Open Educational Practices: A Reflection Essay

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 the literature, point out that while use of terms overlap, “OEP cover the most broad spectrum of an educator’s practice and may include engagement with open access research, open sharing of data, and open scholarship” (2019, p. 2). They also point out that in some cases, OEP definitions focus on “learner activity, and how they afford greater personalization, autonomy and self-regulation on the part of learners” (Paskevicius & Irvine, 2019, p. 2). DeRosa and Robison write of open pedagogy using “OER as a jumping-off point for remaking our courses so that they become not just repositories for content, platforms for learning, collaboration, and engagement with the world outside the classroom” (2017, p. 117). The overlap with OEP is quite strong, yes?

Regardless of the exact definition, there are decidedly important implications for learning in today’s digital age. The use of technology for forming communities with other learners is a critical potential impact. Today’s society is fragmented and often tribal, and engaging in conversations and learning with others who may have different worldviews is necessary to try to build bridges. The collaboration, which may be with students, is important for their empowerment, and their growth as information producers as well as consumers. It is when they are producing information that they can get their hands dirty in a very real sense with ethical information issues, and recognize their own responsibility. A third important implication, which stems from the second one, is the potential for students to work with OER as authors, and the impact that this may have on their motivation to learn. One more reason—instructors get much more of a chance to learn from their students!

I admit that I chose this topic because I am already immersed in it, but it allowed me to review some of the resources I have collected more closely.  I am using this material to write a book chapter, so I am immersed in the scholarly literature. If that hadn’t been the case, I most likely would have looked for and used blog posts by some of these authors, or others who are also “names” in the field of OEP. What was beneficial was that I could read the pieces very closely, what was less beneficial was that I didn’t extend my scope beyond what I have. I actually was going to focus more on a fascinating look at OEP using constructive alignment (Paskevicius, 2017), but by the time I had explained the connections between OEP and open pedagogy, I’d exceeded the word count in the assignment. And if I hope that others might read and comment on this post, I didn’t want to go on for too long.

At times I get a bit impatient with the overlapping, varying definitions of the two terms. It makes it difficult when searching the literature to focus in on what I am looking for specifically, I have to try both terms. My study of OEP and open pedagogy is driving me to analyze my teaching, and also that which I do in conjunction with another instructor. I’d like to introduce the lens of metaliteracy as scaffolding for open pedagogy, so I am anxious for the book I am writing with a colleague to be finished and published.

References

Cronin, C. (2017). Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5). https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v18i5.3096

DeRosa, R., & Robinson, S. (2017). From OER to Open Pedagogy: Harnessing the Power of Open. In R. S. Jhangiani & R. Biswas-Diener (Eds.), Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science (pp. 115–124). Ubiquity Press. https://doi.org/10.5334/bbc.i

EDUCAUSE. (2018). Open Education: Practices (7 Things You Should Know About). https://library.educause.edu/resources/2018/7/7-things-you-should-know-about-open-education-practices

Paskevicius, M. (2017). Conceptualizing Open Educational Practices through the Lens of Constructive Alignment. Open Praxis, 9(2), 125. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.9.2.519

Paskevicius, M., & Irvine, V. (2019). Open Education and Learning Design: Open Pedagogy in Praxis. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2019(1). https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.512