Biography
Dr Beck Pitt is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Educational Technology (IET) at The Open University (UK) and Co-Director of the Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). She has worked in UK Higher Education for over 18 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 researchers around the world working on open education topics. Beck has been part of the GO-GN team since 2015, co-investigator from October 2019-June 2024 and co-Director and co-Principal Investigator from July 2024 onwards. Beck is responsible for the project's communication strategy, community engagement, scholarships and memberships.
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
2025
Rets, Irina; Whitelock, Denise; Edwards, Chris; Perryman, Leigh-Anne and Pitt, Beck. (). Co-creating with Generative AI (GenAI) for curriculum design: learning personas. In: EDEN Bologna Annual Conference 2025 - Shaping the Future of Education in the age of AI, 15-17 Jun 2025, Bologna, Italy.
Pitt, Beck; Farrow, Robert and Bossu, Carina (). GO-GN Annual Review 2024. The Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN), The Open University (UK), Milton Keynes.
2024
Farrow, Robert; Ashman, Melissa; Baff, Debbie; Bozkurt, Aras; Dubien, Danielle; Eldridge, Bethany; Elias, Tanya; Iniesto, Francisco; Jacobsen, Michele; Jhangiani, Rajiv; Johnson, Kathryn R.; Johnston, Sonja L.; Katz, Stacy; Khetarpal, Manisha; Mayisela, Tabisa; McGreal, Rory; O’Reilly, Jessica; Peramunugamage, Anuradha; Pete, Judith; Pitt, Rebecca and Vladimirschi, Viviane (). The GO-GN Guide to Doctoral Supervision. Global OER Graduate Network / Open Education Research.
Weller, M.; Pitt, B.; Farrow, R. and Bossu, C. (). GO-GN Annual Review 2023. Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN), The Open University (UK), Milton Keynes.
Whitelock, Denise; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Pitt, Rebecca; Ferguson, Rebecca and Cross, Simon. (). [Editorial] Capacity building for digital education. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 39 (2) pp. 105-111.
Farrow, Robert; Bossu, Carina; Pitt, Rebecca; Weller, Martin; Ashman, Melissa; Bozkurt, Aras; Eldridge, Bethany; Hayman, Jenni; Iniesto, Francisco; Johnson, Kathryn; Nerantzi, Chrissi; Pete, Judith and Schuwer, Robert (). GO-GN at 10: Strategic Review. Global OER Graduate Network.
Farrow, Robert; Iniesto, Francisco; Pitt, Rebecca; Weller, Martin and Bossu, Carina. (). Innovation with Open Educational Resources: An integrative review of drivers, barriers and enablers. Journal of Open, Distance, and Digital Education, 1 (2) pp. 1-41.
2023
Farrow, Robert; Coughlan, Tim; Goshtasbpour, Fereshte and Pitt, Rebecca. (). Supported Open Learning and Decoloniality: Critical Reflections on Three Case Studies. Education Sciences.
Farrow, R.; Díez-Arcón, P. and Pitt, B. (). ENCORE+ Open Educational Resources (OER) Innovation Showcase. European Network for Catalysing Open Resources in Education.
Iniesto, Francisco; Pitt, Rebecca; Bossu, Carina; Farrow, Robert and Weller, Martin. (). Community, Fellowship, Openness: Supporting Early Career Researchers through Open Educational Practices. EDUTEC. Revista Electrónica de Tecnología Educativa pp. 136-152.
Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Pitt, Beck; Cross, Simon; Ferguson, Rebecca and Whitelock, Denise. (). Challenges for Innovation and Educational Change in Digital Education in Low Resourced Settings: A Kenyan Example. In: European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN) 2023 Annual Conference, 18-20 Jun 2023, Dublin, Ireland.
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 (). The Go-GN Open Research Handbook. Milton Keynes: Global OER Graduate Network.
Pitt, Rebecca (). Open Textbooks in Higher Education Teaching. In: Otto, Daniel; Scharnberg, Gianna; Kerres, Michael and Zawacki-Richter, Olaf eds. Distributed Learning Ecosystems: Concepts, Resources, and Repositories Springer VA Wiesbaden, pp. 97-113.
Iniesto, Francisco; Pitt, Beck; Farrow, Rob; Bossu, Carina and Weller, Martin. (). 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. In: 9° International Conference On Education Innovation, Jan 16-18, Monterrey, Mexico.
2022
Weller, M.; Pitt, B.; Iniesto, F.; Farrow, R. and Bossu, C. (). Annual Review 2022. Global OER Graduate Network.
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 (). GO-GN Research Review 2022. Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK).
