Helping Learners become Creators: Supporting Open Pedagogy Using Pressbooks
Concurrent Session 8
Brief Abstract
When educators use open pedagogy strategies to engage students as information creators, rather than just as information consumers, they elevate learning and transform assessment. Learn how institutions use Pressbooks’ digital publishing platform to support projects that enhance learning by inviting students to co-create or improve textbooks and other learning materials.
Presenters
Extended Abstract
As educators debate what learning and assessment should look like in the AI-infused digital age, many are rethinking what skills and capabilities they should hone in learners and academic programs. Simply imparting knowledge to students is just the beginning. There are tremendous opportunities to make learning experiences impactful and relevant by teaching students how to become productive creators and adapters in the information economy.
Open pedagogy is a set of pedagogical strategies that aim to elevate learning by engaging students as partners and co-creators in the learning process. It makes learning experiential by supporting students through the process of creation. An open pedagogy approach might invite learners to help shape the learning outcomes, syllabus, or learning activities. It might involve students co-creating, remixing, or adding improvements to textbooks and other learning materials and then evaluating the work of their peers. It might ask students to create or adapt openly licensed learning content so that it better represents diverse, culturally-relevant voices and perspectives. Because the act of creation feels so empowering for students, courses that incorporate open pedagogy often result in transformative learning experiences. They can yield deep faculty-student connections and produce assignments and work products that become the centerpieces of student portfolios.
Open pedagogy can be a powerful approach, particularly when it is supported effectively by tools that facilitate creative processes. This session demonstrates how educators frequently use Pressbooks’ user-friendly digital publishing platform for open pedagogy-based courses and projects. This platform is well-suited for collaboration around creating, adapting, and ultimately publishing information in beautiful, accessible, and easily shareable formats.
This session begins with a brief, context-setting introduction to open pedagogy and a walkthrough of the publishing platform. It then focuses on how to support instructors as they plan and facilitate open pedagogy projects with their students using the Pressbooks platform. The session discusses different dimensions instructors can incorporate into the experience, from defining objectives and organizing the work, to content creation, adaptation, licensing, permissions, editing, and peer feedback, and more.
The session will point attendees towards helpful resources for planning and supporting open pedagogy in the classroom. It will also share multiple examples of open access books co-created by students for open pedagogy-based courses and programs.
Session takeaways include:
+Familiarity with open pedagogy techniques and how they can support student learning and address challenges in assessing student learning
+Applied understanding of the Pressbooks digital publishing platform as a tool for supporting open pedagogy techniques that invite students to co-create and adapt learning materials
+Tips and success factors for how to support faculty and students in planning and executing open pedagogy projects
+Where to find examples of open pedagogy projects and resources to help instructors and faculty support staff interested in how to apply this approach effectively in the classroom