Learning Bursts: Open Pedagogy, Metaliteracy, and More

Back in 1993, a colleague and I wrote an article that I later thought was prescient. It involved online library catalogs and in it I suggested that catalog users be able to leave comments on books they had read. Sounds absolutely commonplace now, but back in 1993, it definitely wasn't. I'd have to go back and read the article again to see exactly what else I contributed to it, and if perhaps there are more things that later came to pass—though obviously not because of my suggestions. The question I grappled with yesterday was whether I could scan and upload the article to ResearchGate, so it has a chance to be read by others. At first I thought it might be available online, but it isn't.  I am not in a big rush since my copy of the journal issue is in my office--I place I haven't been in quite some time. The decision-making process about whether I could upload a copy to a platform other than my institution's repository had a number of complicating factors. Th...

I selected Open Education Practices (OEP) as the openness component of this assignment, because I am interested in the overlap between open pedagogy and OEP. Some authors’ descriptions and definitions of OEP sound very much like what others describe as OP. One such  example of an OEP definition that falls into this area of overlap is Cronin’s, for use in a research study: “collaborative practices that include the creation, use, and reuse of OER, as well as pedagogical practices employing participatory technologies and social networks for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation, and empowerment of learners” (2017, p. 3). A second is from EDUCAUSE’s Learning Initiative’s “7 Things You Should Know about Open Education: Practices”: use/reuse/creation of OER and collaborative, pedagogical practices employing social and participatory technologies for interaction, peer-learning, knowledge creation and sharing, and empowerment of learners” (2018). Paskevicius and Irvine, reviewing ...

This post is being developed in fulfillment of the 4R Learning Challenge in the OERu LiDA103 online course . For some reason, I've been fascinated with the history of the Romans in Britain. I've read novels and non-fiction about the topic, and visited what sites I could when my husband and I traveled in England. One of those sites is Hadrian's Wall, which stands out to me not only because of its impact, both visual and historical, but also because of my husband's lack of interest in touring it. Usually, he is great about accomodating our differing interests when traveling, and considering how many military museums, sites, and war cemeteries I've been too, that's appropriate. But I persevered. This post will blend sources with appropriate Creative Commons licenses with my reflections. Let's first get a sense of the effect of the wall: It is hard to imagine this knobbly spine of stones as the implacable barrier it once was. a structure two meters thick ...

Sarah has recently become fascinated by artist trading cards (ATCs), small 2 ½” by 3 ½” cards that can be used to express one’s creativity. This can range from painting to calligraphy to cartoon drawing to collage using paper or fabric. As the name implies, they can and are traded. The general feeling is it is bad form to sell them. Sarah doesn’t think of herself as having any drawing or painting abilities, but she loves the idea of coming up with creative collages. She looks around the house to see what materials she can use, and finds some paper napkins with clever designs of four owls with outlandish creations on their heads. Sarah carefully cuts them out, and creates a four ATC montages, each using part of an owl illustration and some other complementary items. She then posts photos of them on Instagram to share them with her friends. Sarah doesn’t even think about copyright, so we will have to do it for her. Sarah is in the United States, and subject to U.S. copyright...

Session 2 of LiDA103, Defining OER Wiley, D., and J. Hilton. (2018). Defining OER-enabled pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distributing Learning . 19 (4): 134-147, 10.19173/irrodl.v19i4.3601. The authors--please note that one of them is David Wiley--consider the varied uses and definitions of the term "open pedagogy," and also the closely related term "open educational practices," with its own pedigree. They are also concerned about the process called "openwashing," in which the term "open" is used to refer to situations that don't adhere to the 5Rs. Due to the wide range of definitions of open pedagogy, the authors propose a solution that they hope will clarify the situation. They do not redefine open pedagogy, but rather coin a new term, "OER-enabled pedagogy." They define this term as, the set of teaching and learning practices that are only possible or practical in the context of the 5R permissions ...

I haven't had a chance to think this through yet, but I would like to note it for later reflection and to hear others' thoughts on the topic. In the "Who Should Own Ideas" section of Session 2 of the OERu course,  Open Education, Copyright and Open Licensing in a Digital World (LiDA103), it was something  Eben Moglen said at the end of his section of  the video with Lawrence Lessig that sparked this train of thought. The era of president for life is over. We are holding elections here.  Here...we made this. It is called democracy. Would you like some? It is free. (Eben Moglen)

The course so far has been an interesting mix of refresher and new content. It is all thought-provoking, and I appreciate that the material isn't too long and involved. This gives me a chance to delve into some of the resources suggested. The Guardian piece about Robert Maxwell and the empire he built around academic journal publishing was fascinating. It provided me with a rich background on the current and past negotiations of libraries with Elsevier. What incredible greed. It makes me so pleased that institutional repositories have become more common. These repositories make it possible for more scholarship to appear without cost to those looking for it. I include copies of my works in my institutional repository, and I've been amazed at the number of people who are accessed my work there. Photo by Gerd Altmann,  https://pixabay.com/illustrations/shield-transport-panel-board-229112/

I have created this blog in connection with an online course, Open education, copyright and open licensing in a digital world (LiDA103), that I am taking through OERu. While it will serve as a venue for my learning reflections on these course topics, I hope to continue it after the course ends, as the relationship between metaliteracy (my primary research area) and open pedagogy is something I've been working on lately, and hope to continue.  With members of the Metaliteracy Learning Collaborative, I have been involved in co-creating quite a bit of open content: 4 MOOCs (1 cMOOC, like LiDA 103, and 3 xMOOCs ), quests and challenges for a digital badging system (the system itself is being worked on, but the content is available), a metaliteracy module for students transitioning from high school to college as part of the SUNY system's iSucceed online course , and more. I use a major open resource in my undergraduate information literacy course--Wikipedia--as a non-disp...