1. A (brief & probably
inaccurate) history of IET
With thanks to Lesley McGrath and Patrick McAndrew
2. History is tricky!
• Jan 1969 – establishment of An Applied Educational Sciences Unit
• July 1969 – Council approves
• Mar 1970 - Proposal for this to become IET
• Jul 1970 - approval of IET staffing and cost
3.
4.
5.
6. • The Need for an IET (6.19, 13.54)
• https://www.open.ac.uk/library/digital-
archive/program/video:00525_8911
• David Hawkridge (7.15):
• https://www.open.ac.uk/library/digital-
archive/program/video:00525_7074
8. Pre-internet ed tech
• Educational use of text was big!
• Home experiment kits
• Summer schools
• TV/audio
• Student evaluations
• IET embedded in module design
9. The questions IET asked:
• How could the text in printed units be
effectively formatted to encourage
interaction between the reader and the
text?
• What assessment methods worked
effectively?
• What is the best use of video or audio
cassettes within a course structure?
• How effective were residential summer
schools?
10. The digital shift – late 80s
• CDs
• Multi-media
• Simulations
• Replacing analogue
11. The internet – mid 90s
• MA ODE
• Online graduation
• CMC
• Open conference
• Ed tech now = online
12. To now
• Open education
• Assessment
• Learning design
• Mobile learning
• AI
• Learning analytics
• The innovations in ed tech
have a place here
13. Some IET trends
• Push n pull with tech
• Research folding into practice
(also struggle to do this)
• A good/bad relationship with
faculties
• Reviews!
• Excellent external reputation
• Appropriate criticism
14. Conclusion
• IET is central to the OU’s operation
• If it didn’t have one, it’d invent one
now
Hinweis der Redaktion
Mission statements are often bland and interchangeable but ours is very powerful, and I would argue, as relevant now as it was in 1969.
This mission statement defined our model
People – anyone can study with the OU, there were no entry requirements
Places – you could study at a distance and didn’t need to attend a campus
Methods – part time, distance education, augmented by the use of television, summer schools, face to face tutorials and then other technologies
Ideas – focus of this talk