Topic #4 Post

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Topic 4 Post

This week’s reading on OER-enabled pedagogy was actually pretty enlightening. I found it that way because it broadened my initial interpretation and understanding of open educational resources. I subconsciously associated open resources with online  open resources, assuming that they are one in the same thing, however, this is not the case and open educational resources aren’t restricted to an online platform. My main takes from this reading were the differentiation of the different kind of assignments and how to determine the extent to which a specific teaching and learning practice qualifies as OER-enabled pedagogy using the four part test.

The four part test being just 4 questions to ask regarding a resources seems very simple and broadline trivial, however, after further analysis you realise that it’s actually effective in the determination and covers what needs to be covered. This reading also got me thinking whether i’ve been previously exposed to OER-enabled pedagogy whilst enrolled at UVic and as a Computer science student, I feel as though I have. I’m most of the upper level(3rd and 4th year) programming courses (such as CSC360 or CSC330), where the project are large enough and of significant difficulty, we are encouraged to post our assignment solutions on our public Github repository where anyone can see and possibly use our published code. I realised this acts as an example of OER-enabled pedagogy after passing it through the four part test i.e. 1. Are students asked to create new artifacts (essays, poems, videos, songs, etc.) or revise / remix existing OER? Yes, new artifacts are made, artifacts being the code generated as a project solution. 2. Does the new artifact have value beyond supporting the learning of its author? Yes,  because the code can be used to help future takers of the courses or any programmer attempting similar work, and it can also be used to showcase understanding in that specific field to an employer. 3. Are students invited to publicly share their new artifacts or revised / remixed OER? Yes, because  we were invited to publicly share our code on Github which is an online platform available to any and everyone on command. 4. Are students invited to openly license their new artifacts or revised / remixed OER?  Yes, Doing so would allow for the solutions to be used by future students and anyone programming a similar project.

At the end of the article they posed a few questions that require further research, which were all very interesting however i was most intrigued by “Do students who make their assignments publicly available demonstrate greater mastery of learning outcomes or show more enthusiasm for their work than students assigned traditional assessments? Why or why not?”. My answer to this question is yes, students who make their assignments publicly available demonstrate greater mastery of learning outcomes or show more enthusiasm for their work than students assigned traditional assessments because i feel as though we live in an era where online presence and perception really matters, hence why people generally tend to put more effort into work that will be publicly viewed. (obviously not for every student but this is a general trend).
My opinions regarding the topic stayed the same, however, I managed to do additional research to not only cement my standings but to also increase my understanding of the topic. i found this diagram that gives a wrap-up of OERs that really helped simplify the content and allow me to easily conceptualize it.
Furthermore,  id also like to link a video that enhanced my understanding of OER-enabled pedagogy as it indulges on definitions, terminology, components, ownership, types, benefits and more. This video was fairly straightforward and easy to follow and i urge anyone with a spare 5 minutes to give it a look.
Lastly i would like to conclude with 2 links that contains a lot of valuable OER-enabled pedagogy related content, research, case-studies and examples that enhanced my understanding and could definitely help enhance your understanding too.
References:
Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy. International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(4).

“Open Educational Resources for Psychology: Why Use Open Access Materials.” Library at UCC, libguides.ucc.edu/c.php?g=748872.

UNEDcursoscoma. “1.3.1 Open Educational Resources.” YouTube, YouTube, 22 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6qDb25Wz5k&ab_channel=UNEDCursosMOOC%2FCOMA.

“OER-Enabled Pedagogy Library.” Open Education Group, openedgroup.org/oer-enabled-pedagogy.

“Open Educational Resources: Open Pedagogy Examples.” LibGuides, researchguides.austincc.edu/oer/openpedexamples.