Topic 4 Blog Post: Examining the Potential of Open Educational Resources as part of Open Pedagogy in the Classroom

The article, Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy, by David Wiley and John Hilton, examines the ways in which Open Educational Resources are used in different teaching contexts, including the ways educators design assignments and projects that support open pedagogy. As a result of this examination, Wiley and Hilton propose a, “four-part test to determine the extent to which a specific teaching and learning  practice qualifies as OER-enabled pedagogy,” which is outlined as follows:

1. Are students asked to  create  new  artifacts  (essays, poems,  videos,  songs,  etc.)  or revise  /  remix existing OER?

2. Does the new artifact have value beyond supporting the learning of its author?

3. Are students invited to publicly share their new artifacts or revised / remixed OER?

4. Are students invited to openly license their new artifacts or revised / remixed OER?

When reflecting upon the text as well as the examples presented in the article, I had organized my thoughts to respond to the following questions.

What do you think of the test?

I think the test presents ways for teachers to think about how assignments and projects can be presented I such a way as to have students think about the broader implications of their learning, in that their learning is not disposable but something that can inspire others, be built upon, and shared with the wider public. I think that this test is simple enough that it can actually be shared with students at the start of a project so as to help them understand the scope of their learning and how their efforts contribute to the wider learning community which they will be engaged with.

Do you have examples from your education that would pass all four parts?

While I might consider the ways in which my work in the course, Distributed and Open Learning has checked off all four boxes of the OER test, I would like to bring up an example of a math project I had students engage in a few years ago where they were tasked with creating and sharing their very own board game. We began the project by taking a look at the concept of fairness as well as different examples of how to integrate probability and chance into games using spinners, cards, dice, and game mechanics. These different mechanics were introduced to allow students opportunities to use and remix them as part of their board games. Students approached the project knowing that their games were to be designed in a such a way that they would be undergoing changes as a result of feedback and workshopping. We were, in effect, taking on the roles of game makers and our projects allowed us to use what we learned about games and probability to remix original games or mechanics to create something new, share it with our peers, solicit feedback to make changes, and continue with the process until the game was complete. While I feel this project checked off 3 of the 4 boxes of the OER test, the next logical step would be to publish and openly license their works for others to share and remix, which was something I had not considered at the time.

On a different note, a couple of years ago, after I began working in my community as a Circus Arts Educator, I came upon an online community of other Circus Arts Educators who put together an extensive list of games and resources to share and edit publicly. Since many of these circus arts educators worked internationally, they would remix and modify games based on experiences as a result of teaching in different cultural contexts. The list was presented as an editable spreadsheet, where games could be posted, categorized, shared, and remixed. In this way, the game list could grow as new games were created through remixing familiar ones and shared with others who would in turn continue with the process. I feel that this game list would check off all 4 boxes of the OER test, as it allowed for the creation of new artifacts that have value beyond supporting the learner, were able to be shared with other members of the public, and were created with the intention that they would be openly licensed.

To this day, the circus games list continues to grow and receives regular contributions from the circus arts community, which in turn allows for this learning resource to remain relevant to the learning community.

If you are planning to become a teacher, will you aim to design tasks that pass all four parts? Why or why not? 

I certainly think there are ways to approach creating assignments and projects that support all four parts or tasks of the OER test. I feel this test would work well to inform inquiry projects where students have opportunities to transform their learning through open engagement with classroom and online communities. When students are made aware that their work is going to be shared with the public, it might help them to consider their audience as well as the ways in which they go about remixing ideas and information in their daily experiences to present something new.

Do any of the proposed research questions catch your attention?

I feel that the first two questions highlight important considerations when designing projects and assignments that support OER practices, as they offer an examination of how students relate to assignments on a personal level as well as how they go about working on the assignments:

Do students assigned to create,  revise,  or  remix  artifacts  find  these  assignments  more  valuable, interesting, motivating, or rewarding than other forms of assessment? Why or why not?

Do students who make their  assignments publicly  available  demonstrate  greater  mastery  of learning  outcomes  or show  more  enthusiasm  for  their  work  than  students  assigned  traditional assessments? Why or why not?

If I were to hypothesize as to the results of these questions, I feel that students would be motivated to show the ways in which they have taken the public audience into consideration through their efforts in creating an OER, as they would come to recognize the ways in which their work reflects their interests and who they are as active participants in their learning. I also feel students would feel more motivated to create, revise, and remix artifacts in order to build a sense of ownership over their product. In these kinds of projects, students normally engage in peer and self-assessment, which allows teachers to incorporate the language of open pedagogy as part of the self-assessment and reflection process. If we were to use the four-part test to inform students about this process, I feel that self-reflection and assessment would yield more in terms of how students approach the assignment or project with open pedagogy in mind.

In summary, I feel that practices that support open pedagogy through the integrated use of OERs in classrooms holds a lot of potential in terms of allowing students opportunities to create, remix, revise and share their learning in ways that are motivating and meaningful to them. The use of OERs gives students the freedom to pursue their learning in new and interesting ways and through introducing students to the language of open pedagogy, including the four-part test, we encourage them to become part of a rich and constantly evolving learning community.

References:

Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).