Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab

On Thursday night we gathered to engage with questions of Writing Across the Curriculum!

We wondered about:

• What challenges have faculty encountered while developing or considering developing writing assignments using open online tools and platforms?
• How can writing-to-learn strategies impact student learning? How can they impact the teaching process?
• How can you (and your students) use the OpenLab to realize the writing assignments you design?
• What does the future of writing assignments and open digital pedagogies look like?

Writing Fellow Elisa Jane Boyton opened the conversation with a discussion of Writing and Social Media. Boynton shared an exciting assignment where undergraduates told the story of Jane Eyre on Instagram! The assignment intended to create a place for students to engage in alternative and creative storytelling practices, but ended up also inspiring them to engage the material in complex and sophisticated ways.

Rebecca Devers, WAC Co-Coordinator and Assistant Professor of English discussed Using the OpenLab to Bridge Creative Writing and Critical Analysis. Dever’s demonstrated how her students write and then use literary analysis to respond to their classmates fictional narratives on the OpenLab.

Marianna Bonanome, WAC Co-Coordinator and Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, presented her experiences Incorporating Low-Stakes Writing in a STEM Class. Bonanome talked about how although she wasn’t trained to incorporate writing, when she did she found that it provided a way for students to interact with course content, connect new concepts with previous knowledge and retain key concepts.

This was our final Open Pedagogy event for the fall and we are planning two more for the spring. So please be in touch with ideas, reach out, stop by our office hours or come to a workshop! And if you haven’t already, don’t forget to “join” Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab to stay in the loop about upcoming events and discussions about open digital pedagogy at City Tech.

Want to learn more about writing-to-learn strategies and open digital pedagogies? Here are a few short pieces for reference:

• “Open Digital Pedagogy = Critical Pedagogy,” by Jody R. Rosen and Maura A. Smale (2015)
• “Dream Bloggers Invent the University,” by Jason Tougaw (2009)
• “The Challenges of Online Writing Instruction,” by Luca Zamparini (2016)

Last Thursday evening we held the first Open Pedagogy event of the semester, Open Educational Resources at City Tech. The event centered around presentations of self-developed OERs from three of CityTech’s OER Fellows, Ari Maller, David Lee, Sue Brandt, and Andrew Parker, Opening Gateways Co-Director of OER Development. The presentations sparked a lively conversation about the about the joys and challenges OERs present, and the potential they hold for our classrooms here at CityTech.

To recap:

Assistant Professor and City Tech librarian Cailean Cooney opened the event by contrasting open educational resources (OER) with the average amount a college student spends on textbooks a year ($1,200!). As many attendees concurred, textbook fees often prevent students from completing course readings or assignments, or present serious obstacles to doing so. OERs, which are free and openly licensed (public domain, Creative Commons) educational materials that can be used for teaching – as well as learning, research and other purposes – help students circumvent these prohibitive costs when accessing course material. Faculty noted that when they used OERs, as compared to traditional textbooks, students were able to access materials and complete courses more regularly. Presenters also commented on and shared how OERs allowed them to include more interactive elements into their class, including movie and audio clips, as well as allowed them more flexibility than a traditional textbook in terms of crafting the content for their course. Relatedly, Sue Brandt discussed how her OER allowed her to keep course content current in a way that traditional textbooks could not, David Lee discussed using learning management systems in tandem with the OpenLab, while Ari Maller and Andrew Parker highlighted the flexibility of updating assignments year to year to avoid cheating.

The discussion also highlighted OER-related anxieties and challenges. In particular, navigating licensure agreements and WordPress as a technological tool were of utmost of concern. Presenters shared their insights on navigating these domains, while the OpenLab Team chimed in to ensure the group that we are here to answer questions such as these through our workshops, office hours and email support.

Beyond the content of the presentations, OpenLab Community Facilitator Andy McKinney initiated a discussion about the potential for synergies between open pedagogy and OERs with respect to the potential for student-professor collaborations in the creation of OERs. For example, by building a shared resource like a glossary or even a set of test review questions, faculty can use open pedagogy techniques to collaborate with students to build OERs that have value beyond that particular class. This elicited much interest from the group and is something we’re looking forward to discussing more in the future.

All in all, this event was a tremendous success! Thank you to everyone who participated!

We look forward to seeing you at our next Open Pedagogy event with Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC) on November 3rd, 5:30-7:00pm in the Faculty Commons (N227). If you haven’t already, don’t forget to “join” Open Pedagogy on the OpenLab to stay in the loop about upcoming events and discussions about open digital pedagogy at City TEch.

For more reading on OERs:

• Check out City Tech Library’s resource guide on OERs
• “What Do We Mean by Open Education?”  (January 16, 2015). Audrey Watters. Hack Education: The History of the Future of Education Technology.
• “Pedagogy, Technology, and the Example of Open Educational Resources.” (November 9, 2015). Robin DeRosa and Scott Robinson. Educause Review.
• “Open Pedagogy in Biology and Political Science.” (June 14, 2016), Cailean Cooney. Open Pedaogy.
• “Into the Open” (August 5, 2016). Karen Cangiolosi, Professor of Biology, Keene State College

Or Become an OER Fellow! The call for Spring 2017 fellows will go out October 17, 2016.

Remember to bring your devices on Thursday — hopefully one a little less dated than this. (Image by Javier Carcamo)

Getting Hands-On with Research Projects on the OpenLab
Thursday, April 7th, 5:00 – 6:30 pm (N227)

Refreshments will be served.

Interested in building a space for your research on the OpenLab? Bring your own laptop or device to this follow-up working session on research projects on the OpenLab, where we will explore and build projects on the OpenLab centered on specific research questions. Participants will leave with a collaborative space on the OpenLab for organizing, archiving, and publicly displaying their research.

Please email us at OpenLab@citytech.cuny.edu or comment below to let us know your ideas for the session. What research project do you want to work on?

And remember to bring your devices, as this will be a working session!

Last week’s Open Pedagogy event, Exploring Research Projects on the OpenLab, was a great success, with lots of time for faculty members to explore opportunities for collaboration and research on the site. Attendees agreed on their interest in research design that sends students into the world to investigate a question, followed by opportunities to share and discuss their findings on the OpenLab. There was particular excitement about the possibility of mapping research, as Prof. Jody Rosen’s students did in her2013 course Being in Brooklyn. You can explore her students’ interactive map here.

Our final Open Pedagogy event of the semester, Getting Hands-On with Research Projects on the OpenLab, will serve as a working session to follow-up ideas that emerged from last week’s session. All faculty and staff are welcome, even those unable attend the last session, and all attendees should bring their own devices. Stay tuned, too, for a list of open pedagogy resources for research that we will share in anticipation of that event.