Goshtasbpour, Fereshte; Ferguson, Rebecca; Pitt, Rebecca; Cross, Simon and Whitelock, Denise. (). Adapting OER: Addressing the Challenges of Reuse When Designing for HE Capacity Development. In: 21st European Conference on e-Learning (ECEL), 27-28 Oct 2022, Brighton.
Pitt, B.; Huynh, T. Q.; Gregson, J.; Seal, T.; Tran, H. H.; Nguyen, H. T.; Bui, T. N. T. and Nguyen, H. M. (). Readiness of Digital Transformation in Vietnamese Universities. British Council.
Mohamud, Khadija; Buckler, Alison; Pitt, Beck and Twining, Peter (). Internet kiosks in Uganda: A window of opportunities?. In: Rienties, Bart; Hampel, Regine; Scanlon, Eileen and Whitelock, Denise eds. Open World Learning: Research, Innovation and the Challenges of High-Quality Education New York, USA: Routledge, pp. 131-143.
Iniesto, Francisco; Ferguson, Rebecca; Weller, Martin; Farrow, Robert and Pitt, Rebecca. (). Introducing a reflective framework for the assessment and recognition of microcredentials. Open Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA) Journal, 2 (2) pp. 1-24.
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 (). The GO-GN Fellowship reflections report. Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK).
2021
Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Iniesto, Francisco; Farrow, Robert; Bossu, Carina and Vladimirschi, Viviane (). GO-GN Annual Review 2021. Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK).
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 (). GO-GN Guide to Conceptual Frameworks. Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN). The Open University (UK).
Farrow, Robert; Ferguson, Rebecca; Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Sanzgiri, Janesh and Habib, Mustafa. (). Assessment and Recognition of MOOCs: The State of the Art. Journal of Innovation in Polytechnic Education, 3 (1) pp. 15-26.
2020
Weller, Martin; Pitt, Rebecca; Iniesto, Francisco and Farrow, Robert (). GO-GN Annual Review 2020. Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN).
Gregson, Jon; Pitt, Beck and Seal, Timothy (). TIDE Digital Strategy Report. Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education (TIDE), Milton Keynes.
Farrow, Robert; Iniesto, Francisco; Weller, Martin and Pitt, Rebecca (). GO-GN Research Methods Handbook. Milton Keynes: Global OER Gradate Network.
Pitt, Rebecca; Jordan, Katy; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert and Weller, Martin. (). Supporting open educational practices through open textbooks. Distance Education, 41 (2) pp. 303-318.
Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca and Weller, Martin. (). Open Textbooks as an innovation route for open science pedagogy. Education for Information, 36 (3) pp. 227-245.
2019
Gregson, Jon; Pitt, Rebecca and Seal, Timothy. (). Developing a Digital Strategy for Distance Education in Myanmar. In: Pan Commonwealth Forum 9 (PCF9), 9-12 Sep 2019, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Coughlan, Tim; Pitt, Beck and Farrow, Rob. (). Forms of Innovation Inspired by Open Educational Resources: A Post-Project Analysis. Open Learning: The Journal of Open, Distance and e-learning, 34 (2) pp. 156-175.
Pitt, Rebecca; Farrow, Robert; Jordan, Katy; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Weller, Martin; Kernohan, D and Rolfe, V (). The UK Open Textbooks Report. Open Education Research Hub.
Weller, Martin; Farrow, Robert and Pitt, Rebecca. (). GO-GN: Lessons in Building an Open Research Community. In: Pan Commonwealth Forum 9 (PCF9), 9-12 Sep 2019, Edinburgh, Scotland.
2018
Rolfe, Vivien and Pitt, Beck. (). Open textbooks - an untapped opportunity for universities, schools and colleges. Insights, 31 (30) pp. 1-6.
Pitt, Rebecca. (). Evaluating the BizMOOC project Learning to Learn MOOC: The OpenupEd Quality Framework in Action. 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.
2017
Pitt, Rebecca; Friedl, Christian; Jansen, Darco and Driha, Oana. (). The MOOC potential to address European challenges in CPD and continuous education. In: Higher Education for the Future: Accelerating and Strengthening Innovation. EADTU Conference Proceedings, EADTU, 369-380.
Weller, Martin; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick (). What Can OER Do for Me? Evaluating the Claims for OER. In: Jhangiani, R. S. and Biswas-Diener, R. eds. Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science London, UK: Ubiquity Press, pp. 67-78.
2016
Weller, Martin; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Rob; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick (). Identifying Categories of Open Educational Resource Users. In: Blessinger, Patrick and Bliss, TJ eds. Open Education: International Perspectives in Higher Education Open Book Publishers, pp. 73-92.
Farrow, Rob; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Weller, Martin and Pitt, Rebecca (). OER Hub Researcher Pack. Milton Keynes, UK: OER Hub.
