Reading for Pleasure
Sleeping for pleasure. (Photo by amber on Pexels)
The Open University (OU) Reading for Pleasure project is an example of Open educational practices (OEP) as the project aims to innovate the learning process and make it child led. The project, led by Professor Teresa Cremin, looked at ways of engaging children in reading. OU’s research and research worldwide considers children’s enjoyment in reading to be directly linked to their future academic success.
The Reading for Pleasure website (2021) contains a resource bank of Examples of Practice (EoP) which have been written by teachers and educational professionals. Contributors must base their EoP on the OU’s research and link the pedagogy with their practice. Once uploaded, the EoP’s are free to be used or reused by anyone wishing to make a difference to children’s enjoyment of literacy. It is a hugely popular website for teachers and educational professionals and there are now over 300 EoP.
This case study portrays the benefits of open access and quality research. The child-centred approach of the research enhances children’s learning, and by allowing educators to access and contribute to these resources for free, it reaches a wider scale. The research project is starting to build an international base, and this exemplifies the success of open access.
Activity 6 (20 minutes)
- Access the website and download at least two Examples of Practice.
- Consider the quality of these resources and how they link to the OU’s research.
- Do you feel they are effective strategies to incorporate a love of reading in children?
- How do you think the website contributes to social justice?
Share your thoughts using the hashtag #ALITDA and additional hashtags: #OURfP and #ReadingforPleasure. Doing this will connect you to others who have an interest in the subject and promote the website, which in turn promotes the social justice agenda of the project.