Political Science Educator: volume 27, issue 2
Interview
This interview is the third installment in a Q&A series focused on education and politics. Matt Evans, Professor of Political Science at Northwest Arkansas Community College, interviewed Jamie Witman, the Open Educational Practices Specialist at the Open Education Network[1], about open pedagogy. The concept of open pedagogy centers on students co-creating knowledge with faculty and moving away from disposable assignments (that hold no importance other than achieving the immediate learning objective); the point is to create objects that can be freely used without purchase or fee in future contexts and as a result are Open Educational Resources. The Open Education Network focuses on the promotion and the creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) and open pedagogy; it includes universities, liberal arts colleges, and community colleges around the country.
Whitman holds a M.A. in Library and Information Science and a B.A. in Religion from Florida State University. She previously worked as Online Learning and OER Librarian at the Community College of Baltimore County where she led the OER initiatives across the institution, including an OER/alternative textbook grant program and OER Institute. She also served on the leadership team for the award-winning United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship Program and co-developed the Maryland H5P Collaborative[2]. She remains a member of the American Library Association and has published chapters in two edited volumes on her work on information literacy and online learning. This interview took place by email and has been edited for clarity. [3]
How would you define open pedagogy? How is it connected to open educational resources? How does it compare to and draw upon other pedagogical approaches and philosophies (like constructivism, experiential learning, feminism, pragmatism, universal design)?
There are a lot of definitions for open pedagogy. Some definitions of open pedagogy include the same principles of the 5 R’s that OERs are built on and I think engaging in open pedagogy is a natural evolution for folks using OERs. The 5 R’s are retain, reuse, revise, remix, redistribute; and apply to the way that different Creative Commons licenses[4] allow different types of uses for OER.
I think open pedagogy complements many other pedagogical approaches like constructivism and experiential learning. Additionally, open pedagogy’s foundation stems from Black feminist pedagogy and praxis like the work of bell hooks, Regina Austin, Audre Lorde, and others. For more on this I would suggest taking a look at the work of scholars Marco Seiferle-Valencia[5] and Jasmine Roberts-Crews[6].
Marco Seiferle-Valencia is the the Open Education Librarian at the University of Idaho Library and the co-creator of the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Collection. His work at the University of Idaho Library’s Think Open Fellowship works to promote OER projects that center principles of social justice. His article: It’s Not (Just) About the Cost: Academic Libraries and Intentionally Engaged OER for Social Justice[7] explores these OER projects and examines the work of bell hooks and Regina Austin as foundational for intentionally engaged OER.
Jasmine Roberts-Crews is a Lecturer in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. Her advocacy work centers on the experiences of people of color, women and queer communities. Professor Roberts-Crews is a renowned open education leader and she was the first OEN Fellow in which she created a video: Creating a Socially Just Open Education[9] for community members wanting to intentionally design their open education programs around social justice. She most recently was a keynote speaker at Open Education Conference 2023[10] where she invites the audience to adopt a post-oppositional lens to imagine transformative social justice pathways in open education.
What sort of non-disposable objects are students creating in these open pedagogy class projects, and what contexts do we see them used?
Students are creating a variety of projects: infographics and learning aids that can be shared with future students or the community at large, videos, new open textbooks, audio recordings, new and/or updated Wikipedia entries, digital galleries, and more. Many of these projects have life beyond a single semester where students can build upon them to enhance the resource, or [they can serve] as inspiration for the next set of students. Some of these projects also have an impact on local communities: students are creating resources for their hometowns, communities, environments, etc.
How did you get involved in open pedagogy? What brought you to it?
When I was at the Community College of Baltimore County, I was looking for more ways to get involved in open work. Our OER program was ramping up, but I wanted to think about how we could continue to connect and engage with students in new ways and specifically do more to center social justice principles. Around that same time, I was invited to join the Leadership Team for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship. This was a great opportunity to offer this fellowship to faculty who are what I would call “power users” of OER in their courses. Through working with the other members of the Leadership Team, I was able to learn more about open pedagogy itself and that knowledge is what led me to working with the OEN in my current position, which is to build resources and support around open pedagogy for our members and to share these resources openly with everyone.
How should faculty determine the Creative Commons licenses for student products? How much autonomy should students have in the process? What resources should faculty use for this process?
To truly practice open pedagogy, student consent must be at the forefront, so I would say a faculty member should provide instruction around Creative Commons[11], including the rights granted by each license and the impact choosing a specific license can have on a student’s work. But the choice to license is ultimately up to the student. Whether that is choosing a Creative Commons license, choosing not to openly license at all, or choosing to license anonymously. Each of these choices should be supported by the faculty member.
I think the best resources come from the Creative Commons organization. Doing a walkthrough of the license chooser[12] is a great way for students to think about the different decisions they need to think about to choose the license that fits best for them.
What would you say to faculty that have some of the standard objections: that students co-creating knowledge means intellectual anarchy, that there is just too much material to cover in the class to do these projects, that students lack basic skills to create these renewable objects?
I think the best approach to getting started with open pedagogy is starting small. Choosing just one aspect of the course or one aspect of an assignment to change helps to alleviate some of the pressure and stress an instructor might feel about how they fit open pedagogy in with all the other requirements and expectations of a course. Additionally, scaffolding is key. Even if you are starting small, students need to have support around this new endeavor, and scaffolding is the best way to do that. Offering opportunities for input and feedback will also help instructors guide students appropriately. The beauty of open pedagogy is that it recognizes that students have different skill sets,so allowing them to use those skills sets them up for success.
