What is Open Pedagogy?

"Open pedagogy is an access-oriented commitment to learner-driven education. It is also the process of using tools and building architectures for learning that allow students to shape the public knowledge commons of which they are a part. Open pedagogy might look like co-creating course policies, rubrics, or even schedules of work with students or replacing traditional course assignments in which only the instructor may see the student's work with assignments that have a larger audience, impact, and legacy. This could involve students writing or editing articles in Wikipedia, writing op ed pieces instead of another research essay, creating brief instructional videos instead of giving another classroom presentation, or annotating, updating, or even authoring open textbooks."

-Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

You can view our Open Pedagogy Resources Overview video for a 10-minute summary of the information below.

Open Pedagogy in Action: The Open Pedagogy Portal

Outlines of two black cogs overlapping one another

Eager to see examples of actual open pedagogy? Our community has created the Open Pedagogy Portal, where you can browse case studies, renewable assignments and student work products by discipline, search by keywords, or find teaching and learning resources to further your open pedagogy journey.

We also invite you and your colleagues to submit your own open pedagogy content via the Portal to share it with the broader open education community.

Getting Started with Open Pedagogy

When it comes to open pedagogy, you will hear again and again, "I'm no expert, but here's what I did in my classroom..." In fact, that's how the video below begins! The recorded comments from practitioners reveal how open pedagogy has transformed their instructional practice, and demonstrate its potential to facilitate deep and active learning.

Should interested faculty inquire about open pedagogy and how they can get started, it can be as simple as providing examples of open pedagogy for them to explore and letting them know that a) They can do this; and b) You will support them!

...and wondering where to begin, this brief video is a great place to start. Take a look!

Join our Open Pedagogy Community of Practice

Educators interested in discussing and implementing open pedagogy are welcome to register for our informal Open Pedagogy Community of Practice meetings held on the last Wednesday of each month from September - May from noon - 1:00 p.m. Central.

Dig Deeper: Certificate in Open Pedagogy

Interested in learning more? Consider participating in our Certificate in Open Pedagogy program. This program focuses on teams of two or three from a single institution (one instructional faculty + one open education practitioner - librarian, instructional designer, etc.) looking to collaborate on improving classroom instruction through the power of open pedagogy.

Teams will learn about a range of open educational practices during a twelve-week long online class in which they will be equipped to create a personalized action plan. The action plan is centered around harnessing open pedagogy to make instruction more student-centered and excellent. Expert instructors will provide actionable pathways for centering student experience along the way, and help participants increase proficiency in creating accessible, inclusive, and student-centered pedagogy.

Up Next: Engaging Faculty with Open Pedagogy