Open Pedagogy Definition

“Teaching and learning practices where openness is enacted within all aspects of instructional practice; including the design of learning outcomes, the selection of teaching resources, and the planning of activities and assessment. Open educational practices (OEP) engage both faculty and students with the use and creation of open educational resources (OER), draw attention to the potential afforded by open licenses, facilitate open peer-review, and support participatory student-directed projects.”

—Michael Paskevicius, Vancouver Island University

Purpose

The purpose of this resource is to provide a collection of activities that meet the criteria to be open pedagogy. While most of the examples given were welding-focused, the activities can be easily adapted for any of the trades. For the purpose of this project, we identified a variety of characteristics that would make an activity or project “open.” These include:

• Students using open education resources (OER);
• Students creating content;
• Students sharing their learning and the artifacts or resources they create beyond class;
• Non-disposable assignments;
• Using participatory technology, such a Google Drive, H5P, and Wikipedia;
• Work that is connected to the wider community;
• Peer critique;
• Reflective practice; and
• Collaborative and team-based learning.

Why use open pedagogy?

Open pedagogy empowers learners through autonomy, responsibility, and contribution. Students who work on open projects and activities report being more engaged and find the learning more meaningful. For a thorough explanation of how open pedagogy improves learning, see the Open Pedagogy Notebook’s section on Open Pedagogy.

Contributors

• Bruce Neid – Welding Instructor, Coast Mountain College, Terrace, British Columbia
• Nicki Rehn – Acting Dean, Centre for Learning Transformation, Coast Mountain College, Terrace, British Columbia