Open pedagogy is the practice of engaging with students as creators of information rather than simply consumers of it. It’s a form of experiential learning in which students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation. The products of open pedagogy are student created and openly licensed so that they may live outside of the classroom in a way that has an impact on the greater community.
UTA Libraries, Introduction to Open Pedagogy
An early example of open pedagogy was the Murder, Madness and Mayhem project on Wikipedia. Which led to the development of Wikipedia Education Program, and other Wikipedia authoring initiatives such as Edit-A-Thons.
The Ukrainian Wikipedia has far fewer articles than some languages, so perhaps more opportunities for authoring?
Platforms as drivers of open pedagogy
TRUBOX is our team’s primary open platform
- Hosted on BCNET Educloud.
- 2150 sites (as of February 2024).
- where possible bulk purchase premium themes and plug-ins that might otherwise be unavailable to users.
What makes Trubox distinct?
- Trubox allows for self sign-up, and site creation from starter sites for any TRU user.
- Trubox is not integrated with TRU’s single sign-on system, which means sites can persist after a user leaves the university, and that external users can easily be accommodated.
- Trubox is built on a foundation of a cloning tool, which allows for more rapid iterative development, and to provide “starter” sites for users.
Even if we only used trubox for internal purposes, it would be essential to our practice
Moodle Orientation / LT&I Toolkit / Learning Without Walls / Teaching Unbound / Lightboard!
Open publishing and collaboration
LT&I’s support for our open publishing and collaboration platforms (WordPress, Pressbooks, Mattermost, MediaWiki) allows us to extend TRU research through knowledge mobilization and community engagement.
An Untextbook Project / Canada and the Asia-Pacific Policy Project / FoodLoops / Housing in Kamloops / Learn Secwepemctsín Online / re Secwépemc / TRU Law Review
Podcasting
Podcasting is an area of particular strength. Dr. Brenna Clarke Gray is a co-investigator of the SSHRC-funded Amplify Podcast Network.
Amplify Podcast Network / Knowledge Mobilization and You / Indigenous Podcast Series / Eye on EDI
LT&I’s platforms and skills have allowed us to extend our reach with open educational resources and open pedagogy.
Human Biology Textbook / Biology 3021 Course Blog / German 1111 Course Site / Geology 1111 Course Site / Writing for Success
Special emphasis has always been placed on working with students on developing their digital skills and literacies. LT&I has evolved a unique and effective technique for creating clone-able starter sites, which dramatically simplifies and reduces development time. It also provides far more welcoming on-ramps for students when they begin building their own websites. So many wonderful stories of students finding their voices and building their digital creation skills. We are especially grateful for the opportunity to work alongside indigenous scholars.
Knowledge Makers Program / Sandra Bandura / Johnny Bandura / Canadian Undergraduate Research Network / Engaging with Indigenous Research / TRU Makerspace
LT&I’s platforms provide ePortfolio starter templates which embed pedagogical prompts and technical instructions, while building student digital literacies and skills with the widely-used WordPress platform. Students can also use the platform to build their own project sites, or to support student life initiatives.
WordPress Templates / Your Public Relations ePortfolio / Alexis / Girls Shred Pow / Assistance for Single Families / Postural Education / Kamloops Robot Kombat / TRU Swing Dance Club
Mobilizing student research
Student-created sites need not be portfolio oriented. The Websites in Your Course site (under construction) collects resources, student and faculty stories, and examples.
In many ways, an open platform is like a garden: it requires regular attention, and interventions can affect some of the community more than others. It can quickly become overgrown and messy, and pieces can have unpredictable effects on one another as a system. Sometimes these unexpected effects are delightful, creative and serendipitous. Sometimes, they are… not.