Open Pedagogy in the Trades by Bruce Neid and Nicki Rehn is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.
© 2021 Bruce Neid and Nicki Rehn
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“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
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:
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.
At the end of any module of learning, have students work in pairs or small groups to design a set of 2-5 multiple choice questions. Have students defend each question against a criteria of importance, relevance or validity, and difficulty level. Students should choose three distractors: one that predicts the kind of mistake a student will commonly make, one that is similar to the correct answer, and one that is clearly wrong. These should also be identified.
After the questions have been created, they should be exchanged with another pair/group to order according to quality of question. Feedback can be given at this stage.
Questions are then given to the instructor who will take the best 2-3 questions from each set and collate into a single quiz. This can be then used as a practice quiz for the class, or added a test bank that can be used for a different cohort of students.
These questions can be used as a practice quiz. They can be loaded into the learning management system and set up for multiple attempts for mastery.
The quality of the test question, along with the additional information provided to justify the question design can also be evaluated and scored for an assignment mark.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and organization of groups | 15 minutes |
Group collaboration (create questions and justification of question design) | 1 hour |
Distribution and peer critique | 30 min –1 hour |
Instructor critique and consolidation | 1 hour |
Practice quizzing | 30 minutes |
This could be used as an introduction to a topic or a finishing exercise to reinforce learning.
Separate the class into two teams. Choose a topic that follows a set of ordered steps, such as how to assemble and light an oxy-fuel bottle setup safely. Write each step onto a separate strip of paper and provide each team with a randomly shuffled set of steps. The goal is to have each member stand in a single file line holding the steps in what they believe is the correct order. Usually five minutes is given for the teams to collaborate and come to their conclusion.
When the proper order is revealed, open the floor up for discussion and debate. Have students then brainstorm some memory techniques to help them remember the steps when they are in the shop.
This topic is especially great for the safety side of using welding equipment.
This is a great formative assessment task that can be turned into a team challenge. It can be used to test prior knowledge (before the students have read the module) or reinforce what they have learned.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and organization of teams | 5 minutes |
Group collaboration | 5 minutes |
Presentation of solution, discussion and debate | 15 minutes |
*Online alternative – this could be set up in a LMS quizzing tool, or a digital collaborative space, such as Google Jamboards
Give your students a topic that they will be studying in the next block. Ask them to read about the topic in their texts and research on the internet to get a good understanding of it. Once a baseline of knowledge is set, ask them to search for 1–2 good resources that could be used as future classroom materials to enhance the learning. Encourage them to use whatever they find to best compliment the topic chosen – videos, slide presentations, practice questions, posters, text quotes, or the students could even create their own media.
Have the students share what they found to the class (with a summary of each resource), and then collectively review, critique, and rank the resources. Use a polling tool to determine the top 5.
This activity will engage the students and give them a sense of value as to helping create future materials for any program.
This can be used as formative assessment to see how much students understand the concept or topic when presented in other formats.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity | 5 minutes |
Time to research | 1–2 hours |
Presentation of auxiliary resources | 1 hour |
Review, critique, and rank | 30 minutes |
Have students pair up and choose a practical task that is relevant to the current stage in the program. Have them make a short 1–2 minute video on their smartphone that demonstrates the task and explains the theory behind it.
As an example, in welding, students learn the relationship between arc length, amperage and voltage. One student would be in the booth welding while the other is outside the booth keeping track of the amperage and voltage settings. Open dialogue could be kept when the welder is using a short arc or a long arc so the student outside the booth can note the changes in amperage and voltage on the video. To take this a little further, one could show what effect short or arc length have on the weld deposition and bead shape.
Once this video is completed and presented to the rest of their classmates, peers can critique the video and then summarize what they learned. This short video can then be used as a future resource for the program.
Peers will provide critique and feedback.
This can also be used to assess application of theory (formative or summative assessment)
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and organization of teams | 10 minutes |
Activity – planning, execution, editing | 1–2 hour |
Distribution and peer critique | 1 hour |
Have students take pictures of a variety of welds in their real world – their backyard, their homes, their workplaces, their places of leisure. Have them share their pictures with the group. Have the group pose questions that can be discussed as a group.
At the end of the task, have students submit a reflective summary of what was learned.
This activity could be done as an introduction, or as a culminative activity to showcase all the kinds of welding they have learned about during the course.
This could form part of a capstone portfolio that provides evidence of being able to identify certain kinds of welds.
It could also be turned into a “weld scavenger hunt”, where the competitive element becomes formative assessment.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and organization of groups | 15 minutes |
At-home collecting of weld pictures | 1–2 hours |
Distribution and peer discussion | 1–2 hours |
Summary and reflection | 30 minutes |
Before you open the textbook or introduce a new topic, start with the real-life problem for which knowing the theory will solve it.
For example, what if you were a surgeon who needed to use two plates from a stack to secure a bone break but there were no labels or information on or about the plates? How would you determine which plates were stainless steel?
Group the students into pairs with a couple different pieces of material. Ask the groups to come up with a solution to the problem using their text books, online resources, tools, equipment, prior experience, etc.
Have the students present their solution and rationale to the group. When completed, ask the teams to vote on which team had the best solution to the problem.
