Week 2 Studying online
Introduction
The experience of studying online has changed drastically over the last decade. As technology has developed, so have opportunities to use that technology to make study more interesting and interactive, and more suited to the lifestyle that people lead. So you really can study any time, any place and anywhere.
What do we mean?
Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching, learning, and research materials that are either (a) in the public domain or (b) licensed in a manner that provides everyone with free and perpetual permission to engage in the 5R activities.
First up this week, you will have the opportunity to find out about and try some of the innovations in teaching and learning that have been developed to support online study. Although not all online universities will have the same innovations, they will give you an idea of what to expect. There are three innovations which you can explore, all of which have been developed by The Open University. They are all Open Educational Resources (OER). The first is a history game based on Early Modern Europe, the second is a Chinese language application and the third is an experiment from the OpenScience Laboratory (OSL). Don’t worry, you do not need to know about anything about science, Chinese or European history to have a go at the activities.
Please note
The history and OSL activities are available on both desktop computers and tablet devices. The Chinese language activity is available on tablets and smartphones. You can do two or three, depending on the time you have available.