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Dr Beck Pitt

Profile summary

  • Research Staff
  • Senior Research Fellow
  • Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies
  • Institute of Educational Technology
  • beck.pitt

Professional biography

Dr Beck Pitt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University (UK). She has worked in UK Higher Education for over 15 years in both co-ordination and research roles, on multi-partner, international projects.  

Since joining The Open University in June 2011, Beck has worked in a variety of capacities on open education projects, and since January 2013 in a full-time research capacity as a member of the internationally renowned, award winning Open Education Research (OER) Hub. Beck has extensive experience of successful collaboration with stakeholders in a wide variety of contexts including South Africa, Myanmar, Viet Nam, Kenya, Canada, United States and across Europe. 

Beck has led and contributed to a range of projects including:

  • The Hewlett Foundation funded Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) which supports doctoral students around the world working on open education topics. Beck is co-investigator and responsible for the project's communication strategy.
  • The UK Government Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) funded Skills for Prosperity Kenya. Beck’s contribution focused on co-designing digital education programmes and supporting capacity building projects for eight public universities across Kenya. 
  • Principal Investigator for The British Council in Viet Nam funded Digital Transformation in Viet Nam Higher Education scoping study, collaborating with Hanoi University of Science and Technology (HUST) to produce the report Readiness of Digital Transformation in Vietnamese Universities. 
  • The ERASMUS+ European Commission (Knowledge Alliance) project European MOOC Consortium Labour Market (EMC-LM). Beck was work package lead for quality assurance and responsible for the development and delivery of EMC-LM’s quality assurance processes and plan. 
  • The SPHEIR UKAid funded Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education (TIDE) project which improved the quality and perception of distance education in Myanmar. Beck led and contributed to a range of TIDE’s activities including co-developing and co-delivering online and in-country two-year cycles of training, developing and delivering an e-learning pilot exploring the potential of open textbooks and instigating, developing and facilitating the co-created, localised remix of the Creative Commons Certificate for Librarians Copyright and Open Licensing in Myanmar and associated materials. 

Beck is also a member of the Journal of Interactive Media in Education (JIME) editorial team and co-convenor for the Computers and Learning Research Group (CALRG). 

 

Publications

Capacity building for digital education (2024)
Whitelock, Denise; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Pitt, Rebecca; Ferguson, Rebecca and Cross, Simon
Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-Learning, 39(2) (pp. 105-111)

[Editorial] Capacity building for digital education (2024)
Whitelock, Denise; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Pitt, Rebecca; Ferguson, Rebecca and Cross, Simon
Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 39(2) (pp. 105-111)

Supported Open Learning and Decoloniality: Critical Reflections on Three Case Studies (2023-11-07)
Farrow, Robert; Coughlan, Tim; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte and Pitt, Rebecca
Education Sciences, 13, Article 1115(11)

Community, Fellowship, Openness: Supporting Early Career Researchers through Open Educational Practices (2023-09-29)
Iniesto, Francisco; Pitt, Rebecca; Bossu, Carina; Farrow, Robert and Weller, Martin
EDUTEC. Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa(85) (pp. 136-152)

Introducing a reflective framework for the assessment and recognition of microcredentials (2022)
Iniesto, Francisco; Ferguson, Rebecca; Weller, Martin; Farrow, Robert and Pitt, Rebecca
Open Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA) Journal, 2(2) (pp. 1-24)

Assessment and Recognition of MOOCs: The State of the Art (2021-07-12)
Farrow, Robert; Ferguson, Rebecca; Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Sanzgiri, Janesh and Habib, Mustafa
Journal of Innovation in Polytechnic Education, 3(1) (pp. 15-26)

Supporting open educational practices through open textbooks (2020)
Pitt, Rebecca; Jordan, Katy; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert and Weller, Martin
Distance Education, 41(2) (pp. 303-318)

Open Textbooks as an innovation route for open science pedagogy (2020)
Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca and Weller, Martin
Education for Information, 36(3) (pp. 227-245)

