:sync: Best Practices for Supporting Student Agency in OER and Open Pedagogy: Empowering Students as Creators

Authors: Will Cross, Lindsey Gumb, Heather Miceli
Institutions: NCSU Libraries, Roger Williams University, Rogers Williams University
Country: United States

Topic: Applications of Open Education Practices/Open Pedagogy/Open Education Research
Sector: Higher Education
UNESCO Area of Focus: Inclusive OER
Session Format: Workshop

Abstract

OER-enabled and open pedagogy offer exciting opportunities for teaching and learning that centers students’ creativity and empowers them to be creators of information rather than simply consumers. While open pedagogy has been embodied in a growing set of models in Open Education, from student-developed test banks to co-authoring textbooks, practices on the ground often still leave students on the sidelines with respect to their own participatory agency in the spaces where creation of content for curricular fulfillment and the common good collide. Fully-realized open pedagogical practices center not only student creativity but also student agency around author’s rights, privacy, and the many other legal and ethical nuances of open practices. This workshop will prepare participants with the awareness and basic skill sets necessary to place student agency in the forefront when considering engaging them in OER-enabled or open pedagogical assignments.

Drawing on surveys and interviews with leading open pedagogy practitioners, this session will introduce open pedagogy in its many formats and describe the ways in which it is designed to center students’ needs, ideas, and lived experiences. The workshop will begin with an overview of open pedagogy grounded in research done as part of three Open Education Fellowships and present insights from a number of interviews with leading open pedagogy practitioners across North America. Next, it will describe best practices synthesized from these interviews and surveys, as well as the experience of PIs who work as OER leaders on their own campuses. Facilitators are prepared to offer this workshop to an online audience.

Armed with these best practices, participants will collaborate to develop their own materials, either as a set of interventions in an existing course or as a full workshop they can lead. Participants will share their work and receive feedback from peers and instructors so they can return to their own campuses ready to practice and support open pedagogy as a holistic approach to supporting a diverse body of students with authentic approaches to student agency.

Keywords

Open Pedagogy, Equity, Research-supported practice

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Welcome to our workshop! We would love to get a sense of who might be attending so we can best prep our workshop! Please respond and comment below if you are able to attend, and if you have any questions before starting!

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Here are our slides! https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1yU9ykuHTT3q87HBUCOJlop45qQacfFx4lFMv7S8g1Kw/edit?usp=sharing