Open Research 2015

What do I need to participate in the course?

This is a facilitated course, where you will have the opportunity to chat and work directly with members of the OER Research Hub team each week. In addition to the activities you can work through at your own pace, we have incorporated around an hour’s worth of contact time into the anticipated 3-4 hours needed to work through each week of the course. This will take the form of a Google Hangout every Thursday (see the section below for more on how the Hangouts will work).

We recommend that you have worked through at least the first three sections of each week of the course before participating in Thursday’s Hangout, although this is not essential.

You will need a Google account to participate in the Hangout and at least one activity per week will be asking you to work in Google docs. If you need to create a Google account, see here for more information. Please note that contributions submitted via Google forms can be viewed by anyone (e.g. they are public) and you may wish to use a moniker.

For all other activities we will be using the Disqus forums.

How can I get in touch with the course facilitators?

You can get in touch with the OER Research Hub team in a variety of ways during the course:

• Tweet us on the course hashtag: #openresearch;

• Chat with us during our Thursday Hangout sessions at 15.00 BST during weeks 1-3 (see below);

• Send us an email at: oer-research-hub [at] open [dot] ac [dot] uk;

• Ask a question or leave a comment on the relevant Disqus forum.

How will you contact me?

We will be emailing all participants periodically during the course, using the email you provide at sign-up. We will also be publishing all of our emails in the Course Announcements section.

Weekly Google Hangouts on Air

We will be holding weekly Google Hangouts On Air throughout the duration of the course. Please note that Google Hangouts can only accommodate a maximum of 10 persons. We are operating a "first-come-first-served" policy with regard to Hangouts - please arrive early! However, if you are unable to join the Hangout you can still watch the Hangout and participate in the call by asking questions either via the course Hackpad or Twitter (using the course hashtag #openresearch). We will post a link to the Hangout and Hackpad we will be using below.

We will record each session so if you are unable to join us, you can catch up later on. The recordings of sessions will be made available on our YouTube channel playlist for the course.

To work out the time of the Hangout where you are, please see here.

The dates for Hangouts during the course are (please note that the week four Hangout is scheduled for the earlier time of 13.00BST and week two for 12.00noon BST):

Week One: Open Research: Thursday 17 September at 15.00 BST (Facilitator: Beck Pitt and Rob Farrow)

The Hackpad for week one is available here. You can watch the Hangout recording here.

Week Two: Ethics in the Open: Thursday 24 September at 12.00noon BST (Facilitator: Martin Weller and Natalie Eggleston)

The Hackpad for week two is available here. You can watch the Hangout recording here.

Week Three: Open Dissemination: Thursday 1 October at 15.00 BST (Facilitators: Bea de los Arcos and Rob Farrow)

The Hackpad for week three is available here. You can watch the Hangout recording here.

Week Four: Special Guest panel session with Bonnie Stewart, Tess Cartmill, Cheryl Hodgkinson-Williams and Katy Jordan on the advantages and challenges of open research! Thursday 8 October at 13.00 BST. (Facilitators: Beck Pitt and Natalie Eggleston)

The Hackpad for week four is available here. You can watch the Hangout recording here and read the blog post announcement for the panel.

Can I earn a badge for participating in the course?

Yes! You can earn a badge for participating and completing the course. To find out more check out the Badge description.