development of OER also ...
Abstract
Early on within the Practising Open Education project the Faculty agreed that an OER was any type of learning or teaching material that was freely available for anyone to use. This inclusive definition was developed so that it encouraged and enabled the maximum amount of academic and professional service staff to engage with, and support, the developing initiative.
The development of OER also had the potential to support a number of elements within the University’s emerging vision, including the commitment to ‘develop a creative learning environment’, to ‘be a truly international university’ and to ‘be (..) driven by innovative projects’.
Engagement in this project has helped the Faculty to:
- ensure that academics engage more effectively with each other;
- support students and academics in creating and producing resources;
- improve the quality and diversity of our learning materials;
- promote the reputation of the Faculty;
- promote our courses to international audiences;
- prevent individuals’ re-inventing materials/resources/activities;
- support the diverse needs of our learners;
- widen access to HE resources;
- advertise the range of expertise that is accessible within the Faculty.
Biography
Dr Tina Barnes-Powell is Head of Postgraduate Studies and Research Students in the newly merged Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities at De Montfort University, Leicester.
In 2011 she was responsible for aligning all existing and newly proposed postgraduate (PGT) programmes into a common structure to support economy of delivery, administration and management. These proposals would not have been possible without the development of OER.
Currently she is extending the new PGT structure to incorporate existing and new Humanities PGT programmes. The curricula framework that she has developed has enabled the Faculty to move toward greater flexibility in organizational structure as well as curriculum delivery.
Engagement with the Practising Open Education project has allowed Tina to engage with the process of making HE art, design and humanities learning more agile, adaptive and imaginative. It has also enabled the Faculty to take the first steps in establishing a cohesive postgraduate art, design and humanities community within the new faculty, which will ultimately enrich the student experience.
