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The Open Learning Foundation
The Foundation has over twenty years experience of providing:
Members:
Managing The Process Any academic institution may apply to join the Foundation. The decision of the Board is final as to the result of the application. Members are in one of two categories. Full Members have access to all the materials and services of the Foundation listed below. They pay an annual subscription of £9,700. Associate Members may join and select individual subject areas, the cost of these range from £3000 per annum, we are also able to create "bespoke" material selections at an individual cost. Membership is for an initial three year period but payable annually. During membership all new and revised materials are available without further costs to members. Commercial educational providers are welcome to be in membership and special terms are set according to the range of material requested. Member institutions can propose and elect Directors to the OLF Board. The Board may have up to 11 members. One third of the Board "retires" each year but may stand for re-election. Candidates must have the support of their own Head of Institution and that of two other members before they can put their name forward for election as a Director and Trustee. The elections are held at the Annual General Meeting of the Foundation. The Foundation has a number of working groups that provide a sound information exchange and opportunities to share implementation techniques. A Contacts Group brings together a senior representative for each member, usually three times a year, to help develop policy matters for the Board. Academic groups meet at least twice a year but more often when they are in the process of developing new materials. All members may have a representative on an academic group if they have paid to be members of that group.
The Foundation operates with a budget provided by the subscription of its members and receives no government financial support. The Foundation also creates close links with professional bodies to ensure that its materials can help meet their professional qualifications requirements.
Our Main Subject Fields Business Studies We have three sets of materials. The first is based at the Foundation level and covers all the basic business skills. The second is the full degree programme. This provides a full BABS degree with the exception of the "project" which our design team agreed was best left fully in the hands of the local provider. The third is a second degree in E-Business that uses the common first year of the BA. Nursing Studies (HealthCare) Our Nursing team have taken the view that they would not set out to produce a full course of study but to provide quality materials in particular fields of nursing. Some 18 twenty-credit modules have been created within this portfolio of materials. In recent times the group has concentrated upon the needs to the National Service Framework and plans have been developed to cover all of the major parts of the Framework. Our materials list shows what is currently available and the planned production for the coming months. Social Work (SocialCare) Originally the materials were carefully designed to provide a full Diploma in Social Work. These were successfully co-published with the then professional body and widely used across the sector. Following changes and the introduction of the General Council the group decided to move it future developments into the production of the degree in social work. Great strides have already been made and some 18 modules have been issued to members over the past two years. Study Skills At the specific request of members the Foundation has produced a major amount of materials to assist learners returning to study. It is generic and covers all the major skills required to succeed in higher education. It is set at level 0. To this has been added a basic maths course, as increasingly professional bodies are requiring this as part of courses. Other areas Other areas covered by the Foundation include: European Hospitality Management
Creating Quality Materials The Foundation has set up several subject groups comprising specialist academic staff drawn from member institutions. The purpose of these groups is two fold, firstly to propose and manage curriculum developments and secondly to be an information exchange between members. The group under the leadership of the Academic Co-ordinator plans curriculum development. The group sets the general pathway, approves the learning outcomes and monitors progress of the writing. The co-ordinator works with the staff of the Foundation in supporting the author and ensuring that the Foundations Guidelines for Material Development are maintained. The first Unit is carefully assessed by the group and feedback provided to the author. At the end of the process the first full draft is passed to all members of the group for them to start the quality assurance process. This takes place in member institutions and involves local experts both within universities and associated organisations. Final changes are made to the Module and it goes for a full proof reading. At this point the MSWord version is released to members with a PDF version. We then proceed to create the eLearning version and this follows soon afterwards. Materials are only developed after discussions with the members. External partners are sought where this seems appropriate but in these cases the contract ensures that OLF members get full access to the materials within the licence scheme. A revision process is in place critically to review and then update existing materials. Again, members are given the first opportunity to participate in this activity. Fees are paid either to the individual or the institution for all of this work. Skills gained are of great value both to the author and the employing body. Increasingly the Foundation is seeking non-exclusive licensing arrangement with members so that it can re-purpose existing materials developed individually by a member for the wider use of all members. Special IPR arrangements are in place to protect original IPR owners and the Foundation.
Using the Materials Members use the materials in so many interesting ways. Clearly they are perfect for traditional distance delivery. Modules can be printed or sent electronically, in the wide variety of formats that we provide. Some members use them to support campus based learning either to ensure that modules with small student numbers can operate or to provide quality learning support materials and thereby reduce contact teaching hours. Some members find that they can use the materials to provide support to students with problems. These may be students who have failed a taught module and can use the OLF materials over a vacation period to prepare for re-sits. They may be students who need advanced support before entering a module. For example overseas students who are still developing their English language skills with technical language. For example here is what the University of Teesside say about how they use the materials: "At the University of Teesside OLF materials are used primarily in support of conventionally delivered under-graduate programmes. The materials are sometimes disseminated on paper, but more frequently they are now uploaded into the University's VLE. They provide tutors with a ready source of editable course materials that make designing and implementing courses for delivery online and off much easier. Currently at Teesside OLF materials are use extensively in the areas of Health and Social Care, in our Business School and in supporting learning skills development across the curriculum." Other members adapt the OLF materials to fit into their own packages and thereby save time and effort in developing new courses. For example here is what the University of Glamorgan says: "One of the important things about the Open Learning Foundation materials is the flexibility that they offer users. For example, we already had distance-learning material on research, but I wanted to increase the depth of that content with respect to qualitative designs. The Open Learning Foundation had available 'Qualitative Research Methodology' and I was able to integrate some sections of this material with our own - saving a great deal of writing time. Study material such as Implementation of the National Service Framework for Diabetes has been useful in a number of ways. It has been a very useful source for Lecturers planning traditional classroom based delivery as well as being used within our distance education provision." It is important to note that material produced by the Foundation can be modified locally to meet users requirements and locally generated materials, case studies, etc, can easily be added to ensure that co-operatively generated material looks and feels very local to the student or staff members.
Working Groups We have series of working groups who guide developments and share experiences in Open and Distance learning production and implementation. They are:
Supporting Members Development International links The Foundation is a full member of the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU). Through this membership Foundation members can participate, with others across the EU, in research and development projects. The EADTU often gets EU funding for projects and its members have the opportunity to participate on a regular basis. The EDTU also has subject groups that meeting face to face and electronically to share and develop information.
The feedback from those on the visits is very good and has been described as some of the best and most cost effective staff development they have undertaken. The Foundation provides these tours as part of its development work and as an opportunity for members to make contacts with staff and institutions across the world. Staff development The Foundation is also available to assist members in introducing its materials into new parts of their organisation or dealing with general issues around the whole area of open and flexible learning. As all the Foundation's materials are now available in e-learning form and will fit into all Learning Management Systems we can offer an off the shelf solution to a quick start up in e-learning provision.
OLF Fellowship Award Annually the Foundation promotes its Fellowship Bursary Award. This is for any member of staff employed by a member institution. A theme is announced and a call for proposals is made. We ask for some indication of institutional support for the research topic. The Foundation publishes the results to members and seeks wider distribution within the educational sector. Authors can list the work within their universities research profile.
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