Prf Andrew Lane

Professional biography

I am Emeritus Professor of Environmental Systems in the School of Engineering and Innovation. I have a BSc in Plant Sciences and a PhD in Pest Management from the University of London. I am a retired member of the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management and served on their Training, Education and Career Development Committee from 2010 to 2016.  I am also a Chartered Environmentalist and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

I have been associated with The Open University since 1982 and held various offices in the former Technology Faculty including being Head of the Systems Department (1998-99), Associate Dean (1992-97) and Dean (2000-06).I was seconded as the founding Director of The Open University’s multi-award winning OpenLearn Initiative from 2006-09. I have taken a prominent role in the OU's work on Open Educational Resources including serving as a Board member of the OpenCourseWare Consortium from 2008-10 (now known as Open Education Global) and being involved in a number of European OER initiatives for the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities. I was also a Senior Fellow in the Support Centre for Open Resources in Education at the OU from 2009-12 and the the Academic Director for the TIDE international development project which won an Open Education Award of Excellence in 2021.

I was given a 2021 ICDE Prize of Excellence for my lifetime contribution to open, flexible and distance education.

I have continued to be involved in projects for The Open University, EADTU and the Commonwealth of Learning.

Research interests

My research and scholarship covers (i) the management of complex environmental situations and (ii) systems of open education. I use systems approaches to frame the research and scholarship in both domains coupled with an action research philosophy; both use visual methods (normally diagramming) as a means to engage participants and to elicit and sometimes analyze data and evidence provided by the participants; and both use innovation and social learning as key theoretical concepts for explaining the outcomes of the research and scholarship.

The work on the management of complex environmental situations looks in particular at attitudes, intentions and behaviours of the main participants in these rural or urban situations ranging from famers use of new technologies such as GM crops to organic waste recycling.

The work on systems of open education takes the phenomenon of open education resources and extends that to open educational policies and practices and how that influences formal, non-formal and informal education for both classroom-based and distance learning-based HEIs. This includes looking at how diagramming and visual media in all its forms enhances or not the learning experience.

The two strands of research and scholarship come together in my work evaluating the environmental impacts of higher education.

Teaching interests

My teaching mirrors my research interests: systems thinking, environmental management and the use of diagramming to aid studying and professional practice. I have contributed to study packs on pest and disease management, practical conservation, systems thinking and systems diagramming; to modules on food production systems, teaching technology in schools, working with systems, systems thinking and most recently environmental management and Living Labs for Agricultural advice. I was also a co-author of the Sciences Good Study Guide. Some of my teaching material features on both OpenLearn and OpenLearn Create.