Characteristics of Open Pedagogy

Some characteristics of open pedagogy, as discussed at the March 2020 Open Pedagogy workshop.

Characteristics

• Student-centred – built around the students in the class
• Dynamic and constantly evolving – students are active contributors
• Free – applying the 5Rs (retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute)
• Public facing – available to everyone, anyone can engage with it
• Students are not just a receptacle for the instructor’s knowledge
• Equity, social justice lens to teaching
• Instructor serves as the facilitator, scaffolding and guiding the student experience

Strengths

• Opens up teaching to more scrutiny
• Public assignments give students a feeling of responsibility, the opportunity to engage with peers, and greater rigour to their work
• Polished work – students see things published under their name as a representation of their identity
• Flexible, reusable
• Move away from the elitism of academia
• Co-creation of knowledge, can challenge established expertise
• Focus on the process of discovering knowledge

Weaknesses

• Opens up teaching to more scrutiny
• Public assignments could increase student stress or anxiety
• In this kind of public space, can there be spaces for things to be messy?
• How can we make this form of pedagogy transparent?
• A move away from elitism could also be a move away from expertise.
• Needs to be designed and facilitated carefully.