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

Thirty-Five Years of the Technology Acceptance Model: Insights From Meta-Analytic Structural Equation Modelling

Caleb Or — 2024-10-23

This study uses one-step meta-analytic structural
equation modelling to delve into the technology
acceptance model’s (TAM) application within
education, assessing perceived usefulness, ease
of use, intentions to use, and actual technology
use. It synthesises previous findings to validate the
TAM's effectiveness and uncover the model’s
predictive power in educational settings. Significant
insights include the direct influence of perceived
ease of use on actual technology use, bypassing
intentions—a novel finding contrasting with the
TAM’s traditional formulation. The research
confirms the TAM’s enduring relevance, offering
valuable guidance for educational technology
integration.

Designing Cyberinfrastructure for Knowledge Sharing

Sarah Vela — 2024-10-23

FishSounds is an online portal that provides open and user-friendly access to academic scholarship regarding the sounds made by fish species. It is the result of an international collaboration between students, scientists, and information professionals, and has become a resource used around the globe for research, education, journalism, and general interest. This website is just the first instance of a new approach to sharing knowledge and an emerging cyberinfrastructure for open scholarship. The codebase behind FishSounds was designed to be reusable with other datasets, and in the coming years additional portals will connect users to knowledge from varied subject areas across academic disciplines. This discussion examines the development and reception of FishSounds as a case study for the creation of these websites, called Searchable Online Catalogues of Knowledge, or SOCKs. As it is publicly released, the SOCK platform will continue to evolve and develop new strategies based on the lessons learned from different audiences accessing FishSounds.

A Design Case for Open Education Practice

Michelle Harrison — 2025-05-01

This design case study describes the development of the Rethink Learning Design untextbook, an open educational resource designed to challenge traditional textbook structures and embrace open pedagogy. The project, initiated by a team of four educators, aimed to create a digital space that prioritizes interactivity, agency, accessibility, structure, and voice. Dissatisfied with existing platforms’ limitations in fostering non-linear learning and multi-vocality, the team collaborated with a Web developer to design a software tool to meet pedagogical needs. This tool allows for nonlinear organization of content, encourages multiple entry points, and allows for various open licensing options, facilitating a more inclusive and participatory learning experience. The resource features contributions from educators worldwide, organized into chapters that address various aspects of open and critical learning design. A key feature in the tool is the embedded reflective-practice framework, which encourages users to engage critically with the content and consider multiple perspectives. In this paper, we acknowledge ongoing design challenges, such as managing user annotations and feedback, and balancing learner agency with a navigable structure. Despite these challenges, the project offers a valuable model for developing open educational resources that promote critical engagement and challenge traditional pedagogical approaches.

Open Learning Design in Context: Expanding the Continuum

Verena Roberts — 2025-05-01

With the growing interest and focus on open educational practices to support open educational resources, the opportunity for analyzing open learning design has prevailed. In this conceptual design paper, we consider how instructional course design project participants balance the ethical tensions that are encountered through individual open learning beliefs and values, pedagogy, process and products. These underlying tensions influence the design decisions which we hope to describe as a continuum of openness. This paper explores the multi-faceted designs which could afford more open, equitable, accessible and responsive learning environments for all learners.

Moving Towards Design Justice Through Multivocal Design in Health Education

Danielle Dilkes — 2025-05-01

This paper examines how traditional forms of curricular design and content creation can reinforce oppressive knowledge hierarchies both in educational and clinical settings. We propose a reimagining of how knowledge content is created through a process called multivocal design, which draws on both design justice and knowledge justice frameworks. Multivocal design integrates and legitimises different types of knowledge and experience, thus establishing epistemic authority across a wider definition of expertise. We propose that this approach to curricular and content design has applications across education, but the design case presented here focuses specifically on understanding and addressing epistemic bias in medical education and practice.

Redesigning Computing for Openness

Brian Sutherland — 2025-05-01

Consumer electronics design is an easily relatable and fast-cycling field of interest to students of all kinds, but particularly to those studying information science. Within this field, the e-waste problem is a significant ethics issue. Why does the logic of using computers involve the repeated purchasing and consumption of new machines, or “molded plastic epics” (Gabrys, 2011), and their significant manufacturing expenditure of carbon? Thinking back on calculating devices which supported problem-solving and this ethical problem of repeated consumption, the simple solar calculator stands out for its durability. The reason may be the initial sustainability design: early calculators, like more recent Citizen Eco-Drive watches, use a solar ambient-energy harvesting strategy that doesn’t store electricity in batteries; consequently they are very long lasting and low maintenance. As there are very few energy-harvesting electronics devices in the market reflecting emerging green narratives of degrowth, reuse, and upcycling, this research paper reviews the history and design of some of these rare devices while discussing their energy experience design strategies in the context of modern consumer electronics. I also present a series of speculative prototypes which feature broad affordability, openness, and a more ethical consumption ethos as discussion artefacts for design education students engaging with this problem.