Further reading

If you would like a more in-depth understanding, you may like to read Coley and Tanner’s 2012 paper on the origins of misconceptions in biology, to get an insight into a range of student misconceptions and how these misconceptions cause problems when they clash with new knowledge.

Coley, J. D. and Tanner, K. D. (2012) ‘Common Origins of Diverse Misconceptions: Cognitive Principles and the Development of Biology Thinking’, CBE—Life Sciences Education, vol. 11, pp. 209–215 [Online]. Available at https://doi.org/ 10.1187/ cbe.12-06-0074 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (Accessed 5 June 2018).

If you are interested in finding out more about threshold concepts, read the following extract from the OU’s 2014 Innovating Pedagogy report.

Sharples, M., Adams, A., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Whitelock, D. (2014) Innovating Pedagogy 2014 [Online], Milton Keynes, The Open University. Available at http://www.openuniversity.edu/ sites/ www.openuniversity.edu/ files/ The_Open_University_Innovating_Pedagogy_2014_0.pdf (Accessed 5 June 2018).

Adams, A and Cox, A. (2008): ‘Questionnaires, in-depth interviews and focus groups’, in: Paul Cairns and Anna L. Cox, (eds) Research Methods for Human Computer Interaction [Online], Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 17–34. Available at http://oro.open.ac.uk/ 11909/ (Accessed 22 January 2018).

Adams, A., Lunt, P. and Cairns, P. (2008) ‘A qualitative approach to HCI research’, in Paul Cairns and Anna Cox (eds.) Research Methods for Human-Computer Interaction [Online], Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 138–157. Available at http://oro.open.ac.uk/ 11911/ (Accessed 22 January 2018).

Coley, J. D. and Tanner, K. D. (2012) ‘Common origins of diverse misconceptions: cognitive principles and the development of biology thinking’, CBE life sciences education, vol. 11, no. 209.

Harrison, A. G. and Treagust, D. F. (1996) ‘Secondary students’ mental models of atoms and molecules: implications for teaching chemistry’. Science Education, vol. 80, no. 509.

Kelemen, D., Seston, R. and Saing Georges, L. (2012) ‘The Designing Mind: Children’s Reasoning About Intended Function and Artifact Structure’. Journal of Cognition and Development, vol. 13, pp 439-453.

Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (eds) (2001) Handbook of action research: Participative inquiry and practice. London, Sage.

If you are interested in reading more about how The Open University uses the learning design approach to produce its modules and qualifications and re-evaluate existing modules, a good place to start is this report by Rebecca Galley (2015) (http://www.open.ac.uk/ iet/ learning-design/ sites/ www.open.ac.uk.iet.learning-design/ files/ files/ ecms/ web-content/ Learning-Design-at-the-Open-University.pdf) in which she covers a lot more detail about the processes we adopt, as well as the use of student data to inform module design.

You might like to have a look at some additional information about designing accessible materials. We think these resources provided by the OU SeGA team are a good place to start and you might also want to look at information provided by JISC and the Government Digital Service:

JISC (2015a) Deliver an inclusive digital student experience [Online]. Available at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/ guides/ enhancing-the-digital-student-experience/ deliver-an-inclusive-digital-student-experience (Accessed 5 June 2018).

JISC (2015b) How can you make resources accessible for those with disabilities? [Online]. Available at https://www.jisc.ac.uk/ blog/ how-can-you-make-resources-accessible-for-those-with-disabilities-13-jul-2015 (Accessed 5 June 2018).

Gov.uk (2016) Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility [Online]. Available at https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/ 2016/ 09/ 02/ dos-and-donts-on-designing-for-accessibility/ (Accessed 5 June 2018).

You can read more about this process in Rebecca Galley’s report that we referred to earlier:

Galley, R. (2015) ‘Learning Design at The Open University: Introducing methods for enhancing curriculum innovation and quality’, Milton Keynes, The Open University.

If you wish to read more innovating pedagogies, you can read more from the Innovating Pedagogies reports as follows:

Sharples, M., Adams, A., Alozie, N., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., McAndrew, P., Means, B., Remold, J., Rienties, B., Roschelle, J., Vogt, K., Whitelock, D., Yarnall, L. (2015) Innovating Pedagogy 2015 [Online], Milton Keynes, The Open University. Available at http://oro.open.ac.uk/ 45319/ 1/ InnovatingPedagogy_2015.pdf (Accessed 6 June 2018).

Sharples, M., Adams, A., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Whitelock, D. (2014) Innovating Pedagogy 2014 [Online], Milton Keynes, The Open University. Available at http://www.openuniversity.edu/ sites/ www.openuniversity.edu/ files/ The_Open_University_Innovating_Pedagogy_2014_0.pdf (Accessed 5 June 2018).

Sharples, M., de Roock, R., Ferguson, R., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Koh, E., Kukulska-Hulme, A., Looi, C-K., McAndrew, P., Rienties, B., Weller, M., Wong, L. H. (2016) Innovating Pedagogy 2016 [Online], Milton Keynes, The Open University. Available at https://iet.open.ac.uk/ file/ innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf (Accessed 6 June 2018).

You may wish to read the following article on the use of digital storytelling in the classroom.

Robin, B. R. (2008) ‘Digital Storytelling: A powerful technology tool for the 21st century classroom’, Theory into Practice, vol. 47, pp. 220–228 [Online]. Available at http://digitalstorytellingclass.pbworks.com/ f/ Digital%2520Storytelling%2520A%2520Powerful.pdf (Accessed 6 June 2018).

If you are interested in developing games-based interventions or find the subject area of this intervention interesting you should read the following articles:

Hart, J., Iacovides, I., Adams, A., Oliveira, M., and Magroudi, M. (2017) ‘Understanding Engagement within the Context of a Safety Critical Game’. To appear in proceedings of the annual ACM Conference CHI Play 2017, New York, NY, USA, ACM [Online]. Available at https://dl.acm.org/ citation.cfm?doid=3116595.3116633 (Accessed 20 July 2018).

Margoudi, M., Hart, J., Adams, A. and Oliveira, M. (2016) ‘Exploring Emotion Representation to Support Dialogue in Police Training on Child Interviewing’, in Serious Games JCSG 2016, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 9894, Springer, pp. 73–86 [Online]. Available at https://link.springer.com/ chapter/ 10.1007/ 978-3-319-45841-0_7 (Accessed 20 July 2018).

Blessingwhite (2016) The CLEAR Coaching Model - Blessingwhite – Leadership Development and Employee Engagement. [Online]. Available at http://blessingwhite.com/ model/ 2016/ 05/ 17/ clear-coaching-model/ (Accessed 6 June 2018).

Whitmore, J. (2009) Coaching for performance: GROWing human potential and purpose: the principles and practice of coaching and leadership, 4th ed., United Kingdom, Nicholas Brealey Publishing.

Zachary, L. J. (2002) ‘The Role of Teacher as Mentor’, New Directions for Adult and Continuing Education, Spring 2002, no. 93, pp. 27–38.

It might help to look through additional information about evidence-based practice:

Education Endowment Foundation’s What Works Network

Read more about the social theory of learning in the following:

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice: learning, meaning and identity Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.