Open pedagogy for a knowledge-based society

Conceptualising open pedagogy

There is debate on whether Open pedagogy is more of a value than an educational practice which poses a challenge on how to define the concept. An attempt to help us better conceptualise open pedagogy is provided by the University of Texas Arlington Libraries (2016) as follows:

Open pedagogy is the practice of engaging with students as creators of information rather than simply consumers of it. It's a form of experiential learning in which students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation. The products of open pedagogy are student created and openly licensed so that they may live outside of the classroom in a way that has an impact on the greater community. Open projects frequently result in the creation of open educational resources (OER). I have found the following visual very helpful in my attempt to conceptualise open pedagogy.

Figure 1: From "Free + Freedom: The Role of Open Pedagogy in the Open Education Movement" by Rajiv Jhangiani and Robin DeRosa

In trying to conceptualise open pedagogy, Cronin & MacLaren (2018) situate it within various other conceptualisations of broader open educational practices (OEP). Another view, shared by Weller (2014), defined open pedagogy as making use of open content, but with an emphasis on the network and learners’ connections within and across networks. A more comprehensive one is by Hegarty (2015) who described open pedagogy as a combination of various practices, inclusive of using participatory technologies; developing open, collaborative and networked practices; and facilitating learners’ contributions to Open Educational Resources (among others, see also Figure 2).

Figure 2: Hegarty’s Attributes of Open Pedagogy. Image: Hegarty, 2015

 More recently, and in connection with digital forms of learning, DeRosa and Robison (2015, 2017) and Rosen and Smale (2015) present their definitions of open pedagogy and open digital pedagogy, respectively, as versions of critical digital pedagogy. Critical digital pedagogy focuses on the potential of open practices to create dialogue, to deconstruct the teacher-student binary, to bring disparate learning spaces together, and, often, to function as a form of resistance to inequitable power relations within and outside of educational institutions (Morris & Stommel, 2014). Similarly, Farrow (2015) contends that a critical approach should be at the heart of open education. Overall, conceptions of open pedagogy continue to evolve, with a notable increase in discussion and debate amongst open educators and researchers from across the Global North and Global South (Bali, 2017).

In practice, I have been involved in a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as an academic developer working alongside an academic staff member and two postgraduate students to create a learning resource for an undergraduate Teaching English as a second language curriculum course for distance and blended approaches to learning. The students, who have since become academic staff, are likely to embrace more open pedagogic practices in their academic practices with their own students. I am sure that my experience with open pedagogy is still at an embryonic phase but am open to integrating it into my broader work in academic staff development through evolving PLCs.

References

Bali, M. (2017, April 21). Curation of posts on open pedagogy [blog]. Retrieved from https://blog.mahabali.me/whyopen/curation-of-posts-on-open-pedagogy-yearofopen

Cronin, C., & MacLaren, I. (2018). Conceptualising OEP: A review of theoretical and empirical literature in Open Educational Practices. Open Praxis, 10(2), 127–143. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.10.2.825

DeRosa, R., & Robison, S. (2015). Pedagogy, technology, and the example of open educational resources. EDUCAUSE Review. Retrieved from http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/11/pedagogy-technology-and-the-example-of-open-educational-resources

DeRosa, R., & Robison, 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. London: Ubiquity Press. https://doi.org/10.5334/bbc

Farrow, R. (2015). Open education and critical pedagogy. Learning, Media and Technology, 42(2), 130–146. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2016.1113991

Hegarty, B. (2015). Attributes of open pedagogy: A model for using open educational resources. Educational Technology. Retrieved from https://www.scribd.com/doc/276569994/Attributes-of-Open-Pedagogy-A-Model-for-Using-Open-Educational-Resources

Morris, S. M., & Stommel, J. (2014). If Freire made a MOOC: Open education as resistance. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/freire-made-moocopen-education-resistance/

Weller, M. (2014). The battle for open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory. Ubiquity Press. Retrieved from http://oro.open.ac.uk/44363/