Open and OER-Enabled Pedagogy

Definitions

Open Pedagogy

"Open" refers to the use of open educational resources or “any type of educational materials that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license” (UNESCO).

“Pedagogy” refers to the practice and method of teaching or how we teach (rather than what we teach).

Open educational practice is the use of OER to support learning or the open sharing of teaching practices with a goal of improving education and training at the institutional, professional, and individual level (BCcampus).

Openness is essential to open pedagogy in ways that go beyond licensing alone. When a practice is open, it creates agency, choice, expansion, and creativity. Open works are student-constructed and open-ended (NextThought Studios, 2019).

Open pedagogy is a form of high-impact practice or experiential learning in which students are active creators of content rather than mere consumers. It is a commitment to community in which instructors make use of renewable assignments rather than disposable assignments.

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.

Examples of Renewable Assignments

Feng-Ru Sheu and Judy Orton Grissett created a renewable assignment in which students in a human development course identify and share online OER (2018).

Heather Miceli created a renewable assignment in which students in a science course for non-science majors create openly licensed websites for use in place of a textbook.

Tammy Powell created a renewable assignment in which students in a workplace writing class create graphics for use in the Open Technical Communication textbook.

Amy Nelson created a renewable assignment in which students in a history course collaborate to create the syllabus for the course.

Martiana Sega and Tiffani Reardon created a renewable assignment in which students in an introductory biology course wrote a poem, song, anecdote, essay, or other creative writing inspired from the topics covered in the OpenStax textbook (2018).

How Are We Doing?

The content on this page is remixed from "Create Meaningful Engagement in Your Courses with Open Pedagogy and Instructional Design" by Tiffani Reardon and Judy Grissett.