Forms of Innovation Inspired by Open Educational Resources: A Post-Project Analysis (2019)
Coughlan, Tim; Pitt, Beck and Farrow, Rob
Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 34(2) (pp. 156-175)

Open textbooks - an untapped opportunity for universities, schools and colleges (2018-07-25)
Rolfe, Vivien and Pitt, Beck
Insights, 31(30) (pp. 1-6)

Adapting the Curriculum: How K-12 Teachers Perceive the Role of Open Educational Resources (2016-03-31)
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick
Journal of Online Learning Research, 2(1) (pp. 23-40)

Who are the Open Learners? A Comparative Study Profiling non-Formal Users of Open Educational Resources (2015-12-08)
Farrow, Robert; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Pitt, Rebecca and Weller, Martin
EURODL (European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning), 18(2) (pp. 50-74)

The Impact of OER on Teaching and Learning Practice (2015-11-26)
Weller, Martin; de los Arcos, Bea; Farrow, Rob; Pitt, Beck and McAndrew, Patrick
Open Praxis, 7(4) (pp. 351-361)

Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College open textbooks (2015-11-03)
Pitt, Rebecca
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 16(4) (pp. 133-155)

Impact of OER use on teaching and learning: data from OER Research Hub (2013–2014) (2015-08-13)
Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick
British Journal of Educational Technology, 46(5) (pp. 972-976)

What does it mean to transform the world: Ron Aronson, Hope and Revolution (2015)
Pitt, Rebecca
Sartre Studies International, 21(2) (pp. 33-58)

Assessing OER impact across organisations and learners: experiences from the Bridge to Success project (2013-12)
Pitt, Rebecca; Ebrahimi, Nassim; McAndrew, Patrick and Coughlan, Tim
Journal of Interactive Media in Education, Article 17

The Go-GN Open Research Handbook (2023-04-01)
Farrow, Robert; Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Iniesto, Francisco; Algers, Anne; Almousa, Samia; Baas, Marjon; Bentley, Penny; Bozkurt, Aras; Butler, Walter; Cardoso, Paula; Chtena, Natascha; Cox, Glenda; Czerwonogora, Ada; Dabrowski, Michael T.; Darby, Robert; DeWaard, Helen; Kathy, Essmiller; Johanna, Funk; Jenni, Hayman; Emily, Helton; Huth, Kate; Hutton, Sarah C.; Iyinolakan, Olawale; Johnson, Kathryn R.; Jordan, Katy; Kuhn, Caroline; Lambert, Sarah; Mittelmeier, Jenna; Nagashima, Tomo; Nerantzi, Chrissi; O'Reilly, Jessica; Paskevicius, Michael; Peramunugamage, Anuradha; Pete, Judith; Power, Virginia; Pulker, Hélène; Rabin, Eyal; Rets, Irina; Roberts, Verena; Rodés, Virginia; Sousa, Lorena; Spica, Elizabeth; Vizgirda, Vidminas; Vladimirschi, Viviane and Witthaus, Gabi
Farrow, Robert ed.
Publisher : Global OER Graduate Network | Published : Milton Keynes

GO-GN Research Methods Handbook (2020-07-06)
Farrow, Robert; Iniesto, Francisco; Weller, Martin and Pitt, Rebecca
Publisher : Global OER Gradate Network | Published : Milton Keynes

OER Hub Researcher Pack (2016-12-16)
Farrow, Rob; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Weller, Martin and Pitt, Rebecca
Publisher : OER Hub | Published : Milton Keynes, UK

Open Research (2016-11-03)
Pitt, Rebecca; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Rob and Weller, Martin
Publisher : OER Hub | Published : Milton Keynes, UK

Open Textbooks in Higher Education Teaching (2023-02-20)
Pitt, Rebecca
In: Otto, Daniel; Scharnberg, Gianna; Kerres, Michael and Zawacki-Richter, Olaf eds. Distributed Learning Ecosystems: Concepts, Resources, and Repositories (pp. 97-113)
ISBN : 978-3-658-38702-0 | Publisher : Springer VA Wiesbaden

