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Sarah Jane Alcock

Beyond Academia: Joe Wicks "The Body Coach" – An Innovative and Commercial Open Education Practitioner

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Edited by Sarah Jane Alcock, Monday, 8 Feb 2021, 16:17

I will be participating in the H818 Networked Practitioner conference, Open Education in an Open Landscape in February 2021. My time slot is 12:30GMT on 11 February.

My multimedia poster can be viewed on YouTube (2 minutes) and this includes links to download the pdf version of the poster from GoogleSites:


Abstract (Updated 8 February 2020)

The movement to Open Educational Practice (OEP) is growing in the academic world, buoyed by the affordances of a technological age. But beyond academia, in the commercial education institutions that are more usually the source of everyday professional and lifelong learning, the monetary and time investment required for open education remains a real barrier. Why should experts share their hard-earned knowledge for no compensation? Why should they spend precious time on social media, publishing learning material, answering questions, and guiding others – especially with the risk of being challenged or attacked for a different approach? In a commercial world, equity of learning is simply not enough of a motivation.

This multimedia website demonstrates that it is possible to be an OEP in a commercial education institution, whilst remaining financially and educationally successful. It examines how Joe Wicks “The Body Coach” has changed the health and fitness education industry, using technology to innovate his way to becoming a commercially successful OEP, albeit with some concessions to the academic definition.

Aimed at sceptical commercial education managers, it demonstrates how Joe Wicks “The Body Coach” educational activities can be mapped to academic theory and standards, including Cronin’s (2017) definition of OEP and Hegarty’s (2015) 8 attributes of open pedagogy (with some adjustments for a commercial enterprise). It examines how this might fit into lifelong learning using Cormier’s theory of Rhizomatic learning (as described in the YouTube video “Rhizomatic Learning as a Metaphor of our Educational development_Dave Cormier”, 2018).

Joe Wicks "The Body Coach" is a prolific content creator, and the website examines how this output can be used as Open Education Resources (OER). The business revenue streams are identified, explaining how OEP/OER are sustained in this context.

An online presence is not always positive. Coughlan's 'Five risks for educators using social media' (2017) are used to frame this area of concern, demonstrating the choices users need to make. Finally, a 'what now?' section gives tools and ideas for the reader to use in deciding how to benefit from openness in practice. 

Ultimately this multimedia website encourages new ways of thinking about sustainable open education practices in a commercial world with online, lifelong and community learning at its heart. With Joe Wicks “The Body Coach” as an example, commercial education managers are invited to consider how they might use OEP alongside traditional and not so traditional revenue streams to take their place at the heart of their learning community.

Key words: Open Education Practices, OEP, Openness, Open Education, Open Pedagogy, Commercial Education, Learning Community, Community of Practice, Rhizomatic learning, Technology, Technology Enhanced Learning, Education Managers, Lifelong Learning, Joe Wicks, The Body Coach.

References

Coughlan, T. (2017) ‘Five risks for educators using social media’, Netsafely, 23 October [Blog]. Available at https://netsafely.wordpress.com/2017/10/23/five-risks-for-educators-using-social-media/ (Accessed 2 January 2021).

Cronin, C. (2017) ‘Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education’, International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, vol 18, no 5.

Hegarty, B. (2015). ‘Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources’. Educational Technology, vol July– August, pp3 – 13 [Online]. Available at https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281286900_Attributes_of_Open_Pedagogy_A_Model_for_Using_Open_Educational_Resources (Accessed 1 January 2021).

Rhizomatic Learning as a Metaphor of our Educational development_Dave Cormier | UOC (2018) YouTube video, added by UOC – Universitat Oberta de Catalunya [Online]. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5khGN3A7EF4 (Accessed 2 January 2021).

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(previous B818 student)

A fascinating topic. Thank you for considering this. I work for a charity who is also looking at raising income. Our current model is predominantly free open access so I look forward to your presentation with interest. I'm sure it will raise some useful points.

What an exciting topic!

I'm looking forward to your presentation - it addresses an interesting issue faced by many of us in the corporate sphere.

