Open Educational Resources
Open education is the use of open educational resources “to support learning, or the open sharing of teaching practices with a goal of improving education and training at the institutional, professional, and individual level” (BCcampus). From what I have learned about the open learning design, there are eight essential dimensions, and all of the dimensions are interrelated. The eight attributes of an open pedagogy include participatory technology, people, openness, and trust, innovation and creativity, sharing ideas and resources, connected community, learner-generated, reflective practice, and peer review. If the tools that are being used to promote these attributes are incorporated, and open educational practice is more likely to be achieved.
What I like about open education is that it is more of an informal practice, where learners are in control of creating the materials they use in the course. Open educational resources (OER) can result in resources that are useful and applicable to the students, allowing them to have the best learning experience. Another benefit of using OER is the resources and materials are likely easier for students to find and more accessible. It is also a great way to promote the sharing of knowledge between colleagues and experts in the field. Now that we have access to multiple resources on the internet, it only makes sense that most classroom materials would be freely accessed via the internet. During my time in school, I have spent a lot of money on textbooks that I’ll only ever use once. Not to say there haven’t been useful textbooks, however, for the most part, I’ll never open some of them again. It is shocking how much money goes towards textbooks now. If OER is adopted by more classes, I think it would be very beneficial for students, not only for cost sake but because it also fosters a more personalized educational experience. Where students have a say in the resources they use to enhance the quality of their education. It also provides students with the ability to assess and plan their educational decisions (BCcampus).
What I thought was interesting during my time completing my BED, is that in elementary and middle schools they have moved away from using textbooks as resources. Coming from a background of having used them when I was in school, I initially thought, “Where am I going to get the information to teach my students from?” And the thing is there are so many other resources out there to use. Having access to OER gives you the freedom to personalize the resources and also to teach in other ways, so it is not straight out of the textbook! Which I always thought was incredibly dull. If we alter the resources we use, we can also change our student’s educational experience. In my time teaching, I haven’t had to use a textbook as a resource once. Instead, I have had access to so many other resources from my peers, colleagues, and online. 
Another thing I really like about the shift toward freely available open educational resources is that students can also have a part in making them!I think that the resources we use should always be updated because nothing should remain to stagnate. Change in education and with resources is good! Allowing students to have a part in the resources that are being developed gives them ownership in what is developed. I think it is important to share resources, ideas, and knowledge. To develop an environment where personalized learning can occur, “educators need to be able to access, reuse, and change, learning materials, to make them relevant in specific, contexts” (Hegarty, 2015). When we share resources, we create a larger selection of materials for teachers and learners to use and access. A point that resonated with me from Bronwyn Hegarty’s article, Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources was that if peers are creating and “scrutinizing resources” the quality of the resources will be strengthened and of more value. OER allows us to enhance and add ideas, which is great because sometimes we catch things that others don’t notice. I really hope that Universities can adopt more of an open pedagogy because it truly does benefit learners in many ways, such as being cost-effective and providing students with relevant learning materials that they may be able to use in their future outside of school.
References:
BCcampus. (n.d.). What is open pedagogy? Retrieved from https://open.bccampus.ca/what-is-open-education/what-is-open-pedagogy/
Hegarty, B. (2015). Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources. Educational Technology, 55(4), 3–13. Retrieved from JSTOR.
Stommel, J. (n.d.). Textbooks, OER, and the Need for Open Pedagogy. United States: PressBooks.
Feature Image: Jonas Jacobsson (Unsplash) Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/0FRJ2SCuY4k
Image 1: Susan Yin (Unsplash) Retrieved from https://unsplash.com/photos/2JIvboGLeho
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