Pitt, Rebecca; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Rob and Weller, Martin (). Open Research. Milton Keynes, UK: OER Hub.
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick. (). Adapting the Curriculum: How K-12 Teachers Perceive the Role of Open Educational Resources. Journal of Online Learning Research, 2 (1) pp. 23-40.
Jhangiani, Rajiv; Pitt, Rebecca; Hendricks, Christina; Key, Jessie and Lalonde, Clint (). Exploring Faculty Use of Open Educational Resources at British Columbia Post-Secondary Institutions. BCcampus, Victoria, British Columbia.
2015
Farrow, Robert; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Pitt, Rebecca and Weller, Martin. (). Who are the Open Learners? A Comparative Study Profiling non-Formal Users of Open Educational Resources. EURODL (European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning), 18 (2) pp. 50-74.
Weller, Martin; de los Arcos, Bea; Farrow, Rob; Pitt, Beck and McAndrew, Patrick. (). The Impact of OER on Teaching and Learning Practice. Open Praxis, 7 (4) pp. 351-361.
Pitt, Rebecca. (). Mainstreaming Open Textbooks: Educator Perspectives on the Impact of OpenStax College open textbooks. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 16 (4) pp. 133-155.
Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; de los Arcos, Beatriz; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick. (). Impact of OER use on teaching and learning: data from OER Research Hub (2013–2014). British Journal of Educational Technology, 46 (5) pp. 972-976.
Pitt, Rebecca. (). What does it mean to transform the world: Ron Aronson, Hope and Revolution. Sartre Studies International, 21 (2) pp. 33-58.
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick (). OER Research Hub Data 2013-2015: Educators. Open Education Research Hub.
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick (). OER Research Hub Data 2013-2015: Formal Learners. Open Education Research Hub.
de los Arcos, Beatriz; Farrow, Robert; Pitt, Rebecca; Perryman, Leigh-Anne; Weller, Martin and McAndrew, Patrick (). OER Research Hub Data 2013-2015: Informal Learners. Open Education Research Hub.
2014
de los Arcos, B.; Farrow, R.; Perryman, L.-A.; Pitt, R. and Weller, M. (). OER Evidence Report 2013-2014. OER Research Hub.
2013
Pitt, Rebecca; Ebrahimi, Nassim; McAndrew, Patrick and Coughlan, Tim. (). Assessing OER impact across organisations and learners: experiences from the Bridge to Success project. Journal of Interactive Media in Education.
Pitt, Rebecca (). Who is the revolutionary in Being and Nothingness?. In: O'Donohoe, Benedict eds. Severally Seeking Sartre Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 154-170.
Coughlan, Tim; Pitt, Rebecca and McAndrew, Patrick. (). Building open bridges: collaborative remixing and reuse of open educational resources across organisations. In: 2013 ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems ‘changing perspectives’ (CHI 2013), 29 Apr - 02 May 2013, Paris, France.
Coughlan, Tim; Ebrahimi, Nassim; McAndrew, Patrick and Pitt, Rebecca. (). Assessing OER impact across varied organisations and learners: experiences from the "Bridge to Success" initiative. In: OER13: Creating a Virtuous Circle, 26-27 Mar 2013, Nottingham, UK.
Pitt, Rebecca (). Play and being in Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness. In: Ryall, Emily; Russell, Wendy and MacLean, Malcolm eds. The Philosophy of Play Abingdon: Routledge, pp. 109-119.
Awards
Digital Educational Achievement Award in the Community College Digital Application Category: US Centre for Digital Education
Bridge to Success
Distance Learning Program of the Year by Maryland Distance Learning Association (MDLA)
Finalist: 8th e-Learning Excellence Awards at ECEL 2022
Skills for Prosperity Kenya: DEUinK: Open Orchestration for capacity development nationwide.
Honorable Mention for Course/OCW/MOOC Category in Open Education Awards for Excellence 2017 (Open Education Consortium)
Becoming an Open Educator open course
Joint Winner for the Open Collaboration category (Open Practices Award) Open Education Awards for Excellence
Transformation by Innovation in Distance Education (TIDE)
Open Education Award for Excellence (Projects Category) for Open Research
OER Research Hub
RCUK/Open University Engaging Research Award 2015 for the project’s P2PU Open Research course
OER Research Hub
Research Methods Handbook: Winner of the Open Research category (Open Practices Award) in the Open Education Awards for Excellence (OE Global)
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN)
Winner of the Open Research category for Open Education Awards for Excellence 2018 (Open Education Consortium)
Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN)
Research programmes
Expertise
Professional memberships
- Fellow of the Higher Education Academy