Topic #4 Discussion

Sharing Resources and Practicing ‘Open’

What do you think of the test?

The short 4-question test is a great, and quick, way to assess whether the approach qualifies as an OER-enabled pedagogy (Wiley & Hilton, 2018). I think that because it is so quick, it’s a really easy way to determine whether you are on the right track or not with your lesson and the resources you choose to use. By using this quick test to determine if an approach is an OER-enabled pedagogy, we discover how these resources can be designed to improve the understanding of future students (Wiley & Hilton, 2018).

Do you have examples from your education that would pass all four parts?

Many of the classes that I have taken this summer, and in the past, have passed all four parts of this test. All of these classes have been ed-tech classes! I thought I would use the test to describe my ed-tech experiences:

1. Are students asked to create new artifacts (essays, poems, videos, songs, etc.) or revise / remix existing OER?

Yes, my ed-tech classes have gotten us to use the WordPress blog site to create new blog posts. As well in my recent EDCI 337 class on multimedia in education, we have been introduced to many other OER’s to create animations and interactive multimedias.

2. Does the new artifact have value beyond supporting the learning of its author? 

Yes, in this class for example, my peers in my learning pod are able to read and interact with my blog posts. In my 337 class, we were able to share the multimodal resources we created to the rest of the class, some of which who never used the resources and software we used.

3. Are students invited to publicly share their new artifacts or revised/remixed OER? 

Yes, when we post to our blogs it is public to everyone. If you search my name on Google, my WordPress site comes up.

4. Are students invited to openly license their new artifacts or revised/remixed OER?

Yes, my WordPress site is openly licensed.

If you are planning to become a teacher, will you aim to design tasks that pass all four parts? Why or why not? 

Yes, I am planning on becoming a teacher, and I will aim to design tasks and lessons that pass all four parts of the test! I think that it’s important for students to learn how beneficial OER’s are to not only their own learning, but also to others learning based on what they share. That being said, I am interested in teaching primary grades, so I am unsure of how to design lessons using an open pedagogy. Perhaps anyone reading this has any ideas about how I can design a lesson for the younger kids (kindergarten-grade 3-ish) that includes all of these components? I am thinking of maybe an interactive multimedia resource, like Scratch (coding for kids) or a comic (like Pixton) for students to engage with and share with their peers.

Do any of the proposed research questions catch your attention? Do you have a hypothesis as to what the findings would be? Explain.

“Do students assigned to create, revise, or remix artifacts find these assignments more valuable, interesting, motivating, or rewarding than other forms of assessment? Why or why not?”

This question caught my attention, because I think it is really important to look at the research from a students point of view. After all, they are the ones who will be learning from the proposed approaches! If we don’t take into consideration the students who are learning, then the research really has no point. I think my hypothesis would be that yes, students will find the assignments to be more rewarding because they are able to help their peers out. There is something so motivating about being able to help your friends learning based on what you researched yourself!

This question caught my attention, because of course there are always going to be some limitations to any new idea or approach. I had to think pretty hard about this one, but if I were to guess, the drawbacks could include students, faculty or even parents being sceptical with the privacy concerns that comes with an OER-enabled pedagogy. When the students put things online in a public way, of course there are going to be privacy concerns. It’s just a matter of finding the resources that best fit the needs of that school and their students.

I can’t believe we have made it to our last week! It feels like the time has just flown by during this course. I am very lucky to have learned so much in such a short amount of time, from both the readings, our instructor Ryan, and all my pod members – so thank you!