I know that this is all out of sync but the audio for sessions 4 and 5 aren’t up yet and I haven’t had a chance to go through the slideshows yet. Today’s session was about the actual practice of teaching, using “open” as a framework. Here are my notes:
Session 6 – Open pedagogy
Focus on educators and the impact of “open” on them.
Jason Jones
Initially started using wikis for groupwork.
Noticed a few problems when teaching – no one takes notes in class, “no real content”, inattention. Also, when taking notes, educators aren’t always sure what notes are being taken. Notes can “go wrong” when other thoughts intrude or when students mis-hear.
Paper notes are hard to improve and are private and difficult to organise.
Wikis are public and solve some of the problems just mentioned. Everyone collaborates and there is negotiation of content.
An unexpected result was noticing that under the old system of teaching the only way you would know if the students have the wrong information is when they fail a test. With a public wiki, you realise more quickly that students may be on the wrong track.
Lessons learned along with way. Merely pointing students towards the wiki doesn’t work. Students don’t always understand technology. They’re also not sure what to record when taking notes, so templates are useful. Students can sometimes find it difficult to use other resources (one benefit of using wikis / being online).
Problem of using old assessment techniques with new approaches to teaching and learning.
Garin Fons
Using wikis to get faculty to put teaching materials online, as well as collaborating with dedicated classmates to build community (reflect on communities of practice).
With wikis, faculty get a chance to have materials edited and reviewed in a way they can’t do alone.
Participatory pedagogy – John Seely Brown and the social view of learning. We can no longer look at the classroom in a cartesian system. We participate, therefore we learn.
Melanie McBride
Students create blogs as emerging professionals, rather than personal blogs (about what’s happening in their industry).
Found that some students weren’t very keen on blogging. Reasons included: “I don’t know who I am yet, or who I want to be (powerful statement)…and that some don’t like the idea of being told what to do. Anonymity was also an issue.
Students did take ownership of their own emerging industry knowledge.
“Banking” model of education = passive recipients of education.
Concerned with progressive asessment models. Using wiki as means of checking in on student learning.
Issues of social justice and equity. Not every student has access to tech (in America…try Africa). Educators must be aware of that.
Pre-defined roles fall away with open pedagogy – students take ownership of courses and rewrite / restructure them. Allow this to happen. This can make teachers nervous. Dichotomy of losing control but giving freedom. Be careful about too much freedom.
Teachers and control…depends on the teacher, if they’re willing to dive into the participatory learning environment. Getting teachers involved in the process. What does their classroom look like normally and what is their teaching style? Are they willing to break out of that? if not, it’s difficult to move forward with this approach.