This is a talk given at the OU's Computers and Learning Research Group, on 17 Jan 2019. In it I give a very partial history of educational technology at the Open University, since its founding in 1969 to the present day. It’ll be partial in multiple senses. A full history would take far longer than a single session. If I gave a comprehensively synoptic account, it’d be too broad-brush to be interesting. So I’ll be selecting elements to focus on, and I’ll be unashamedly partial in picking the ones that appeal particularly to me. We’ve always been pioneers in using technology to help our students learn. What that means has changed profoundly in some ways, and is much the same in others. As Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Come along to hear the digital equivalent of “I remember when all this was fields”!

1. D
A PARTIAL HISTORY OF
EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY
AT THE OU
DOUG CLOW

3. Charles Newey in TS251/17 Crystals in 1973
Dr Doug
Clow
Senior
Lecturer
Institute of
Educational
Technology
A Partial
History of
Educational
Technology
at the Open
University

4. Where we came from
What educational technology was and is
What’s stayed the same
What’s changed
NB Thematic, not chronological
NB Partial
Outline

5. Open to people, places, methods and ideas

6. Walton Hall and site of Jennie Lee Library, now Jennie Lee Building, ca. 1969/1970

7. “Every new form of human communication will be examined to see how it can be
used to raise and broaden the level of human understanding.”
- Lord Crowther, OU inauguration, 23 July 1969
“Educational technology is concerned with the design and evaluation of curricula
and learning experiences and with the problems of implementing and renovating
them”
- Derek Rowntree (1979)
“If educational technology is concerned with thinking carefully about teaching
and learning, then a computer has a contribution to make irrespective of its use
as a means of implementation, for the design of computer based learning
environments gives us a new perspective on the nature of teaching and learning
and indeed on general educational objectives.”
- Tim O'Shea and J. Self (1983)
Educational technology

8. Directors:
David Hawkridge
Clive Lawless
Mary Thorpe
Josie Taylor
Patrick McAndrew
Institute of Educational Technology
• Educational technology
• Institutional research
• Surveys
• Student statistics
• Technology-enhanced
learning
Berrill Building, 1997Jennie Lee Building, ca. 2012

9. OU educational technology expertise
Walton Hall
Scotland
Wales
Northern Ireland
Ireland
Nottingham
Manchester

10. Other Open Universities are available

11. Constant context
Industrial scale
Modular study
Course teams
Tutor model
Tutor-marked assignments
Critical readers
Developmental testing
Accessibility
End of module survey

12. WHAT’S CHANGED

13. Print
Largest publisher
in the UK
Now: Print on demand
Tutorial in print
In-text questions
Learning outcomes
Sequencing
Pacing
OU warehouse, 27 Jan 1972
K100 Understanding Health and Social Care, 1998-2008

14. Library
Jennie Lee Library, 1999
Course Readers
Offprints
Now: Online journals
Reciprocal access

15. Video and audio
Course-
specific
programmes
Specific
AV assets
General
audience
programmes
Angela Dean on set, ca. 1979
Coast, BBC2, 2005-2015
More or Less, Radio 4, 2001-nowOpen Forum 42, Tomorrow’s OU World, 1979

16. Video and audio
Evening
broadcasts
Overnight
broadcasts
Cassettes
CD-ROMs
Online
Alexandra Palace, 1973
BBC2 TV ident, ca 1985

17. Computer-Marked Assignments
Multiple choice
By post
Question design
Now: iCMAs, Moodle Quiz
S101 Science Foundation Course, Unit 10 CMA, 1971

18. Computers
Opus, TM221, The digital computer, 1975-1982
HEKTOR III, TM222 The digital computer, 1983-1991

19. Interactive CD-ROMs
Multimedia
SD206 The Human Brain, 1992-2001
Photo Hall & Robinson (1995), https://oro.open.ac.uk/35764/

