topic 3: Open Pedagogy

After reading Mays, E. (Ed.). (2017). After the first chapter of ‘A guide to making open textbooks with students’, I agree with the authors’ ideas.
There are many similarities between “open” and “distributed” learning, especially in “asynchronous” learning. As we complete our Digital Equity and Perspective pod projects, we often find that many of the barriers to learning for students have almost the same impact on “distributed asynchronous” and “open” learning. I think this has to do with the fact that they both use a lot of online platforms or technologies in their instruction. However, there are many differences in the online platforms they use. One of the most obvious differences is that the online platforms for “distributed” learning are usually controlled by the instructor, who acts as a supervisor. It is like a teacher creating or controlling a website that students can view, use, or comment on, but cannot change the information on the site. The difference is that the online platform used for “open” learning is controlled by both the student and the teacher. Like the “Word press” we use, students and teachers each create their own websites and can modify the information on their own websites. The authors also explain in the article, “The Learning Management System (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, etc.) generally locks students into closed It perpetuates a surveillance model of education in which the instructor It perpetuates a surveillance model of education in which the instructor is able to consider metrics that students are not given access to; and it presupposes that all student work is disposable (as all of it will be deleted when the new course shell is imported for the next semester).” (Mays, E. (Ed.), (2017)).

The platforms, materials, or online technologies that students use for “open” learning are collectively known as Open Educational Resources (OERs), and OREs are an important element of the “open pedagogy”. As an educational resource, OREs provide students with more freedom than other educational resources, but they are also very inexpensive or even free to use. The author also explains this in his article; he suggests that many textbooks, especially college textbooks, are so expensive that many college students are unable to complete assigned readings because they cannot afford them (Mays, E. (Ed.), (2017)). I can empathize with this as a university student; in the required courses I have experienced, many of them required textbooks that cost around $100, and some of them exceeded that price. The reason why OERs are so inexpensive is to fulfill the proposition that “higher education should be equally accessible to all”; and this proposition is one of the most important goals and concepts of OERs.

Reference:

Mays, E. (Ed.). (2017). A guide to making open textbooks with students. Rebus Community.  Chapter 1: Open Pedagogy : https://press.rebus.community/makingopentextbookswithstudents/chapter/open-pedagogy/