An open course on Open Research

Image courtesy of the Peer 2 Peer Open University under a CC-BY-SA license.

The OER Research Hub, based at the Open University (UK) is running an open course on Open Research, in conjunction with Creative Commons starting 15 September 2014. Designed for researchers curious about what it means to research openly, the course will cover the benefits of being an open researcher, and what it takes to be both open and ethical when conducting research. The role of openness in helping raise the profile of research and the benefits of sharing reflections openly will also be covered. Certainly the issues covered speak to many of the concerns of researchers in our network as we strive to share our data and research openly.

For the ROER4D network of researchers, this course provides a valuable opportunity to explore the concepts and practices of open research with participants around the world and the opportunity to engage with other researchers. We’ve found that our ROER4D Question Harmonisation sessions have helped engender a real sense of community and collaborative learning in our virtual network, and it would be great if a number of ROER4D researchers decided to take this course together – certainly some members of the ROER4D project coordination team have signed up, and we hope to see other ROER4D researchers in there as well. There’s an opportunity to earn some badges as well!

According to the course participation guidelines, the course will comprise self-study activities that can be worked through on your own, while the course convenors from the OER Research Hub, researchers Bea de los Arcos, Rob Farrow and Beck Pitt, and project manager Natalie Eggleston will be running weekly Google Hangouts. The time commitment to the course is estimated to be about 3-4 hours a week.

To view the course and to sign-up:

Course sign-up closes on Friday 12 September 2014.