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Open Educational Resources

Information about RVCC's OER and no-cost course initiative to inform faculty and students

Open Pedagogy

As a term, "open pedagogy" does not really have a single, encompassing definition. However, it can be loosely described as educational practices that leverage open educational resources and the "5Rs" of OER (reuse, revise, retain, redistribute, remix) to better engage students in their own learning. Open pedagogy overlaps with other concepts like constructivist pedagogy, authentic learning, and learner-centered education.

Examples of Open Pedagogy

Open pedagogy can be implemented in a variety of ways in the classroom. The following list of examples is offered in the SUNY OER Services publication, Understanding OER:

Students create tutorial videos for a particular topic or assignment. These tutorial videos could cover a wide range of topics such as teaching specific skills, summarizing key concepts, providing worked examples, or creating connections to student lives.
Students create written or video-based presentations that summarize key aspects of the storyline, character, interpretation, symbolism, etc. These summaries could be both used by and improved upon by future generations of learners.
Students create worked examples that provide other students with step-by-step templates of how to do problems, specifically in topics that have proven troublesome to students in past semesters. These are particularly popular in math courses.
Students explain how principles studied in class are exemplified in popular media like movies, television, music, or books.
Students create games to be played by future generations of learners to help them prepare for, or deepen their learning on, specific topics.
Students create guides to direct other students through readings or lectures.

Each of the following categories lists articles, case studies, or other samples of open pedagogy applications.

Collections of Examples

OER-Enabled Pedagogy Library
The purpose of this page is to provide a list of concrete examples of how OER-enabled pedagogy, is implemented in the real world.
Open Pedagogy: Examples of Class Activities
Blog post from "You're the Teacher" with links to various examples.

Open Syllabus

An open syllabus is one in which students have agency in determining how a course is structured; what content or resources are studied in the course and when; how assignments or assessments are designed; how students are assessed or graded. Faculty can "open" their syllabus by incorporating any of these ideas or other strategies that give students a voice in how their learning is structured, delivered, and/or evaluated.

Case Study – Co-creating a Syllabi
Instructor describes how the course syllabus was co-created between the instructor and the students during the first weeks of class.
Create a Liquid Syllabus
A Liquid Syllabus is an accessible, public website that incorporates a brief, friendly welcome video and course information written in welcoming, student-centered language. The Liquid Syllabus contributes to creating a more equitable learning environment for all students and supports open education practices.
Environmental Psychology Open Syllabus
Unit assessments and grading rubrics are developed collaboratively during the semester
Negotiating your Syllabus – a strategy for management classes
Students are presented with an "initial offer" syllabus and then presented the opportunity to negotiate some of its terms (for example, how long papers should be or how many exams will be given).

Renewable Assignments

Renewable assignments are intended to be the opposite of "disposable" assignments that are typically given - those which students only complete to demonstrate mastery of a skill and receive a grade. A renewable assignment has the potential to be made public and be openly licensed by the student. It may become the basis of future learning material for the course or may serve a public purpose beyond the classroom.

Collaborative Annotated Bibliography
All students contribute to an annotated bibliography that is publicly available and can continue to be added to in future semesters.
Editing Wikipedia in the Classroom: Individualized Open Pedagogy at Scale
Teach students to improve Wikipedia’s coverage of their course topics; add to Wikipedia content to increase coverage of under-represented topics (typically women and topics related to/individuals from marginalized populations).
Student-created Learning Objects
Students in Physics 101 create learning objects that can be used by other students to learn and explore a course-related question or concept. This link is to the Learning Object Guide students are given.

Other renewable assignment ideas include:

Portfolios
Video tutorials
Artwork
Musical compositions
Games
Children's books
Podcasts
Blog posts
Infographics

Above list from Bonner, K., Goller, C., & Lenahan, M. (2022, 21 December). Open Education as a lever for social justice and equity - Exploring the many on ramps of Open STEM education [Blog post]. Accelerating Systemic Change in STEM Higher Education. https://ascnhighered.org/index.html

Ungrading

Ungrading is a philosophy related to open pedagogy in that it privileges student learning and engagement with their own learning over quantifiable measures of learning.

Resources for Ungrading
Wakelet by RVCC Professor of Biology Melanie Lenahan with numerous resources related to ungrading
Delaying the Grade: How to Get Students to Read Feedback
Explains how giving only feedback on an essay, and keeping the grade unknown until after conference with students, enables the student to focus on the feedback and not the grade.