Problem-solving is an important skill in the trades. This could be used anecdotally to assess how students approach novel problems.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and organization of groups | 15 min |
Collaborative research and problem-solving | 1 hour |
Sharing and peer discussion | 30 min |
Complete this activity in small groups. Many resources have generic content. Take a module (or an OER resource) and annotate the content with notes and examples that make it relevant to the local context. Different regions have different considerations for safety, operation, resourcing…etc. For example, Welding Competency A2 requires students to understand workplace responsibilities. Consider an actual workplaces in your region (ones that are likely to hire graduates from your program or ones that have already employed students), and have students outline what specific responsibilities each position in the organization will have. This could also be extended into the local community by having students reach out to workplaces and employers to discuss how this content applies to their context.
Publish these annotations in a shared document that can be distributed beyond the individual learner.
This could be given as a graded assignment.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and organization of groups | 15 minutes |
Discussion, information-collecting, annotation. | 1 hour-multiple days of asynchronous time |
Compilation and distribution of annotated modules to peers. | 30 minutes |
Discussion and Reflection | 30 minutes |
Design a project that students can do safely (and to code) that will serve a community partner. Ideas include:
Feedback is best given by the community member receiving the project. Self-reflection by the student can be assessed for grades.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity | 1 hour |
Execute the project (which may include consultation and feedback with community partner) | depends on project |
Presentation to the community partner | 30 minutes |
Self-reflection | 30 min – 1 hour |
Take a module and have students create a 1-page summary of the content. Use visual notetaking to make it easily read and digested. These can be shared among peers, laminated for future reference, or made into posters for the classroom. Students can pull information and images direct from OER.
You’ll need to provide some resources on how to create visual notes (see below). Provide the students with the content scope. These are best created by hand and photographed for sharing digitally.
The can be used as preparation for an end-of-module test, or they can submitted as an appendix to a summative test and assigned a portion of the marks. Marks are given for detail, comprehensiveness, and design.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity | 10 minutes |
Explore examples and provide tools for visual note-taking | 30 minutes |
Creation of visual poster | 2 days |
Presentation to peers | 30 minutes |
H5P is a free, open technology that allows users to build simple, interactive learning objects such as quizzes, word searches, and games…etc. In this activity, have students create learning objects on a particular module or line item that can be shared with each other and made available for future classes.
Here is an example of a set of H5P flash cards for welding:
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://opentextbc.ca/tradesopenpedagogy/?p=35#h5p-2
Here is an example of H5P fill-in-the-blank questions for knots:
An interactive H5P element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here:
https://opentextbc.ca/tradesopenpedagogy/?p=35#h5p-1
These can be used as formative feedback for students if shared as a study tool. The creation of a learning object could be made into a formal assignment that is evaluated for a grade.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and review of examples. | 1 hour |
Student exploration of the platform. | 1–2 hours |
Build learning object | 1–2 days |
Share learning objects | 1 hour |
Design thinking is an innovative process with which to approach difficult and ill-defined problems. It leads learners to think outside the box to solve real challenges in the discipline or workforce. This activity would work well as a capstone project, where a difficult welding problem, with multiple factors and variables, needs to be solved. Students work collaborative as a whole group or in teams to research the problem, ideate solutions, test them, and recommend a final design.
Empathize | Define | Ideate | Prototype | Test |
---|---|---|---|---|
Develop a deep understanding of challenge. Ask questions. Research. Observe. | Clearly articulate the problem you want to solve. State the goal in one sentence. | Brainstorm potential solutions. No idea is a bad one. Order your ideas. Select one to develop. | Develop a prototype to test your solution. | Test your solution and make improvements as you go. Iterate your solution. Make a final recommendation. |
This works well as a capstone project. Student can be asked to summarize the project goals and processes in a report with a reflective element. Students can be asked to self-evaluate, and evaluate the contribution of their peers to their project.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and presentation of problem/challenge | 1 hour |
Empathize and Define | depends on complexity of project |
Ideate | 1–2 hours |
Prototype and Test | depends on complexity of project |
Report writing | 1–2 days |
Toward the end of the program have your students build a guide for future students of the program: “How to be successful in Welding Foundation”. Students should start by brainstorming all the possible ideas and then sorting then into topics. Suggestions include:
The students could then build this in Pressbooks with integrated video messages for easy sharing, or create a PDF that can be printed at the print shop and distributed to the next cohort of students.
Marks can be assigned for self-evaluated participation.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity and presentation of problem/challenge | 30 minutes |
Brainstorm | 1 hour |
Build resource | 1–2 days |
At the beginning of a new module or line item, divide up the sections and assign them to small groups of 2-3 students. Have the students create an 8-10 slide deck with content, images, and a few quiz questions that teaches that module to fellow students. Use a platform like Google slides for easy sharing. Each group takes one section and then shares with their peers in a short oral presentation. This is a good way to introduce a topic rather than the instructor doing all the talking.
This could be done on a regular basis (the first class of each week, or the first class of each new module) and evaluated for a grade. The instructor should give plenty of feedback at the start so that students learn expectations of quality and detail.
Activity | Time |
---|---|
Explanation of activity | 30 minutes at start of program |
Students research and build slide deck | 3-4 hours, on an on-going, regular basis. |
Sharing and presentations | 5-10 minutes per group. |
Additional reading and resources can be found here:
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Version | Date | Change | Details |
---|---|---|---|
1.00 | March 5, 2021 | Added to the B.C. Open Textbook Collection. |