Open Education Seminars | Winter 2023
Equity in Action
Open Education Seminars | Winter 2023

Open Pedagogy Assignments Schedule

Learning Outcomes

  • Describe the characteristics of open pedagogy
  • Define asset-based pedagogies, including culturally sustaining pedagogy and trauma-informed pedagogy
  • Incorporate asset pedagogies into your open pedagogy assignment
  • Use backward design to plan your open pedagogy assignment
  • Be Awesome

WEEK 1

Tuesday, January 3
10am-12pm
  • While we’re waiting: Write down a song (title and artist) that represents for you the joy, hope, or liberation of learning
  • Welcome
  • Getting to know each other: Team Tally
  • Thinking about pedagogy, part 1

**Prior to meeting Thursday, January 5**

  • Introduce yourself on the Community Members page of our seminar site (link also in menu above).
  • Choose the type of assignment (audio/podcast, zine, OpenLab, reviews, Wikipedia or other wiki, etc.) you would like to focus on and jot down ideas on this worksheet to bring to our next session on Thursday, January 5.
Thursday, January 5
10am-12pm
  • Welcome & Questions
  • Chat Storm: Which open pedagogy assignment(s) are you considering/interested in?
  • Assignment cohorts

WEEK 2

**Prior to Tuesday, January 10**

  • Deeper dive into asset pedagogies
    • Read “What Is Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy and Why Does It Matter?” (sent by email) – How are you already engaging with and how might you expand CSP in your teaching and in relation to your ideas for an open pedagogy assignment?
    • Explore Universal Design for Learning (UDL) – Where can UDL concepts be incorporated into your open pedagogy assignment?
  • Begin outlining/drafting your assignment
  • Think about the following list of elements of an open pedagogy assignment (created by past participants from DeRosa & Jhangiani reading). Which would be appropriate for your assignment? Would you change or add anything to this list?
    • Addresses broader audience than instructor (e.g., peers, future students, public)
    • Positions students as knowledge creators in some way
    • Shares power with students
    • Social justice oriented (see CSP-UDL cross-pollination)
    • incorporates other asset-based pedagogies (CSP, UDL, trauma informed)
    • Centers learners and learner experiences
      • Choice
      • Access, no-cost and different media for material
      • Safe/brave space where students can share their learning and ideas freely
    • May involve creating OER for future students
    • May involve publicly performing knowledge (e.g., blog posts, videos, audio/podcasts, zines)
Tuesday, January 10
10am – 12pm
  • CSP Conversation
    • What resonated for you in Paris & Alim’s conception of CSP?
    • What is one example from your own teaching of how you incorporate CSP concepts into your courses?
    • How might you apply CSP to your current open pedagogy assignment?
  • UDL Conversation
  • One-minute elevator pitch
    • Rotating pairs
    • Describe your current idea for your assignment in one minute to your partner, including which of the elements of an open pedagogy assignment (see above) it includes

**Prior to Thursday, January 12**

  • Continue drafting your assignment
  • If you’re assignment will utilize the OpenLab, please set up your profile. You can follow the OpenLab help directions that may be useful for your students.
Thursday, January 12
10am – 12pm
  • Review of Creative Commons licenses
  • Assignment groups

WEEK 3

**Prior to Tuesday, January 17**

When considering and enacting asset pedagogies, such as open pedagogy and culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP), we often focus on single classrooms rather than systems/structures. CSP acknowledges and addresses “communities who have been and continue to be damaged and erased through schooling” (Paris & Alim). Equity-centered trauma-informed education, as conceived by Alex Shevrin Venet, recognizes that schooling plays a role “in causing and worsening trauma because of the role of schools in perpetuating oppression.” After reading “Defining Trauma-Informed Education” (from Equity-Centered Trauma-Informed Education by Alex Shevrin Venet, sent by email), reflect on the following questions to prepare for conversation next Tuesday: 

  • How might engaging with systems/structures identified in CSP and trauma-informed education influence what we do in our classrooms with our students?
  • What practices at BMCC and/or in our departments and classes possibly replicate/cause trauma?
  • How have you or how can you incorporate CSP and trauma-informed practices into the design of your open pedagogy assignments?
Tuesday, January 17
10am – 12pm
  • Trauma-informed education conversation
  • Check in on assignments

**Prior to Thursday, January 19**

Continue drafting your open pedagogy assignment, keeping in mind elements of an open pedagogy assignment (see above), CSP, and trauma-informed education.

Also apply the advice from “Surfacing Backward Design” (from Small Teaching Online, Darby & Lang) for what to include in the assignment instructions (p. 17 in print, p. 53 in ebook):

  • Here’s what I want you to do: I explain the task.
  • Here’s why I want you to do it: I explain the reason this task will contribute to the student’s success in class and beyond.
  • Here’s how to do it: I provide detailed instructions, rubrics, checklists, and exemplars to help students clearly see and understand my expectations.

By 5pm Wednesday, January 18, post a working draft (even if still very rough) of your assignment as a comment on the assignments page of this site.

Thursday, January 19
10am – 12pm
  • Assignment cohorts final meeting