New opportunities for sharing knowledge and engaging with others are transforming the practices of educators and learners. However, many of us use social media and open content in what Lawrence Lessig described as ‘read-only’ engagement. This module will develop your practice into new forms of active and purposeful networked ‘readwrite’ activity. Working on a project that you devise, you will share your ideas and practice using a variety of forums, online tools and an Open Studio that you share with your fellow students. The module culminates in the H818 Online Conference, which brings together students, invited speakers, staff, and alumni. Projects explore how to enhance your own educational practice, while addressing key themes in online and distance education. You will also actively visualise and critically assess your own engagement with online networks and open practice.
What you will study
This module is project-based so offers you a larger than usual degree of control over what you produce in your assignments. It is therefore particularly suitable if you have previous experience of teaching and/or learning online that can provide a starting point for your focus in the project. It offers an opportunity to develop and improve your ideas into publication, presentation or demonstration formats. You will discuss these in an online conference and engage with a module-wide and selected external audience under authentic conference conditions.
You will start by engaging with the ideas underlying open scholarship, open access and open research, and determine where you wish to position your own personal practices within these concepts. Having selected one of the key themes and decided upon a format and approach to your presentation, you will develop and share ideas using OpenStudio, exchanging feedback and advice with other module participants. You will produce a multimedia ‘poster’ for your project and engage in a formal and informal review of the work of others.
A further aspect of the module is its teaching around social networks to support educational practitioners, including analysis of these networks to help you to understand your own place as a networked practitioner.
The module will build confidence and competence in online dissemination across a range of discussion environments, using a blend of tools and platforms applicable to the project activity you have selected. Throughout you will be encouraged to share your ideas and practices both within and beyond the H818 community. This will allow you to experience and build on peer reflection before, in and after action, foster the development of your own practitioner network and enable you to engage in authentic practice-based networking online.
You will complete the module with a planning and preparation activity to support development of your project for broader dissemination, such as external publication in an open access journal.
You can expect to study as part of a lively community of students, sharing diverse international, professional and disciplinary viewpoints and contexts. Experienced online tutors will support you in addressing the key themes and comparing approaches.
You will learn
The learning outcomes for this module are available here.
Vocational relevance
This module is designed for educational professionals and other practice-based professionals who want to develop their skills in networking, communicating and sharing. It promotes ways of developing and disseminating work through professional conference and publication routes linked with online and distance learning. The module aims to provide an authentic experience of how to develop as a networked practitioner both within and beyond the module.
The module is a core component of our MA in Online and Distance Education (F10), which is no longer available to new students.
Entry
To take this module you need to be ready for study at postgraduate level, usually demonstrated by having a bachelors degree or equivalent qualification. You need easy access to the Web, but you don’t need to be experienced in blogging or in online discussion forums. Nor do you need to be working in technology-enhanced learning, but you should be interested in developing some expertise in this area.
However, if you have successfully completed two-thirds of a bachelors degree (an HND in the UK, for example) and have professional experience in technology-enabled learning, you may still be eligible for the programme. You will be asked to provide further information and evidence of your eligibility as part of the registration process for the programme.
All teaching is in English, and your proficiency in the language needs to be adequate for postgraduate study and for contributing to online discussions by text and voice. If English is not your first language, we strongly recommend that you make sure you can achieve a score of at least seven in the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). To assess your English Language skills in relation to your proposed studies, you can visit the IELTS website.
You need to have continual access to the internet and be confident in online communication. We also recommend that you have prior experience of learning, teaching or presenting online. In addition, you should have some experience of reading and understanding academic literature.
If you have any doubt about the suitability of the module, please speak to an adviser.
Preparatory work
No formal preparatory work is required, however you may wish to familiarise yourself with the ideas behind digital and open scholarship, for example by reading Chapter 1: Digital, networked and open in the free-to-access publication, The Digital Scholar by Professor Martin Weller, one of the authors of this module.
Qualifications
H818 is an optional module in our:
This module can also count towards the MA in Online and Distance Education (F10), Postgraduate Diploma in Online and Distance Education (D36) or MA in Education (Applied Linguistics (F01) which are no longer available to new students.
Some postgraduate qualifications allow study to be chosen from other subject areas. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this module can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.
If you have a disability
The nature of this module and its learning outcomes require substantial time to be spent online using a computer or other suitable device. We strive to avoid using inaccessible resources, but some third-party sites and tools which you are suggested to try in the course may not be easily accessible for all assistive technologies. Some students may also find the amount of reading from different sources challenging. There will be sufficient material provided to enable you to complete the essential activities and assignments successfully. If the provided materials are not accessible to you, support can be provided by your tutor in collaboration with other OU staff. Support with access to Library resources and course materials such as journal articles is also available from the Library.
Written transcripts of any audio components are available, as are printable versions of the online text based material. Some online material may not be available or fully accessible using a screen reader (and mathematical and scientific materials may be particularly difficult to read in this way). Alternative formats of the study materials are available, with some available to download from the module website.
If you have particular study requirements please tell us as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Visit our Disability support website to find more about what we offer.
Study materials
What's included
This module provides you with specially written web-based teaching materials, online study groups, learning activities for small groups and for you to undertake individually, and support from your tutor.
You’ll have access to a module website, which includes:
- a week-by-week study planner
- course-specific module materials
- audio and video content
- forums for guidance from tutors and discussion with fellow students
- assignment details
- online tutorials
- access to a dedicated Open Studio area for sharing and discussing work
- guidance on the conference website which can link to information about your project
As an OU student, you can use The Open University Library website. This provides access via the internet to a wide range of online resources such as databases, full-text ejournals, reference sources, ebooks, newspapers, images and more to support your studies. You can use these to do a literature search, keep up to date with your subject, or read around a topic. Support for developing and improving your information searching skills is available on the Library website.
Computing requirements
You’ll need broadband internet access and a desktop or laptop computer with an up-to-date version of Windows (10 or 11) or macOS Ventura or higher.
Any additional software will be provided or is generally freely available.
To join in spoken conversations in tutorials, we recommend a wired headset (headphones/earphones with a built-in microphone).
Our module websites comply with web standards, and any modern browser is suitable for most activities.
Our OU Study mobile app will operate on all current, supported versions of Android and iOS. It’s not available on Kindle.
It’s also possible to access some module materials on a mobile phone, tablet device or Chromebook. However, as you may be asked to install additional software or use certain applications, you’ll also require a desktop or laptop, as described above.
Teaching and assessment
Support from your tutor
You will have a tutor who will guide you on many aspects of the module, who will mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. You will be taught and assessed through a combination of media, including email, online forums and the internet.
Contact us if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.
Assessment
The assessment details can be found in the facts box above.
You must use the online eTMA system to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs).
Future availability
The networked practitioner starts once a year in October. This page describes the module that starts in October 2020, the last time it will be presented.
Regulations
As a student of The Open University, you should be aware of the content of the academic regulations which are available on our
Student Policies and Regulations website.