Open educational resources and Web 2.0 for formal learning in information and computer sciences: a case study

The availability of Web 2.0 and Open Educational Resources affords the emergence of novel learning spaces, but debate on these innovations has tended to emphasise technical, logistical and legal issues. This chapter focuses on pedagogy, reporting on the experiences from a piece of action research that has taken students’ views to its heart. The context for this research has been provided by a distance-learning project-based course in Information and Computer Sciences, equivalent to a final year project in a face-to-face setting. The study consisted of a practical investigation into the potential of such resources to support the necessarily intense episodes of interaction required for productive supervision, whilst providing a space where students can be encouraged to identify, engage with and discuss ethical issues that arise in their work