Open education pillar

For some time now, uu77 and Radboud university medical center have been working on open education, but the sharing of educational materials and methods is still not a widespread practice among lecturers. uu77 aims to further encourage the use and development of open education resources. The goal is to ensure that lecturers are well-informed about the available support and infrastructure, and students know where to find high-quality materials.

The cooperating Dutch universities identify open education as a component of the umbrella term Open Science, and uu77 has endorsed this by including open education goals in the Open Science Programme. However, in organisational terms, this theme is more consistent with the . It is for this reason that this pillar has been included in the design of that programme.

What are we working on?

Improving information about the benefits of using open educational resources and open educational practices.
Exploring the possibilities for and desirability of (facilitating) the sharing and reuse of educational resources within uu77, in collaboration with already existing initiatives, such as the Teaching & Learning Centre.
Organising an open education point of expertise and contact within the existing units of Education Support. This should consist of representatives of relevant support staff from divisions and faculties, who should be tasked with organising the support identified, including the relevant national and international infrastructure, tools and services.
Exploring the possibility of an open education/open educational resources policy.

Practical information for lecturers

Basic information on open educational resources, and the support that is offered to lecturers by the Information & Library Services Division (ILS), can be found on the page on open educational resources. More detailed information about open education, open educational resources, open pedagogy and the support from the ILS can be found in the .

Contact

For questions about open education within the Radboud Open Science Programme, please contact Monique Schoutsen, monique.schoutsen [at] ru.nl (monique[dot]schoutsen[at]ru[dot]nl)

Examples from practise

VR Apps by Radboudumc Health Academy

Open educational resources come in many forms. Naturally, they include traditional formats like (PowerPoint) presentations or textbooks. But open-access knowledge clips and podcast episodes can also enrich education. Taking things to the next level is the use of virtual reality. Radboudumc Health Academy (RHA) has developed several VR apps focused on and . Watch (in Dutch, no VR headset required) to get a glimpse of what it’s like to assist as a midwife during a home birth.

Professional Community Dutch Language and Culture studies

The quality of open educational resources can be ensured through subject communities. For instance, the for Dutch Language and Culture studies offers materials created by and for Dutch Language and Culture programs in the Netherlands and Flanders. These resources can also be used in secondary education for the Dutch language curriculum. At uu77, Professor of Dutch and Academic Communication Marc van Oostendorp plays an active role in this professional community, contributing, among other things, his video lecture series for the University of the Netherlands. Check out (in Dutch) on the importance of the Dutch Studies collection.

Oog in oog met de Romeinse keizers in de late oudheid

Propaganda in Antiquity

Open education is about more than simply offering and reusing open educational resources. It also encompasses the structure and methods of teaching—often referred to as open pedagogy—where students take greater control over the learning process and outcomes. An inspiring example (in Dutch) is a course by lecturers Miriam Groen-Vallinga and Ketty Iannantuono (History, Art History, and Antiquity) on the theme of Propaganda in Antiquity. As part of the course, students wrote public blogs, which were presented as a digital exhibition. (in Dutch, English subtitles) was also created in which the students reflect on the course and the digital exhibition.

Kletsheads Podcast

Kletsheads Podcast In 2019, linguist Sharon Unsworth from the Centre for Language Studies created her prizewinning Kletsheads Podcast for parents, teachers and speech therapists. What can you expect when you’re raising multilingual children? What helps your children’s language development and what hinders it? In each episode, Sharon discusses the science behind multilingual children’s language development with a different expert. The podcast offers practical tips and inclusive insights from multilingual children, parents and professionals. The podcast has also been available in English since 2020.

A group of students sitting in the Refter, uu77's food hall

Scrum Toolkit: Structure for group work at university level

This toolkit offers you all the information you need to teach students to organise their work process in group work according to scrum principles. It includes a video and an interactive tool (Layergraphic) to introduce you to scrum. If you decide that scrum is valuable for your teaching, you will find ready-to-use PowerPoint presentations to teach students about scrum. The toolkit was developed by communication scientist Paul Ketelaar, of the .