20. Asynchronous conferencing: OPTEL
OPTEL, late 70s to 80s
Study Centres
Also VT100s

21. Asynchronous conferencing
CoSY, mid/late 80s/90s
FirstClass, mid-90s
• Multiplatform
• Client
• Web
Now: Moodle forums
eBBS, web, late 90s

22. Synchronous conferencing: CYCLOPS
Late 1970s
Audio-graphic
tutoring
Taped and live

23. Synchronous conferencing: Lyceum
Mid/late 90s to 2000s
Audio conferencing
Shared whiteboard
Text chat
56k modem
Now: OU Live

24. H802 Applications of IT in
Open and Distance Education
1998-2005
First online course
Website
eBBS
Audiocassettes
CD-ROMs
Printed folder

25. T171 You, Your Computer and the Net
1999-2005
1st online undergrad course
10,000 students first year
Books
Website
CD-ROM

26. K223 Knowledge, Information and Care
2003-2006
Pilot workflow:
Word > XML >
Print, web, CD-ROM
Online study planner
Offprint book

27. First online graduation ceremony
31 March 2000
MA Online & Distance Education
24 graduates
Livestreamed (KMi Stadium)
OU staff: robed, on stage
Students: pre-recorded videos
Honorary Degree:
Sir Tim Berners-Lee

28. Science: Home experiment kits
McArthur microscope, 1973
A281 Technology and change 1750-1914, 1984-1991

29. Science: Home experiment kits
S104 Exploring science, 2008-2016
SD206 Biology, Brain and Behaviour, 1992-2001

30. Science: Distance as an asset 1
Peppered moth study: evolution
S101 Science Foundation Course
Late 1970s/early 1980s
Biston betularia f. typica, the white-bodied peppered moth
Photo (CC) BY-SA Chiswick Chap
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biston.betularia.7200.jpg
Biston betularia f. carbonaria, the black-bodied peppered moth
Photo (CC) BY-SA Chiswick Chap
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Biston.betularia.f.carbonaria.7209.jpg

31. Science: Distance as an asset 2
Evolution MegaLab
2009: Darwin 200
Banded snails (Cepaea)
Pan-European website
Doubled observation
records (7,629 added)

32. Science: Distance as an asset 3
iSpot
2009
Share observations
Learn to identify
Links with experts
Reputation system
Still going strong!

33. Science: Virtual microscope
Mid-1990s: 12 rock sections on CD-ROM
Now:
Huge library of rocks online:
- UK, Beagle, Meteorites, Moon
Histology/histopathology

34. Science: Open STEM Labs
2013-now
Over 100:
• Online experiments
• Remote access
• Citizen science
• Virtual scenarios

35. Prediction is hard
This is rubbish and will never catch on.
It goes against much of the research about what works.
Its infrastructure demands are unrealistic.
It has a silly, self-aggrandising name:
?

36. Prediction is hard
This is rubbish and will never catch on.
It goes against much of the research about what works.
Its infrastructure demands are unrealistic.
It has a silly, self-aggrandising name: WWW
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, ca. 1993. Photo © CERN

37. Prediction is hard
This is rubbish and will never catch on.
It goes against much of the research about what works.
Its infrastructure demands are unrealistic.
It has a silly, self-aggrandising name: WWW
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, ca. 1993. Photo © CERN
- Doug Clow, 1993

38. CAMPAIGN ASSETS
Thanks & acknowledgements
OU Digital Archive
https://www.open.ac.uk/library/digital-archive/
OU Creator’s Asset Bank
https://www.ouassetbank.co.uk/
Dan Weinbren’s History of the OU blog
http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/History-of-the-OU/
Martin Weller’s blog
http://blog.edtechie.net/
Rebecca Ferguson’s An history of new technology at the OU wiki
http://www.schome.ac.uk/wiki/An_history_of_new_technology_at_the_Open_University
Mike Sharples via Twitter
… and all OU colleagues I've worked with, past and present
Photos not otherwise specified © The Open University. Words CC-BY Doug Clow / The Open University

39. 50.open.ac.uk