The Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association Journal

The Virtue and Potential of Open Education: For Supporting Belonging, Transformation of Pedagogy, Linguistic Equity, and Climate Adaptation

Valerie Irvine — 2023-12-31

Designing agile pathways for climate adaptation skill development

David Porter — 2023-12-31

Capacity building for advancing climate-change leadership has become a critical workforce development requirement for both professionals and front-line workers. As the World Economic Forum Jobs 2020 report noted, there is an increasing need to provide short-timeframe opportunities for reskilling and upskilling that will keep step with the increasing issues of the climate crisis. Micro-credentials have been proposed as a strategy to enable the ongoing development of knowledge and skills to address this workforce development requirement, which we examine in the context of a university initiative that has prototyped skill pathways to address key climate adaptation themes.

We report and discuss the strategic use of the Climate Adaptation Competency Framework (2020)–a Creative Commons-licensed (CC) open competency framework–along with the use of open educational resources to create agile pathways to skill development for climate adaptation and action. The pathways we have designed and are testing combine self-directed learning resources, individual and group activities, and authentic assessment practices to validate skill development. Micro-credentials are awarded from a university continuing and professional studies division to learners from multiple practice domains for demonstrations of competence.

Student Co-Creation of Open Textbooks: Reflections on Power Dynamics and Building a Sense of Belonging in Higher Education

Glenda Cox — 2024-01-17

Despite calls for social justice and inclusion in higher education, there is still growing structural inequality in terms of access to education, which extends to structural and economic oppression of marginalised groups. Student inclusion in design, creation and evaluation of curricula is lauded in research as essential for student belonging, with open textbook production as one way in which student co-creation is being explored. Yet, little work has been done to look at the challenges involved when traditional power dynamics are disrupted in partnering with students. Highlighting the collaborative endeavours that lecturers undertake with students in open textbook production and the challenges therein, this paper draws on Yuval-Davis’ (2011) work on student belonging and Fraser (2005) on social (in)justice, to explore the nexus of three complementary themes: open textbooks, students as partners, and student belonging in higher education. Data were derived from a set of interviews conducted with three open textbook authors at the University of Cape Town (UCT) on their efforts to foster co-creation practices with students in their classrooms as part of open textbook initiatives. Findings reveal that student co-creation of open textbooks has the potential to shift, or at the very least tilt, power balance and give students agency. Academics who undertook open textbook production with student co-creators respected students’ expertise and in turn, students felt a sense of value in their departments, which enabling a sense of belonging.

We highlight how the reality of student co-creation is complex as academics have the intention to shift the traditional power dynamics between lecturer and student; however, examples here show this kind of transformation is gradual and continuous and often difficult to implement when the institutional culture remains hierarchical.

Open Educational Practices in Postsecondary Education in French-speaking Minority Context in Canada: Challenges and Opportunities for Linguistic Equity

Catherine Lachaîne — 2023-12-31

This qualitative study explores the current teaching practices of professors, librarians and lecturers in postsecondary education in French-speaking minority context and how these practices correspond or not to open educational practices (OEP). We explore this subject from the perspective of social justice and equity issues facing Francophone’s minority communities in Canada, that is, francophones who live in French outside the province of Quebec. These equity issues include the lack of access to postsecondary teaching resources in French, courses and programs, both online and offline.

Our pan-Canadian data collection by questionnaire allowed us to reach 68 participants from eight provinces. The results reveal limited knowledge and applications of OEPs in postsecondary education, a lack of resources in French to support OEPs and a recognition of the significant potential of OEPs in postsecondary education in French-speaking minority communities. The reuse and sharing of content mentioned by respondents constitute the most applied open approaches, but the data tells us that the practices are mainly ad hoc and that they do not necessarily apply open practices throughout the teaching process and learning. A collective reflection and concrete actions are needed to highlight the potential to openly create and share educational resources and practices by and for this community to promote inclusion and equity. We recommend the creation of open educational resources for and by the communities and a national awareness campaign among educators from experts in the field as first steps.

Faculty and Student Perceptions of Open Pedagogy: A Case Study From British Columbia, Canada

Melissa Ashman — 2023-12-31

A transformation in teaching and learning happens when students move from being consumers to creators of knowledge. While there is a growing body of research available on the use of open education resources by faculty and students, there is comparatively little research available with regards to open pedagogy (OP) in higher education. The few studies that have explored the perceptions of OP have focused on one specific OP practice in a small context (one or two course sections). The present review study surveyed the perceptions of faculty and students at a Canadian university across several courses and a range of types of OP. Quantitative and qualitative analyses revealed students and faculty alike were positive about the benefits and impacts of engaging in OP, but each expressed challenges with needing greater time for OP. Additionally, while students experienced challenges with process, faculty experienced challenges with supports. Recommendations are provided for ways faculty can support students when engaging in OP and ways institutions can support faculty who engage in OP. Ultimately, knowing more about the experiences and perspectives of students and faculty could help inform the development of best practices for faculty who wish to use OP with students.