Very interesting challenge

I like your example and look forward to seeing more. There is lots to learn from this and its important to recognise that this question (earning) must be addressed. Even in HE ...
Simon Ball

Conference questions

Well done on your conference presentation Sarah! These are the questions that you were asked on the day, for you to respond to however you choose:

Who is your website for? Who do you imagine using it? How have you let them know about it?


This is not only about making profits but covering costs. This was talked about re. Open Textbooks initiative back in the day, and David Wiley was in charge of that in early days. What do you think open practitioners can learn from your project?


have you been able to convince your commercial business partners to use OEP?



 Has Joe Wicks been in touch?! I'm sure he'd be interested in your work smile



You had success with Twitter. Any advice for those who haven’t had their fan moment yet?



what do you think are the limitations of using only YouTube for open practice?


Do you have any ethical concerns about using Youtube (eg dodgy advertising, being associated with dodgy people)?


Do you think that video is less open than other media (more difficult to remix?)


Sarah Jane Alcock

Conference Q&A

Thank you Simon for posting the Questions, which I have answered below.

I've also posted an anonymised version of the presentation on my website now.


Who is your website for? Who do you imagine using it? How have you let them know about it?

The website is for commercial education managers who, like me, are sceptical about the growing academic movement to Open Education. It aims to answer the question of money and time; how can freely available, open to all education be commercially viable. It is not aimed at the academic world.

Users might not primarily consider themselves educators, but as someone with knowledge to share – like Joe Wicks. Their knowledge might be using IT, garden design, knitting, carpentry – any expertise at all.

Letting potential users know about the website is therefore difficult – such a wide potentially audience and finding that ‘community’ is my next challenge.

This is not only about making profits but covering costs. This was talked about re. Open Textbooks initiative back in the day, and David Wiley was in charge of that in early days. What do you think open practitioners can learn from your project?

That non-traditional routes have a big part to play. For Joe Wicks it was the advertising revenue from YouTube that created a win/win situation – free for learners and the expert being paid.

Have you been able to convince your commercial business partners to use OEP?

The short answer, unfortunately, is No! There is little reason to change when the business works as it is. However, I’d like to think that new business would consider this model, and if we were starting from the beginning now we would take a non-traditional approach.

Has Joe Wicks been in touch?! I'm sure he'd be interested in your work 


No, he hasn’t! Taking this project forward may well include contacting him directly, but he is a busy man.

You had success with Twitter. Any advice for those who haven’t had their fan moment yet?

I was pleased with my one moment of success, although my Twitter reach is still minimal. I think the targeted approach worked – a direct question to a person about their work.

What do you think are the limitations of using only YouTube for open practice?


The main limitation from a commercial perspective is the audience size needed to generate revenue. Joe Wicks videos have up to a million views each – I know my own market would be around 4,000 people which isn’t enough to be sustainable. YouTube is one element amongst many – websites and publishing are not going away quickly. However, new platforms are coming along regularly so being aware of and open to change is important.

 

Do you have any ethical concerns about using Youtube (eg dodgy advertising, being associated with dodgy people)?

Absolutely. I could have made a whole website and presentation about the dangers and ethics of mixing YouTube / Social media with education. It would be a particular concern if children were the target learners – although my children (9 & 13) seem to watch YouTube more than anything else.

Do you think that video is less open than other media (more difficult to remix?)

It’s certainly the most difficult to remix, but as I said in my presentation I do not think the remix requirement is the most important element of OER, particularly videos. If the video can be linked to or embedded by another practitioner than I consider that to be Open.


Simon Ball

H818 Presentation Star Award

Congratulations Sarah!
Your presentation at the H818 Online Conference 2020 has been voted by audience members as one of the most effective presentations, and you are one of the winners of this year's Presentation Star awards!
You may download your award certificate from
https://drive.google.com/file/d/198lYrnPe17nl9ekiZCcfMuPgUCn8vlXV

Well done and many Congratulations!

Simon Ball
H818 Conference Organiser

Sarah Jane Alcock

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Oh wow, thank you Simon! That's a lovely end to an evening of EMA write up big grin