Open and OER-Enabled Pedagogy

The 5R’s of OER lift these restrictions.

Disposable Assignments

“These are assignments that students complain about doing and faculty complain about grading. They’re assignments that add no value to the world—after a student spends three hours creating it, a teacher spends 30 minutes grading it, and then the student throws it away.

Not only do these assignments add no value to the world, they actually suck value out of the world.”

- David Wiley, “What is Open Pedagogy?”

Renewable Assignments

Renewable assignments provide students with opportunities to engage in meaningful work, add value to the world, and provide a foundation for future students to learn from and build upon. They are an alternative to traditional, disposable assignments, which students (and instructors) throw away after they are graded. They are possible because of the permission to engage in the 5R activities granted by OER, which is why they are an open pedagogical practice.

Not only do renewable assignments make use of OER, but they typically provide students with an opportunity to create or contribute to OER as well. For that reason, it’s important to introduce Creative Commons licensing and consider how it needs to be used for the assignment.

Here's how it works:

• Students create new artifacts (essays, poems, videos, songs, etc.) or revise/remix existing OER

• The new artifact has value beyond supporting the learning of its author

• Students are invited to publicly share their new artifacts or revised/remixed OER

• Students are invited to openly license their new artifacts or revised/remixed OER