What is scaffolding and who are some of its major proponents in pedagogical theory?
Scaffolding refers to a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process (Source: The Glossary of Education Reform[13]). It originates from Jerome Bruner[14] a cognitive psychologist and later built on by Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky[15] and his concept of the Zone of Proximal Development. Northern Illinois University’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning has a great write up on Instructional Scaffolding[16]. Scaffolding is really about providing a supportive learning environment to help learners excel and succeed. Martha Larkin furthers the concept of scaffolding to optimize learning[17].
How would you address the argument that open pedagogy is surplus labor in getting students to do work that would otherwise be paid, or that students are putting stuff out there that could be harvested by for-profit companies to make money?
I think this is where the rights students have as creators come into play. Students are entitled to and own their intellectual property so building in conversations and instruction around this topic is key for students understanding their rights. Talking about open licensing and copyright gives students the chance to think about how someone else might use their work. The article Student Collaborators’ Bill of Rights[18] gives a great foundation for how to approach these conversations. I also think this is where Care for our students gets built in too. We don’t want to overburden students with the work, so making sure students feel supported and comfortable asking questions or raising objections is a fundamental aspect of open pedagogy.
Does open pedagogy help faculty address issues of artificial intelligence, human isolation, or disconnection from the educational and societal institutions? Do you think doing open pedagogy has spillover effects to improving representative democracy or direct democracy?
I would say engaging in open pedagogy and the principles of open pedagogy can certainly help address shortcomings in educational institutions and society at large too. Social Justice principles and open pedagogy principles are two sides of the same coin, so they lend themselves to having deeper conversations around societal institutions and government. I also think open pedagogy relies heavily on sharing work outside of the classroom and reaching out to communities and global audiences, so I think it can help to combat feelings of isolation.
How do we see open pedagogy playing out in different academic disciplines? Are there some academic disciplines that are invested in open pedagogy, and others that are not?
I would say right now the humanities areas probably have the biggest foothold in open pedagogy. I’ve also worked with folks in math, health sciences, and natural sciences though. I think every discipline has space to engage in open pedagogy, so I think we will continue to see growth in these other areas. One place to look for some examples organized by disciplines is the Open Pedagogy Portal[19].
Are there any great examples of open pedagogy done in political science courses for introductory and upper-level courses that you might point us towards? Can you point us to examples in different subfields of political science (like American politics, comparative politics, international relations, public administration, political theory)?
There are three projects to look at as examples of open pedagogy in the political science discipline:
Is there a difference in terms of how you approach open pedagogy in an introductory course versus an upper-level course?
I think students at all levels can thrive and succeed in a course that engages in open pedagogy. There might be different types of assignments offered in an intro course versus an upper-level course, but I think being intentional about how you introduce open pedagogy and how you scaffold the work in a course is what makes a difference in its success.
What advice would you give to someone considering open pedagogy assignment for their class, or someone who might be moving from lecture-based pedagogy with a lot of tests to open pedagogy?
I think the best advice is to start small—just thinking of one adjustment you could make to a single assignment. Perhaps changing one of the tests into a more interactive assignment or having students create test questions for future tests. Making sure to scaffold any of those changes and providing students support with these new changes.
Endnotes
[1] https://open.umn.edu/oen
[2] https://most.oercommons.org/hubs/mdh5p
[3] Evans, in his role as co-chair for his college’s OER committee, took part in the Open Pedagogy cohort facilitated by Whitman. NWACC is not currently an OEN member.
[4] https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/#:~:text=Creative%20Commons%20licenses%20give%20everyone,creative%20work%20under%20copyright%20law.
[5] https://vivo.nkn.uidaho.edu/vivo/display/n1005348
[6] https://comm.osu.edu/people/roberts-crews.1
[7] https://doi.org/10.1353/lib.2020.0042
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGaeHVmPHmQ&feature=youtu.be
[9] https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=shared&v=vBUeagrtnps
[10] https://youtu.be/GvUSubcSC0c
[11] https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/
[12] https://chooser-beta.creativecommons.org/
[13] https://www.edglossary.org/scaffolding/
[14] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerome_Bruner
[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lev_Vygotsky#Zone_of_Proximal_Development
[16] https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/instructional-scaffolding-to-improve-learning.shtml
[17] https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/instructional-scaffolding-to-improve-learning.shtml
[18] https://humtech.ucla.edu/news/a-student-collaborators-bill-of-rights/
[19] https://oen-openpedportal.pubpub.org/
[20] https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/openpedagogyapproaches/chapter/and-still-we-rise/
[21] https://oen-openpedportal.pubpub.org/pub/23yq5d8f/release/1?readingCollection=ed56a98b
[22] https://milnepublishing.geneseo.edu/openpedagogyapproaches/chapter/sharing-the-end-of-the-world-students-perceptions-of-their-self-efficacy-in-the-creation-of-open-access-digital-learning-objects/
Published since 2005, The Political Science Educator is the newsletter of the Political Science Education Section of the American Political Science Association. All issues of The Political Science Educator can be viewed on APSA Connects Civic Education page.
Editors: Colin Brown (Northeastern University), Matt Evans (Northwest Arkansas Community College)
Submissions: editor.PSE.newsletter@gmail.com
APSA Educate has republished The Political Science Educator since 2021. Any questions or corrections to how the newsletter appears on Educate should be addressed to educate@apsanet.org
Educate’s Political Science Educator digital collection
