Key Points on Open Pedagogy with Examples and Research

 

 

Benefits of Open Pedagogy

1. Enhanced Engagement:

   • Example: Students in a history class create a collaborative timeline of significant events, which increases their engagement and understanding of the subject.
   • Research: Open pedagogy practices, such as collaborative content creation, have been shown to increase student engagement and motivation.

2. Collaborative Learning:

   • Example: A biology class uses a shared online platform to collaboratively annotate scientific articles, enhancing their learning through peer interaction.
   • Research: Collaborative learning in open pedagogy fosters a sense of community and shared responsibility for learning.

3. Access to Diverse Resources:

   • Example: An economics course incorporates Open Educational Resources (OER) from various global sources, providing students with diverse perspectives.
   • Research: OER enhances inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility in education.

4. Empowerment and Agency:

   • Example: Students in a literature course choose their own research topics and create multimedia presentations, empowering them to take ownership of their learning.
   • Research: Open pedagogy practices that involve student choice and agency lead to greater empowerment and equity.

5. Real-World Skills:

   • Example: Engineering students work on open-source projects that address real-world problems, developing practical skills and experience.
   • Research: Open pedagogy assignments that involve real-world applications help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

 

Challenges of Open Pedagogy

1. Quality Control:

   • Example: Implementing a peer review system to ensure the accuracy and quality of student-created content in a digital humanities course.
   • Research: Quality frameworks are essential for maintaining the standards of open educational resources.

2. Resource Availability:

   • Example: A mathematics instructor curates a list of high-quality OER textbooks and tools for students to use throughout the course.
   • Research: The availability and curation of high-quality OER are crucial for effective open pedagogy.

3. Inclusive Digital spaces :

   • Example: It is essential to create a collaborative environment where all students can participate in online projects: to address the impacts of the digital divide (socio-economic aspects of learners’ access to technologies) and ensure the digital space is inclusive (responsive to diverse learners’ physical and mental abilities).
   • Research: Addressing the digital divide is essential for equitable access to open education.
   • Dimensions and barriers for digital (in)equity and digital divide: a systematic integrative review.

4. Intellectual Property:

   • Example: Teaching students about Creative Commons licenses and how to properly attribute sources in their projects.
   • Research: Understanding intellectual property and proper attribution is critical in open pedagogy.

5. Instructor Support:

   • Example: Offering professional development workshops for educators on how to implement open pedagogy strategies effectively.
   • Research: Instructor readiness and training are vital for the successful adoption of open pedagogy.

By addressing these key points with practical examples and supporting research, educators can effectively implement open pedagogy strategies to enhance learning experiences and promote ethical use of digital resources.

 

 

Key Questions

1. How can we involve students in the creation of course content?
   • This question encourages thinking about collaborative content creation, where students contribute to or co-create learning materials to foster a sense of ownership and engagement.
2. What digital tools can facilitate open sharing and collaboration in the classroom?
   • This prompts exploration of various digital technologies that support open pedagogy, such as wikis, blogs, and collaborative platforms.
3. How can we ensure that the educational resources we create are accessible and reusable by others?
   • This question focuses on the principles of open educational resources (OER) and the importance of creating materials that others can easily use and adapt.
4. How do we ensure proper attribution and respect for the original creators when using open resources?
   • This question emphasizes the ethical use of open resources, the importance of proper attribution and respect for original creators when using open resources, including understanding and following Creative Commons licenses.

 

Practice Open Pedagogy Strategies

We invite you to explore and implement Open Pedagogy strategies in your teaching practice. Please describe a real or imagined context where you could apply these strategies. Use the following structure for your description and design a learning task that involves your learners’ active involvement.

Structure for Description:

1. Context:

   • Briefly describe the educational setting (e.g., subject, grade level, type of institution).
   • Identify the learners (e.g., their backgrounds, learning needs, and preferences).

2. Objective:

   • State the learning objectives you aim to achieve with the Open Pedagogy strategy.

3. Open Pedagogy Strategy:

   • Describe the specific Open Pedagogy strategy you plan to implement (e.g., collaborative content creation, use of OER, peer review).

4. Implementation:

   • Explain how you will implement this strategy in your context.
   • Detail the digital tools and resources you will use.

5. Expected Outcomes:

   • Describe the expected benefits for learners.
   • Identify potential challenges and how you plan to address them.

Design a Learning Task:

Create a learning task that involves your learners’ active involvement. Here are some examples to inspire you:

1. Collaborative Project:

   • Example: In a history class, students work together to create a digital timeline of significant events. Each student contributes by researching and adding events, images, and descriptions.
   • Objective: Enhance engagement and understanding of historical events through collaborative content creation.

2. Peer Review:

   • Example: In a literature course, students write essays and then participate in a peer review process using an online platform. They provide feedback on each other’s work and make revisions based on the feedback received.
   • Objective: Improve writing skills and critical thinking through peer interaction and feedback.

3. Use of OER:

   • Example: In a science class, students use Open Educational Resources to research a topic and create a multimedia presentation. They share their presentations with the class and discuss the different perspectives they found.
   • Objective: Access diverse resources and develop research and presentation skills.

4. Student-Generated Content:

   • Example: In a language course, students create their own vocabulary lists and practice exercises. They share these resources with their peers and use them for collaborative study sessions.
   • Objective: Empower students to take ownership of their learning and support peer learning.

5. Real-World Problem Solving:

   • Example: In an engineering course, students work on an open-source project that addresses a real-world problem. They collaborate with peers and external experts to develop solutions and present their findings.
   • Objective: Develop practical skills and apply theoretical knowledge to real-world situations.

We look forward to reading your descriptions and learning tasks. Share your observations and experiences with your peers to foster a community of practice and continuous improvement.

 

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Resources:

1. Werth, E., & Williams, K. (2022). The Why of Open Pedagogy: A Value-First Conceptualization for Enhancing Instructor Praxis. Smart Learning Environments. SpringerOpen

2. Clinton-Lisell, V. (2021). Open Pedagogy: A Systematic Review of Empirical Findings. Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). ERIC

3. Andersen, N. (2024). Enhancing Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA) in Open Textbook Publishing: The Development of a Guide. Open Praxis. Open Praxis

4. Cook-Sather, A., Allard, S., Marcovici, E., & Reynolds, B. (2023). Fostering Agentic Engagement: Working toward Empowerment and Equity through Pedagogical Partnership. Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). ERIC

5. Bloom, M. (2019). Assessing the Impact of “Open Pedagogy” on Student Skills Mastery in First-Year Composition. Open Praxis. Open Praxis

6. Sezgin, S., & Fırat, M. (2023). Exploring the Digital Divide in Open Education: A Comparative Analysis of Undergraduate Students. Education Resources Information Center (ERIC). ERIC

7. Raihan, M. M. H., Subroto, S., Chowdhury, N., Koch, K., Ruttan, E., & Turin, T. C. (2024). Dimensions and Barriers for Digital (In)Equity and Digital Divide: A Systematic Integrative Review. Digital Transformation and Society. Emerald Insight

8. Palincsar, A., DellaVecchia, G., & Easley, K. M. (2023). Teacher Education and its Effects on Teaching and Learning. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford Research Encyclopedia