Ahead of the forthcoming Open Education 2019 conference we are pleased to make available the report I will be presenting.

Bringing Learning to Life: Evaluation of Everyday Skills in maths and English presents data collected between 2018 and 2019 as part of the evaluation of a new OER learning initiative. It combines survey data and analysis of analytics to describe the key demographics, drivers and challenges for learners taking functional maths and English courses through the OpenLearn OER platform.

The key findings for those who had studied an Everyday Skills course were as follows:

  • Learners responded highly positively to both the course materials and their flexible and open delivery.
  • 78.7% of those who took an Everyday Skills course would recommend it to others
  • Similarly, 71% reported that taking the course made them want to study more
  • More than half the sample (51.3%) felt they had seen improved performance at work or in their studies as result of taking Everyday Skills.  43.5% felt they now had improved employment prospects.
  • Improved job/career prospects are an important motivation for many, but not all
  • Financial concerns were seen as the greatest barrier to learning, followed by lack of confidence, work-life balance and time management
  • Disability was seen as the least serious barrier (including by disabled learners)
  • There were higher level of interest in the English courses but the Maths courses attracted learners who were more likely to go on to complete the course and be awarded a badge
  • Not knowing where to begin or lacking study skills were seen as barriers by more than half the sample

You can read more about the background to the project at https://ounews.co/around-ou/bringing-learning-to-life-with-the-open-university-and-the-department-for-education/. If you’re at the conference the presentation is on Friday 1st November at 11.00am – it’d be great to see you there!

You can download the report from here or browse it below. Download the report
20191023-Bringing-Learning-to-Life-Evaluation-Report-FINAL

Suggested citation:  Farrow, R. (2019). Bringing Learning to Life:  Evaluation of Everyday Skills in maths and English.  Open Education Research Hub. The Open University (UK). CC-BY 4.0 http://oro.open.ac.uk/67478/