Introduction:
I chose to research the open pedagogies learning approach because of my experiences in high school, where the majority of my classes utilized this approach, showing me just how effective and empowering it can be. One prime example of this approach lies in an experience I had in my English 12 First Peoples class, where we, as students, formed and lead our community in a Moosehide campaign walk that brought awareness to violence against Indigenous women and girls. This is a project that was entirely student created and student lead, as we took it upon ourselves to demonstrate learning in the form of social justice activism wherein we gathered students, teachers and Indigenous community members together as we walked, sang, and drummed to fight for change. We were empowered by the opportunity for collaboration, to become active in our learning, and to engage others in our learning process and in the end it was beautiful and unexpectedly successful. Our teachers provided us with the tools we needed, and then allowed us to create this project, giving us the responsibility to create real world solutions, work together, and grow as a community.
A general overview:
The open pedagogies learning approach is a form of experiential learning wherein students are seen as creators of information, rather than just consumers of it and learning is demonstrated through creative and meaningful engagement with the content. This approach blurs the traditional lines between student and teacher, instead seeing the learner as an active participant who is an agent of their own understanding. Open pedagogies are characterized by a commitment to using open educational resources, which are free publicly accessible learning tools, such as open textbooks or videos. The open pedagogies learning approach can be best understood through the 8 open qualities that define how learning is conducted through an emphasis on student agency, collaboration, and community. The first quality, agency, means that students are seen as individual, independent agents within the learning process. Second, choice, means that learners choose their own pace, directions, and connections with the material. Third, expansion, means that the learning network is an open-ended and constantly expanding network that represents a possibility for learning. Fourth, creativity, means that the open approach provides opportunities to inspire new perspectives, creativity, and ideas. Fifth, student constructed, means that learners take responsibility for their own learning and are active participants in its planning and growth. Sixth, open-ended problems, means that the learning design is focused on empowering students to create real solutions to real problems and less focused on specific outcomes. Seventh, unmeasurable outcomes, means that traditional outcome measurement, such as letter grades, are insufficient as can only capture learning as static and closed, rather than an ever-evolving process. Finally, the eighth quality, risk, means that the ability for students to choose their own learning pathways can lead to unexpected and unpredictable results. Open pedagogies is an access-oriented, learner driven approach to education that invites students to be an integral part of the teaching process as they participate in the co-creation of knowledge.
How it does it align with our Interactive Learning Resource topic?
I think the open pedagogies learning approach aligns with our topic, maintaining mental health, in some valuable ways. First, I think that a topic like mental health is extremely individualistic, it is unique to each person and what they experience as well as their needs. In our interactive learning resource, our formative assessment tasks are going to include a self-care journal, requiring students to reflect on the ways in which their mental health may be functioning, and specific goals to work on that will help maintain strong mental health. A task like this highlights many of the qualities of open pedagogy such as learning being student-constructed, open-ended, and having unmeasurable outcomes. With a task like a journal, students are not meeting specific requirements to receive a grade, but are asked to show a self-directed process of reflection, incorporation of new knowledge, and specific ways in which the concepts can be integrated into their lives. Learning and showing learning are almost entirely dependent on the student’s engagement and self-directed activity in which they can gain a greater understanding of the material through a journal, rather than through a right or wrong answer test. In this way, our approach follows the open pedagogy qualities as we are asking students to engage meaningfully and solve real life problems through entirely self-directed reflection with the material. As well, all of our resources are open educational resources, as they consist of free, open articles, Youtube videos, and the use of free websites. However, our topic of maintaining mental health is individualistic and requires much self reflection, leaving out opportunities for collaboration and imagination to take place. We do not have it set up for learners to effectively collaborate with each other, share insights or really share their journals with each other. I think mental health is a challenging topic to discuss with peers or people in general, leading it to be a topic that is very dependent on self rather than others.
Other approaches discussed within my group:
- Cooperative learning: This is a learning approach characterized by a group process, wherein students learn from one another and work together to complete tasks and gain understanding of the material. Although this is a valuable way to provide students with the opportunities for collaboration and promote group learning, our Interactive Learning Design does not yet have a group component to it, as mental health is somewhat of a individualistic topic that may be difficult to share with others. https://kropchan.opened.ca/2021/10/16/cooperative-learning-post-2/
- Experiential Learning: This approach is characterized by constructing learning through practical life experiences, such as field trips, co-ops, and hands on work. The experiential approach fits well within our topic and learning resource , as mental health challenges are often experienced by university students and the maintenance of good health, such as increasing sleep, changing diet or mindset is so individualized, and can only be taught through experience. https://nates.opened.ca/experiential-learning/
References
https://www.nextthought.com/thoughts/2015/02/ten-qualities-of-open-pedagogy
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