Internet kiosks in Uganda: A window of opportunities? (2022-01)
Mohamud, Khadija; Buckler, Alison; Pitt, Beck and Twining, Peter
In: Rienties, Bart; Hampel, Regine; Scanlon, Eileen and Whitelock, Denise eds. Open World Learning: Research, Innovation and the Challenges of High-Quality Education. Routledge Research in Digital Education and Educational Technology (pp. 131-143)
ISBN : 9781003177098 | Publisher : Routledge | Published : New York, USA

What Can OER Do for Me? Evaluating the Claims for OER (2017-03-27)
Weller, Martin; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick
In: Jhangiani, R. S. and Biswas-Diener, R. eds. Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science (pp. 67-78)
Publisher : Ubiquity Press | Published : London, UK

Identifying Categories of Open Educational Resource Users (2016-12-19)
Weller, Martin; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Rob; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick
In: Blessinger, Patrick and Bliss, TJ eds. Open Education: International Perspectives in Higher Education (pp. 73-92)
ISBN : 9781783742790 | Publisher : Open Book Publishers

Who is the revolutionary in Being and Nothingness? (2013-11)
Pitt, Rebecca
In: O'Donohoe, Benedict ed. Severally Seeking Sartre (pp. 154-170)
ISBN : 978-1-4438-5233-3 | Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing | Published : Newcastle-upon-Tyne

Play and being in Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness (2013-03)
Pitt, Rebecca
In: Ryall, Emily; Russell, Wendy and MacLean, Malcolm eds. The Philosophy of Play (pp. 109-119)
ISBN : 978-0-415-53835-0. | Publisher : Routledge | Published : Abingdon

Challenges for Innovation and Educational Change in Digital Education in Low Resourced Settings: A Kenyan Example (2023-06)
Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Pitt, Beck; Cross, Simon; Ferguson, Rebecca and Whitelock, Denise
In : European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) 2023 Annual Conference (18-20 Jun 2023, Dublin, Ireland)

The Global OER Graduate Network: an example of a Community of Care - La Red Global de Estudiantes de Doctorado en Educación Abierta: un ejemplo de una Comunidad de Cuidado (2023)
Iniesto, Francisco; Pitt, Beck; Farrow, Rob; Bossu, Carina and Weller, Martin
In : 9° International Conference On Education Innovation (Jan 16-18, Monterrey, Mexico) (pp. 287-291)

Adapting OER: Addressing the Challenges of Reuse When Designing for HE Capacity Development (2022-10)
Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Ferguson, Rebecca; Pitt, Rebecca; Cross, Simon and Whitelock, Denise
In : 21st European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL) (27-28 Oct 2022, Brighton)

Developing a Digital Strategy for Distance Education in Myanmar (2019-08)
Gregson, Jon; Pitt, Rebecca and Seal, Timothy
In : Pan Commonwealth Forum 9 (PCF9) (9-12 Sep 2019, Edinburgh, Scotland)

GO-GN: Lessons in Building an Open Research Community (2019)
Weller, Martin; Farrow, Robert and Pitt, Rebecca
In : Pan Commonwealth Forum 9 (PCF9) (9-12 Sep 2019, Edinburgh, Scotland)

Evaluating the BizMOOC project Learning to Learn MOOC: The OpenupEd Quality Framework in Action (2018)
Pitt, Rebecca
In : International Entrepreneurship as the Bridge between International Economics and International Business: Conference Proceedings of the 9th ENTRE Conference and 5th AIB-CEE Conference (12-14 Sep 2018, Kraków, Poland) (pp. 327-340)

The MOOC potential to address European challenges in CPD and continuous education (2017-10)
Pitt, Rebecca; Friedl, Christian; Jansen, Darco and Driha, Oana
In : EADTU Conference 2017, The Open University (UK) (25-27 Oct 2017, Milton Keynes, UK) (pp. 369-380)

