Students enabling TEL innovation: a pilot

The Open University has an established, methodology for the pedagogic design and mapping of modules (called OU Learning Design). Rienties and Toetenal (2016) found that module learning design influenced learner satisfaction and academic retention. More recently, curriculum development has been complemented with learner analytics data. These large data sets when combined with Learning Design allows the OU to take a sophisticated, multivariate analytics approach to curriculum development. The OU’s current approach to curriculum development – although student centred – is curriculum-led. This paper discusses the augmentation of functional, curriculum-led, design approaches with student-led approaches designed to enhance the learning experience. Preliminary findings from a collaborative staff–student hack day suggest that the experience provided staff with a deeper empathetic understanding of real-world student experience. New, and more scalable, forms of student engagement in the upstream design and development of curricula are now underway at The Open University. Introduction The Open University (OU) has consistently achieved high levels of student satisfaction. However, the 2016 National Student Survey saw a decline in undergraduate student satisfaction for the fourth year, down to 89% (HEFCE, 2016). The reasons for the decline are complex, and in part attributable to a change in UK government policy in 2012. The changes sought to introduce more competition into the higher education sector with institutions increasingly called upon to justify the cost of degrees and students seeking value for money. As a result of the policy change, students studying in England became liable for a greater proportion of their tuition fees than previously. The OU has a long term commitment to Supported Online Learning (SOL), with 70% of learners working full-time alongside studying. The OU operates across all four nations of the United Kingdom. Students and their tutors are geographically dispersed; communication and collaboration is often asynchronous and mediated by various forms of technology. Curriculum development is centralised, comprising multi-disciplinary teams of academics, educational technologists, and media specialists contributing pedagogic and technical expertise. The Open University has more than 5,000 associate lecturers (ALs) who mark