Exploration in progress: Understanding the range of awareness, knowledge, and use of Open Educational Practices by Instructional Designers

Concurrent Session 4

Session Materials

Brief Abstract

During this in-person Graduate Student Discovery session, participants will hear results from an in-progress two-phase mixed methods study that focuses on understanding the range of awareness, knowledge, and use of Open Educational Practices by Instructional Designers.

Presenters

Lead Presenter: Jennifer Englund, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities

One of my earliest memories is going to school with a shiny new lunchbox and a back-to-school outfit. Returning to school each fall became a routine that I looked forward to and over the years I realized that I loved learning and the process of acquiring knowledge. Fast-forward to today and my career reflects my early childhood experiences: I put my love of learning to use as an instructional designer in higher education, a PhD Candidate, and an online educator. Instructional designers in higher education are commonly found working one-on-one with instructors or facilitating instructional development sessions. I value these components of my work and welcome the broad set of experiences that my role also provides, such as: ‣ Collaboratively developed the inaugural set of non-credit and non-degree badge standards at the University of Minnesota ‣ Becoming proficient in the seven core skills of digital accessibility practices ‣ Mentoring instructional designers through the ID2ID Ignite program ‣ Unlearning anti-racist practices and understanding my biases ‣ Serving as a panelist for the 2024 Educause Horizon Teaching and Learning Report Alongside my instructional design work, the College of Education and Human Development’s Learning Technology program has been my home base as a doctoral student and online educator since 2015. As a PhD Candidate, my mixed-methods study explores the range of awareness, knowledge, and use of open educational practices by instructional designers. I have taught online undergraduate and graduate courses such as Social Media & Connected Learning, Technology Tools for Educators, and Designing & Developing Online Distance Learning as a community faculty member. As an online educator, I consistently use inclusive teaching practices to create learner-centered spaces that reflect students’ lived experiences and future goals. My specialties include process improvement, digital accessibility in course design, and creating learner-centered online asynchronous courses and my strength is building authentic relationships to collaboratively solve complex problems. I step away from my professional life to enjoy time with family and friends, try new restaurants and recipes with my partner, and cultivate our budding array of plant babies. Reach out if you want to talk about creating accessible online experiences, current topics in teaching and learning, or creating a houseplant jungle. Let’s connect!

Extended Abstract

Session description & relevance

During this in-person Graduate Student Discovery session, participants will hear results from an in-progress two-phase mixed methods study that focuses on understanding the range of awareness, knowledge, and use of Open Educational Practices by Instructional Designers. 

Open Educational Practices is an emergent concept within the field of open education. It continues to be defined and shaped by scholars and practitioners, with contesting definitions. In a 2011 seminal report, Andrade and other researchers initially defined Open Educational Practices as “practices which support the (re)use and production of Open Educational Resources through institutional policies, promote innovative pedagogical models, and respect and empower learners as co-producers on their lifelong learning path. Open Educational Practices address the whole Open Educational Resources governance community: policy makers, managers/ administrators of organisations, educational professionals and learners” (p. 12). However, future research has grown to encompass pedagogical innovation, learner empowerment, and institutional and societal transformation. Stemming from Lambert’s (2018) influential publication and ongoing conversation in the field via published literature and conference keynotes and debates, open education as an avenue for social justice, equity, and inclusion has become a strong focus.

The fields of open education and instructional design have been established for decades. While each field has changed and evolved, little is known about the role of instructional designers in open education. At this time, there is no existing research that focuses on the scope of knowledge held by instructional designers as a profession/as practitioners about open education. Existing studies that discuss both instructional design and Open Educational Practices can be grouped into the following categories:

  • description of aspirational participation of instructional designers in open education projects, or how instructional designers could participate in open education projects 

  • examples of open education projects that instructional designers have participated in, without details about the nature of project work that instructional designers performed 

  • specific tasks that instructional designers performed when working on open education projects 

Survey results from Phase 1 will be shared during the session that address the following contributions that this study plans to make, including:

  • understanding the range of awareness and knowledge about Open Educational Practices that instructional designers have 

  • understanding the ways that instructional designers use Open Educational Practices

  • uncover knowledge gaps that instructional designers may have about Open Educational Practices, their reasons for their resistance to use and/or lack of use, and how, if at all, they would like to learn about this emerging area 

Audience engagement

This session will be structured in an informal presentation style and will provide space for participants to voice their thoughts and respond to the research findings. 

Key takeaways

The key takeaways may vary by audience, and include:

  • Instructional design practitioners and students could benefit from understanding the knowledge gaps that exist in the field, understanding additional skills they may need to develop, and understanding the factors that contribute to instructional designers’ understanding of OEP and how those factors impact their professional context. 

  • Graduate program faculty could benefit as they could see what gaps exist and whether their program curriculum may need to be expanded in order to best prepare future professionals. 

  • Training professionals who provide professional/continuing education may see instructional designers as a new audience for their programs. 

  • Administrators could benefit from understanding the knowledge and skills that instructional designers have and how they can contribute to open education project teams.

References

Andrade, A., Ehlers, U-D., Caine, A., Conole, G., Kairamo, A-K., Koskinen, T., Kretschmer, T., Moe-Pryce, N., Mundin, P., Nozes, J., Reinhardt, R., Richter, T., Silva, G., Holmberg, C. (2011). Beyond OER: Shifting focus to Open Educational Practices. Open Educational Quality Initiative. 

Lambert, S.R. (2018). Changing our (Dis)Course: A Distinctive Social Justice Aligned Definition of Open Education. Journal of Learning for Development, 5(3), 225-244.