A challenge for us as evaluators is that we were not there to identify a baseline at the beginning of the project so when we focus on changing practices many of these have already happened or have already started to happen. So we are taking a retrospective view. How they changed, why they changed, what didn’t change so will use historical accounts, multiplicity of voices (many stakeholders), and aim to identify barriers and tensions, evolving transformations, enablers, emerging benefits.

Overarching questions:

• Is this an appropriate model of open education (one of them) for Cov Uni to adopt at larger scale? (transferable/sustainable)
• What is the return on investment (ROI) (benefits)
• How far can the model work without a charismatic leader? (Evidence from UKOER that use of champions as enabler and cf with likes of DS106)
• How far the wider community buys into the open philosophy? - (cultural and traditional barriers)
• What is the impact on various stakeholders? (benefits and challenges)
• How does it change pedagogy and curriculum design?

Stakeholders

AT - academic team - Impact on academic practice

ST - support teams

RS - registered students - impact on learning, employability, professional networking

OS - open students

OP - open professionals

IM - institutional senior managers (dept/faculty level, strategic level, operational level)

WC - wider HE community (UK and global) Jisc, other HEIs - dissemination

Methods

OP - online polls - possibly poll questions throughout the year at regular intervals to all people involved with the course (open poll)

OS - online surveys (aimed at specific groups AT, ST, RS, OS, OP, RS &OS, OS & OP, AT & ST)

IN - interviews with selected individuals

FG - online focus groups with students

ED - existing documentation

CA - observation of course activities - live meetings, written contributions, tweets

Back to Evaluation approach | Forward to Evaluation Questions