Testing out the groups function - so now we’re a group - cuz I set up a new topic and named it?
So far it’s just me and Ania (AniaSkowron)
We want to explore issues of utilizing OERs in teaching and how to improve teaching practice using OERs and the perspective (values) of “openness”.
I was curious how others perceived the meaning of OEP so I did a quick google and found a variety of definitions. Wikipedia has a summary that includes some components:
“Open Educational Practices are teaching techniques that draw upon open technologies and high-quality Open Educational Resources (OER) in order to facilitate collaborative and flexible learning…”
"…OEP can also include the open sharing of teaching practices…"
OEP "…focus on reproduction/understanding, connecting information, application, competence and responsibility rather than the availability of good resources.
That’s part of what I’d like to explore. Any other thoughts?
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My understanding of open practices is exactly the same as presented by Wikipedia, i.e. using open technologies and resources in order to produce new ones so that others could take them and build upon them; a sort of a vicious circle but in the positive meaning of this word.
I’d be interested to chat here about OEP in Education, my interest is in secondary science education by I guess any educational context is relevant here. I found this doc helpful to get my head around the OEP discussion 
http://www.oer-quality.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/D4.4_OEP_Quality_and_Innovation_Guidelines_Learners_PrintFinal_Public.pdf
Thanks to Penny for letting me know this group has formed via Twitter (I go there more than here, so…)
I am also interested in “open education” as the practice of being open about one’s pedagogy - like blogging about or sharing one’s syllabus, writing about one’s courses, etc. I wonder if that’s off track for others?
@penbentley, thank you so much for the link. I have just had a quick look at it, and it looks as if it contributes a lot to the OEP discussion. I’ll go deeper into it and then be back here with my thoughts.
Maha me too…I see open pedagogy as one aspect of OEPs. I’m collecting info here but now beginning to wonder if I’m on the right track. I’m interested in OE ps for professional learning but many things I find aren’t open content according to David Wiley’s 5R framework. Lots to chat about:) https://pennybentley.wikispaces.com/Home
For me an Open Educational Practice doesn’t just have to do with technology. It also has to do with the actual pedagogy. For instance, having a course where assessments can be negotiated between the instructor and the learners. This might not be possible with all topics, but I think with an open mind it could be possible with a great many
Yes, I do agree with this idea, but I also think that, still the core of an “open practice” is to share, and therefore, it is not enough to, as you give this example, negotiate the shape of the classes (which would be fantastic); it does have a lot to do with an open practice but is just not enough to be called by this name. That is my personal opinion, of course. Negotiating = collaboration which is essential in an open practice but when we reach a certain goal, what then? Shall we keep in in the circle of people who are interested or shall we share this new creation? I’d say: Let’s share and because only then it becomes an open practice in the full meaning of this word. Does it make any sense 
?
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I think this makes sense. The biggest thing, I think, is having both ownership of the final outcomes, but at the same time to be able to let them go. In the Open Software movement the analogue would be “forking”, whereby someone takes the code for something and makes a different version of the product. The two products then co-exist simultaneously, without having the forked version replace the original. I think it’s when the original gets replaced that people start feeling protective of their original investment.
There has been some really interesting discussions on BCCampus-hosted Open Education Chats http://bcopened.org/bc-open-open-ed-chats/archives/ - if you’re interested in a young teacher who has been evolving his teaching practice and approach very very much in the open, listen to the recording for April 2014 - Paul Hibbits sounds very comfortable with technology but what impressed me is how differently he teaches. He embraces openness in a way that I haven’t experienced before - as a teacher or as a student. Very thought-provoking.
Hi everyone: butting in here because my group hasn’t done anything yet. Do you all have any ideas on an open practice you want to engage in and reflect on? That’s the idea for this week. Happy to help with something if anyone has an idea!
Oddly enough, I’ve engaged in an Open Practice already (the most recent instance of it being putting my most recent syllabus up as CC http://www.scribd.com/doc/236420465/INSDSG-684-Syllabus-Fall-2014 ). I am not sure what else I can engage in, but I am wondering if others are interested in discussing open syllabi both from their perspectives and what they hear from their on-campus colleagues
I’d be interested in talking about this. I have not quite a syllabus, but a working document for planning my course, here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yYzsWQ5n7KfGkaxhyXA0l_il9P5oEWcOLpABMhW7Aok/edit
I’m pretty close to finishing a syllabus version of it, and I’ll be posting that publicly as well, probably tomorrow.
I saw a talk recently by Paul Hibbits on doing course design in the open; I blogged about it and included the slides, here:http://blogs.ubc.ca/chendricks/2014/06/18/develop-course-open/ That’s what got me started in doing my course planning doc openly. I shared it on Twitter and on FB and on my blog, and only got one comment from a philosophy colleague.
I’m thinking of emailing the students who have registered for my course and asking them to take a look once it looks more like a syllabus (tomorrow, probably). They can decide whether they want to stay in the course, and also give anonymous feedback through google forms. Wonder if any of them will actually give feedback if I give them the option?
I think this is a great idea to do it openly. People’s comments may be inspiring and the students themselves very often have great, very often unappreciated, ideas and they will have that great feeling of contributing and being involved.
Before I started collaborating with one of my colleagues on a syllabus, I wasn’t very open and didn’t want to share what I prepared on my own with anyone but my close friends. I simply thought that I spent too much time on it and didn’t understand why others should get effortlessly. The collaboration changed everything: 1. I am not that attached to the document 2. Someone showed me that sharing can actually be beneficial - the originally document, which is already a good syllabus, can become even better with new ideas coming fro those who reused and revised it. 3. I have become more open by understanding the openness better. Unfortunately, the perspective of many of my colleagues is the same as mine from before my transformation.
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Oh have been busy this week but thinking about OEP, aren’t they about how OER are used?
- Embrace 5Rs of OER
- Undertake professional learning in cMOOCS
- Use open platforms/tools to engage in 5Rs
- Use open pedagogies with students e.g creating Wikipedia entries, upload to and use Flickr images for visual storytelling, create class YouTube channel with screen casting tutorials for peer to peer teaching etc
- share OERs & pedagogical ideas on social media
Here’s my contribution to an OEP, feel free to use my Flickr pics
I have a question…can a learning experiences be an OER e.g using a zoo-cam to observe animals, going on a virtual tour?
It really depends on how we understand OER. Can you somehow record this material and e.g. add your own comments? If yes, then it is definitely an OER but if you can just watch it, I belief it is not enough to be an OER. BTW, I have never thought about it this way, but I have already been involved in an open practice and what is more, I engaged my students as well. They got a grammar task: since we were working on question forms, I asked them to find a painting by famous author and create a meme with a question. Of course, every painting had to have cc license or had to be in the public domain.Then I organised a poll using free version of Kwiksurveys and the top five paintings got some prizes. Here you may see the results: http://padlet.com/ankaskowron/memes
Today I know that we were all involved in the OEP
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