Open Pedagogy

Open Pedagogy refers to practices that engage students in the creation of information, rather than simply the consumption of it.  It leverages the "open" nature of OER to facilitate learning, emphasize community and collaboration, and share resources, ideas and power.  

"Open pedagogy has many definitions. We are defining open pedagogy as projects or assignments which have the characteristics of: engaging with students as creators of information rather than simply consumers of it; experiential learning in which students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation; inviting students to be part of the teaching process/participating in the co-creation of knowledge; moving away from single-use assignments in favor of situated, collaborative, and renewable ones; Student agency in deciding if and how their work is shared ." (The Open Pedagogy Project Roadmap)

• Students contribute to the creation of an open textbook that is then revised and built upon by students in future courses.
• Students create and/or edit Wikipedia articles to improve content coverage and quality in a subject area.
• Students create openly licensed instructional videos to improve understanding of course concepts for others in the class.
• Students design tests that are used to assess comprehension of course materials. 
• Students edit and revise the syllabus for a course.
• Students research and annotate images or texts that are openly licensed or in the public domain.
• Students create and publish a zine to discuss a theory, concept or provide practical guidance on a topic.
• See Resources & Tools for additional examples.

Using the 5 Rs of OER as a model, these 5 Rs (Jhangiani, 2019) provide a framework for values embedded in open pedagogy:

1. Respect for the agency of students and creators
2. Reciprocate by contributing back to the commons and building community
3. Risk is always present with open pedagogy, and we should be mindful of how risks are higher for some (e.g., women, students and scholars of color, precarious faculty)
4. Reach means having an impact beyond the classroom
5. Resist destructive forces in order to be antiracist, democratizing, liberatory, and decolonized

 This work is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0