This week’s reading edified my understanding of OER’s. This was much appreciated as it built on knowledge I gained regarding OER’s in the last set of readings.
The concepts of renewable and disposable assignments stood out to me. I think of countless essays and assignments that I complete for courses and never truly feel a sense of gratification afterward. Sometimes, these assignment milestones are too focused on structure are offer little room for exploration. As such, a lot of these assignments are completed and deleted. According to Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018), “millions of hours of work are done, graded, and thrown away each year”. They could be of value to another learner but a closed system of learning hinders this transfer of knowledge.
I agree with the efficacy of the four-part test introduced by the authors, in identifying OER-enabled pedagogy. Central to this concept is the notion of OER’s and the 5 Rs that guide them: reuse, retain, revise, remix, and redistribute. In examining if a practice is an OER-enabled pedagogy, the four-part test examines ties in the activities of the 5Rs as seen below:
- Ability to create and revise artifacts (revise, remix, reuse)
- Supports learning beyond that of the author (retain, redistribute)
- Enables the author to publically share the artifact (redistribute, revise)
- The author is able to openly license the artifact (redistribute, revise, remix, retain)
This summer, I had the chance to participate in an activity that would pass all four criteria for an OER-enabled pedagogy. For EDCI 337, we were tasked with creating an interactive game that served as a learning medium for a targetted audience. In creating the game, we accomplished the first criteria from the four-part test (ability to create and revise artifacts). Secondly, the game was educational because it taught players how to assemble a computer that passed the second criteria from the test (supports learning beyond that of the author). Thirdly, we shared the game on an open platform called Scratch, which passed the third test (enables the author to publically share the artifact). Lastly, our game was examined, and our project was selected to serve as an example for future iterations of the game. This passed the last criteria from the four-part test.
In contemplating whether or not I’d utilize the four-part test, I realized how difficult it might be to incorporate it in certain fields of study. For example, I’ve never experienced learning that follows the OER-enabled pedagogy in any of my computer science and engineering courses. I realized that a lot of work students produced in this field could be considered as intellectual property that can be monetized, as such, it would be unbeneficial to make the resources public. I’d be interested in researching ways to incorporate more of this type of learning in STEM education.
Here’s a link to the scratch game mentioned earlier: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/555205507/
References
Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).
jordyn August 23, 2021
Hi Samuel, I found our posts to be very similar in terms of our understanding of OER’s as well as the completing of an assignment that passed the four part test mentioned in Wiley and Hilton’s (2018) assignment!
I wholeheartedly agree that so many of our assignments are structured around closed systems, and unfortunately this means that many of our assignments are completed, graded, and then thrown away. Throughout my high school career, I had a few of my teachers reach out to me or my friends and ask if they could use my assignments for future classes, such as the Spanish Youtube video that we created and that I explained within my post, but within University I have never heard of any professor asking to keep work stored for future use. Do you or any of my pod members know if this has to do with a potential privacy or protection issue, or if this is just not something professors do? Perhaps they do it and my work just has not been sufficient to keep (haha). I would be very interested to know if you or any of my pod members have had a professor ask to keep any of your assignments! While reading your post, I thought about how cool it would be if students in higher education could have the option to share their projects/assignments to a secure folder once it has been completed and graded that could then be used for future professors to show other students taking their courses… perhaps there could be a criteria that states a student has to have a certain percentage on the assignment in order to submit? Although this is still considered closed because the file is secure and not open to the public, it could benefit other students in the future and allows work to be reused. I’m not sure why more professors don’t utilize other students work as examples, as I know personally having examples of past students works, such as the ones we had for our pod project, really helps to visualize what the professor is looking and asking for, and can create overall better content.
I never thought about the fact that posting work online for the public to view could lead to potential stealing of work by others online, but you make a perfect example of that. Does this mean if you were to put an idea online that it is considered public domain and anyone has the right to take it and use it for their own benefit? Or are there copyright laws to protect things such as this?
madelineosgarby August 24, 2021
Hi Sam,
I enjoyed reading your post. I agree with what you said about not feeling a sense of gratification from assignments that meet the criteria of “disposable”. I found that a lot of my classes in high school relied too heavily on these assignments. Personally, I never thought writing papers, essays, and exams really benefited anyone. Especially exams, I feel like they do not test individuals on how well they learned or how hard they worked in a class, but instead on how quickly they could memorize as much as possible. In the days after my exams, I typically forgot most of what I had crammed in.
I also participated in EDCI 337 this summer but the resources I made never passed all four criteria for OER-enabled pedagogy. I posted my whiteboard animation about multiplication strategies on YouTube under “unlisted”. I also password protected my “create your own phys-ed adventure” I made on Twine. In the past, I have always leaned towards privatizing the artifacts I create. This is because I know that many people choose to be online with the purpose of spreading unkind messages. Nevertheless, I have started to publicly share some of the resources I have made for other classes in order to start conversations and collaborate with like-minded individuals. I shared a few of my lesson plans and a unit plan on my blog. One of the lesson plans I actually found for free online from Common Sense Education and I revised it in ways I thought would make it more meaningful.
aydenweber August 24, 2021
Hi Samuel,
I really enjoyed reading your blog and agree with a couple of the points that you made. I only had a vague understanding of OER’s prior, but this reading fully clarified my understanding too. I agree with you that in school, most of our assignments, like essays, are disposable. These assignments are read by professors and then thrown away, never to be viewed again. I have always thought that this was such a waste of learning and knowledge and I never felt any real gratification from the work I had done.
I found your last statement about OER-enabled pedagogy and how it could be integrated into STEM education very interesting. I think that by utilizing STEM education, teachers can integrate the first three points of the four-point test into their teaching but I do agree that it might be difficult for STEM students to share their learning online because it would be considered their own intellectual property. I feel the same about OER-enabled pedagogy in elementary education. The first three points of the four-point test could easily be integrated, but the fourth step, sharing students’ work openly online, might be difficult to negotiate due to the safety and privacy laws involving minors.
claireyu August 24, 2021
Hi Samuel,
I have also felt that most of my past assignment did not provide any gratification, which I now understand is because of the “disposable” aspect to them. Like you stated, there was little room for exploration, and because of this lack of openness for creativity and the rigidness of the structures, I felt less motivated and engaged in the material. I like that you were able to connect your past experience with EDCI 337 to each of the criteria’s for OER-enabled pedagogy and it helped me understand the fourth one especially, since I found that one the most difficult to grasp. I really enjoyed reading your blog, thank you for your post!