OpenEd20

Graduate students enrolled in the University of Calgary’s Masters of Education (MEd) cohort, Learning and Leading in a Digital Age, engaged in a course on the Ethics of Education Technology. The key learning task was to co-design and co-create an open educational resource (OER). Students selected topics of interest relevant to the course, and wrote chapters for an open textbook published online as a Pressbook.

Our session delves into the design of the course, the instructional process, and learner outcomes from delivering a graduate course using an open learning instructional design. With emphasis on both the perspectives of the students who took the course and those of the instructor, this session shares insights on the process of co-designing learning experiences through the development of an OER, and how this approach impacted learning and engagement.

Speaking to the instructor's experience, we address the following topics: Supporting students in an open learning course design; breaking down barriers to disseminating and sharing knowledge in academia; establishing adequate boundaries and constraints to guide students in the creation of their chapter; and balancing open versus structured learning to support students creating and publishing OER for the first time.

Speaking to the student's experience, we address the following topics: How student engagement shifted knowing ideas could be published for a broader audience; how the course design enabled students to learn through contributing to the exchange and creation of knowledge; how the ‘openness’ of the assignment allowed students to weave their unique expertise and professional context into their studies; and challenges experienced by students including pressure/stress of sharing work publicly and learning to work with more ambiguity that can accompany an open learning approach.

We will address lessons learned throughout the project including: Open learning design and OER development can be successfully combined into an impactful teaching and learning experience for graduate students and instructors; OER creation can increase the authenticity of university assignments and increase learner engagement; and that there are logistics to consider when co-creating an open textbook as a course assignment (e.g. copyediting, style sheet, formatting, copyright & licensing, etc.)

Following our session, attendees will be able to:
- Advocate for open educational practices as an opportunity to provide graduate students with enhanced choice and voice in their education;
- Revise and remix a design model for open learning that can be integrated across grade levels and disciplines;
- Communicate the connections between open education and authentic, collaborative learning experiences;
- Anticipate and overcome challenges that can arise with co-designing an OER