Established in 1969, the Open University (OU) is recognised as the world s first, and largest, distance learning institution for Higher Education (The Open University, 2018). Throughout its lengthy history, the OU has embraced and pursed the use of technologies for teaching and learning purposes. As a result, it has earned a well-deserved reputation for its creative technology-enhanced pedagogies (Marr, 2018, p. 53).
A 4-day visit to the OU in October 2019 provides the opportunity to investigate, first-hand, the institution s approach to online pedagogy. Meetings and discussions are scheduled with a range of personnel involved in the University s 100% online Master of Business Administration (MBA) course. This includes the Program Director, Lecturers and Instructional Designers.
Given the complex and multi-faceted nature of pedagogy (Loughran 2013), the investigation will achieve a focused approach by seeking to identify the methods used at the OU to evaluate student engagement. Although student engagement itself has received considerable attention in the HE literature (Wimpenny & Savin-Baden, 2013), much less is known about the ways in which engagement can be evaluated (Wilson, Broughan & Marselle, 2018). This is particularly the case for the online learning context.
In order to add further focus to the investigation, discussions with OU personnel will centre on the behavioural changes of students as result of their involvement in online engagement activities. Behavioural change is a central feature of two recently proposed student engagement models and is therefore considered to be an appropriate target for the investigation. These models are the Student Engagement Evaluation Framework (SEEF) (Thomas, 2017) and the Behaviour Change Wheel (BCW) (Michie, Atkins & West, 2011), which has been adapted to the student engagement context by Wilson, Broughan and Marselle (2018).
Loughran, J. (2013). Pedagogy: Making sense of the complex relationship between teaching and learning. Curriculum Inquiry, 43(1), 118 141.
Marr, L. (2018). The transformation of distance learning at Open University. The need for a new pedagogy for online learning. In A. Zorn, J. Haywood & J. M. Glachant (Eds.), Higher Education in the Digital Age: Moving Academia online (pp. 23 34). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
Michie, S., Atkins, L., & West, R. (2014). The behaviour change wheel: A guide to designing interventions. London: Silverback Publishing.
The Open University. (2018). Annual Report 2017/2018. Retrieved from http://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.about.main/files/files/Annual-report-2017-18_2.pdf
Thomas, L. (2017). Evaluating student engagement activity: report, evaluation framework and guidance. Retrieved from http://tsep.org.uk/evaluation-framework/
Wilson, C., Broughan, C., & Marselle, M. (2018). A new framework for the design and evaluation of a learning institution's student engagement activities. Studies in Higher Education, 0, 1 14.
Wimpenny, K., & Savin-Baden, M. (2013). Alienation, agency and authenticity: A synthesis of the literature on student engagement. Teaching in Higher Education, 18(8), 311 26.