Evaluating the effectiveness of an open pedagogy approach to faculty development [1470] Members : #OER17

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Thu, Apr 6 2017, 2:50pm – 3:50pm

Authors: Tannis Morgan, Sandra Cobian, and Paty Rosas

Room: Seminar 3

Theme: Inst/Org Politics

Type: Presentations

Description

The OER movement at an institutional or organizational level has largely been centred around motivating faculty to participate in open education resource initiatives, often putting its advocates in the role of cheerleaders and persuaders through various faculty development activities. The concept of open pedagogy and open practices has emerged from the OER movement and is viewed as a necessary evolution (c.f. Weller, 2013; Wiley, 2013; Bates, 2016). This recent interest in having faculty adopt more open practices in their teaching is even more ambitious in that it supposes that faculty will go beyond simple adoption and use of open education resources, and actually actively transform their teaching to the benefit of students. Teaching and learning centres are often where open education advocacy and support reside, and faculty development programs are an obvious mechanism for engaging faculty with the open education movement. Yet, at the same time, it is well recognized that faculty participation in workshops, short courses, and formal training programs rarely result in transformed teaching and learning practices in the classroom to the extent that we would like.

But while open pedagogy is a concept that dates as far back as 1979 (Paquette, 1979), its 1979 framing was around the student (and to a lesser extent the faculty) and made a case for creating a learning environment that would facilitate learner autonomy, choice, self-direction, and interaction. This is a somewhat different emphasis from current discussions of open pedagogy, where the focus is on a technical interpretation of “open” as openly licensed content and student outputs, and where the foundation for open pedagogy rests on the reuse and creation of open content for the benefit of students (c.f Wiley, 2013). Our perspective on open pedagogy appeals to both historical and present day aspirations, and aligns with the eight qualities of open pedagogy outlined by Reynolds, Gibbs, and Zemke (2015).

Can a faculty development program that adopts open pedagogy and open practices result in long term change in teaching and learning practices? This is the question we asked throughout the design, implementation and evaluation of a blended faculty development program in Student Centred and Mobile Learning co-developed by the University of Guadalajara and the Justice Institute. In this program, faculty were introduced to, experienced, and participated in open pedagogy, open practices and sharing, in addition to the technical components of searching, finding, reusing, creating Creative Commons licensed materials. The program itself is CC BY licensed and designed so that parts or the whole can be repurposed and localized to different contexts and audiences.

In 2015 approximately 350 University of Guadalajara faculty completed the program, and this presentation will focus on the results of a research study that examined whether one year after completing the program, faculty had changed their teaching and learning practices, and whether the open pedagogy approach contributed to a shift in practice. The presentation will also attempt to contribute to a conversation about open education resources and practices beyond a North American/anglo-centric context, and the various challenges and assumptions that surface in our discourses about open.

References

Bates, T. (2016). Towards and open pedagogy for online learning. http://www.tonybates.ca/2016/11/27/towards-an-open-pedagogy-for-online-learning/ [Accessed January 2017]

Paquette, C. (1979). Quelques fondements d’une pédagogie ouverte. Québec français, (36), p.18. Document téléaccessible à l’adresse: <http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/51334ac>

Reynolds, R., Gibbs, L., Zemke, S. (2015). Eight Qualities of Open Pedagogy. https://nextthought.com/thoughts/2015/02/ten-qualities-of-open-pedagogy [Accessed January 2017]

Stacey, P. (2013) The Pedagogy Of MOOCs. http://edtechfrontier.com/2013/05/11/the-pedagogy-of-moocs/ [accessed November 2013]

Weller, M., (2013). The Battle for Open – a perspective. Journal of Interactive Media in Education. 2013(3), p.Art. 15. DOI: http://doi.org/10.5334/2013-15 http://jime.open.ac.uk/articles/10.5334/2013-15/

Wiley, D. (2013). What is open pedagogy? https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2975 [Accessed January 2017]

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