Open Pedagogy (OEP)
Open pedagogy is the practice of involving students in the creation of scholarship. It's a way to help students contribute to knowledge rather than simply consuming it. Considered a form of experiential learning, open pedagogy allows students to learn through practice and experiment with their own creativity and direction. Frequently, the output of students involved in open pedagogy will result in collaborative products that are openly licensed and accessible to others.
Open Pedagogy 2023 by University of South Carolina Libraries
5 Rs of Open Pedagogy
Using the 5 Rs of OER as a model, these 5 Rs (Jhangiani, 2019) provide a framework for values embedded in open pedagogy:
- Respect for the agency of students and creators
- Reciprocate by contributing back to the commons and building community
- 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)
- Reach means having an impact beyond the classroom
- Resist destructive forces in order to be antiracist, democratizing, liberatory, and decolonized
8 Attributes of Open Pedagogy
Teachers & Students in Open Pedagogy
- Students have agency in directing or molding their learning, assignments, and work.
- Students share work beyond their instructor.
- Students approach unresolved or authentic problems.
- Teachers find and create content that gives space for student contribution.
- Teachers abandon an expert stance in favor of student growth and participation.
- Teachers respect difference and inclusion in classroom content and activities.
- Teachers and learners jointly explore in a mutual quest for learning.
Adapted from Jesse Stommel. (2015). Open Door Classroom & Bruff, D. (2013). Students as Producers: An Introduction. Vanderbilt University.
Examples of Open Pedagogy
- 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.
- More examples from Open Education Group: OER Enabled Pedagogy.
Open Pedagogy Resources
- A Guide to Making Open Textbooks with Students A handbook for faculty interested in practicing open pedagogy by involving students in the making of open textbooks, ancillary materials, or other Open Educational Resources.
- Open Pedagogy Resources “Open Pedagogy Resources” by Cheryl (Cuillier) Casey is under a CC BY 4.0 International license.
- Open Pedagogy Roadmap The Open Pedagogy Project Roadmap was developed by Christina Riehman-Murphy and Bryan McGeary and is licensed CC-BY-NC.
- Practices for Upholding Academic Integrity While Using Open Pedagogy This handout provides practical tips for setting expectations for students in creating and using openly licensed resources. It was created by Madison Hansen and Monica Brown is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
- DOER Fellows Renewable Assignments Renewable assignment ideas for teaching in a number of fields including anthropology, Biology, Communication, Psychology and Theater. Created by the Open Education Group's 2017 – 2018 Designing with OER (DOER) Fellows.
- Open Pedagogy Notebook This website is designed to serve as a resource for educators interested in learning more about Open Pedagogy.
- What is Open Pedagogy? From David Wiley
- From OER to Open Pedagogy: Harnessing the Power of Open In this chapter, authors Robin DeRosa and Scott Robison draw on a variety of examples to illustrate the empowering potential of open pedagogy, an approach in which students are not just consumers of content but active and visible participants in the construction of knowledge. The chapter concludes with a reflection on some of the challenges and lessons learned from engaging students in public scholarship.
- Open Pedagogy Assignments A rich compilation of Open Pedagogy assignment examples with learning outcomes. By Quill West.
- Open Pedagogy Webinar Series (SUNY) An in-depth series of webinars exploring Open Pedagogy
- What is Open Pedagogy? What is Open Pedagogy? by Karen Cangialosi
- The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit This toolkit is intended as a guide for students who are engaging in open pedagogy. The toolkit defines open pedagogy, the benefits of open pedagogy, and the rights and responsibilities that come with being a student creator. Instructors may wish to use this toolkit as a resource to scaffold conversations about open pedagogy with their students and to appropriately prepare them for working in the open. [Version 1.1 updated December 4, 2023]
Open Pedagogy Tools
- GitBook Created by GitHub, GitBooks is an Open source tool created by GitHub that allows you to create a textbook that is hosted in a GitHub repository. You can create your content in Markdown or embed rich, multimedia content. Free for open source projects.
- Google Sites Students can create free and simple websites independently or collaboratively.
- H5P H5P is a free and open-source content collaboration framework based on JavaScript. H5P is an abbreviation for HTML5 Package, and aims to make it easy for everyone to create, share and reuse interactive HTML5 content.
- Hypothes.is Hypothesis is a free tool that allows users to annotate and highlight text anywhere online (including PDFs). Students can create and share annotations in response to a prompt, or utilize features for individual note taking and comprehension.
- StoryMap StoryMapJS is a free tool that allows you to create a story highlighting the locations of a series of events. You can tell stories with images and add text and other content within your map locations.
- TimelineJS TimelineJS is an open-source tool that enables anyone to build visually rich, interactive timelines.
- Wiki Education Wiki Education supports instructors who incorporate student research and learning into Wikipedia assignments.
- WordPress WordPress.com allows students to create free basic websites or blogs. WordPress.org offers a more robust content management system but requires a web host.