Building open bridges: collaborative remixing and reuse of open educational resources across organisations (2013-04)
Coughlan, Tim; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick
In : 2013 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ‘changing perspectives’ (CHI 2013) (29 Apr - 02 May 2013, Paris, France) (pp. 991-1000)

Assessing OER impact across varied organisations and learners: experiences from the "Bridge to Success" initiative (2013-03-27)
Coughlan, Tim; Ebrahimi, Nassim; McAndrew, Patrick and Pitt, Rebecca
In : OER13: Creating a Virtuous Circle (26-27 Mar 2013, Nottingham, UK)

GO-GN Annual Review 2023 (2024-01-08)
Weller, M.; Pitt, B.; Farrow, R. and Bossu, C.
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN), The Open University (UK), Milton Keynes.

Annual Review 2022 (2022-12-20)
Weller, M.; Pitt, B.; Iniesto, F.; Farrow, R. and Bossu, C.
Global OER Graduate Network

GO-GN Research Review 2022 (2022-10-16)
Farrow, Robert; Baas, Marjon; Cardoso, Paula; Cox, Glenda; Czerwonogora, Ada; DeWaard, Helen; Essmiller, Kathy; Helton, Emily; Huth, Kate; Iniesto, Francisco; Johnson, Kathryn; Peramunugamage, Anuradha; Pitt, Rebecca; Sousa, Lorena; Vizgirda, Vidiminas and Weller, Martin
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK)

Readiness of Digital Transformation in Vietnamese Universities (2022-09-08)
Pitt, B.; Huynh, T. Q.; Gregson, J.; Seal, T.; Tran, H. H.; Nguyen, H. T.; Bui, T. N. T. and Nguyen, H. M.
British Council

The GO-GN Fellowship reflections report (2022)
Iniesto, Francisco; Pitt, Rebecca; Weller, Martin; Farrow, Robert; Cronin, Catherine; Funk, Johanna; Lambert, Sarah; Nerantzi, Chrissi; Paskevicius, Michael; Pete, Judith; Roberts, Verena; Rodes, Virginia and Vladimirschi, Viviane
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK)

GO-GN Annual Review 2021 (2021-12-17)
Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Iniesto, Francisco; Farrow, Robert; Bossu, Carina and Vladimirschi, Viviane
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK)

GO-GN Guide to Conceptual Frameworks (2021-09-15)
Farrow, Robert; Iniesto, Francisco; Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Algers, Anne; Bozkurt, Aras; Cox, Glenda; Czerwonogora, Ada; Elias, Tanya; Essmiller, Kathy; Funk, Johanna; Lambert, Sarah; Mittelmeier, Jenna; Nagashima, Tomo; Rabin, Eyal; Rets, Irina; Spica, Elizabeth; Vladimirschi, Viviane and Witthaus, Gabi
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK)

GO-GN Annual Review 2020 (2020-12-14)
Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Iniesto, Francisco and Farrow, Robert
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN)

TIDE Digital Strategy Report (2020-09)
Gregson, Jon; Pitt, Beck and Seal, Timothy
Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education (TIDE), Milton Keynes.

The UK Open Textbooks Report (2019)
Pitt, Rebecca; Farrow, Robert; Jordan, Katy; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Weller, Martin; Kernohan, D and Rolfe, V
Open Education Research Hub

Exploring Faculty Use of Open Educational Resources at British Columbia Post-Secondary Institutions (2016-01-18)
Jhangiani, Rajiv; Pitt, Rebecca; Hendricks, Christina; Key, Jessie and Lalonde, Clint
BCcampus, Victoria, British Columbia.

OER Research Hub Data 2013-2015: Educators (2015)
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick
Open Education Research Hub

OER Research Hub Data 2013-2015: Formal Learners (2015)
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick
Open Education Research Hub

OER Research Hub Data 2013-2015: Informal Learners (2015)
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick
Open Education Research Hub

OER Evidence Report 2013-2014 (2014-11-20)
de los Arcos, B.; Farrow, R.; Perryman, L.-A.; Pitt, R. and Weller, M.
OER Research Hub