Category: Uncategorised (Page 1 of 2)
Group C! We thought your Interactive Learning Resource was very well thought out, engaging, intuitive, and user-friendly. We loved going through your resource and we could tell that you guys put a lot of effort into your project and wanted to make it clear that it was evident when we engaged in your ILR draft. The relevance and universality of your topic really adds an amazing foundation to your learning resource as it’s relevant to anyone and everyone. Below is a more detailed bullet point form of our feedback organized by theme, and hopefully the information below is helpful for your final draft.
General
- The site is well laid out and easy to follow. Menus are very clear.
- We like that the Course Outline lists descriptive titles of “modules” to be covered
- The graphic on landing page is attractive and welcoming
- We couldn’t find the information in your learning context section: Who is the target audience for this course?
- The “Effects of Technology on Sleep” content seems to be missing.
- We like how you guys gave a guide on how to get started cutting out any confusion in taking the course!
- Your topic is very well thought of – we like how it’s something that affects everyone and because of that is pretty universal! We would think almost anyone would benefit from reading and participating.
Lesson Clarity
- On the landing page, should the subtopics be indented?
- In the “Sleep Hygiene” learning activity, the task asks students to reflect on patterns and make changes to improve sleep. This makes us think we should make those changes during the week of tracking. Would it be more clear to make that second sentence a “look ahead”? For example, “After tracking, you will reflect on…”
- Are the pre-assessments and learning activities meant to be submitted for feedback? If so, how should they be submitted?
- For the REM Cycles subtopic, a graphic or video might be useful to help with clarity.
Alignment
- Your explanation of how your course design aligns with cognitivism is clear and easy to understand, as is the rationale behind this approach for this course.
- Pre-assessments and clear strategies to apply align well with cognitivism.
- We’re confused about your explanation of rationale behind your Formative Assessment structure. Shouldn’t assessment be in relation to the intended learning outcomes rather than an additional learning activity?
- We’re curious what big ideas and essential questions are part of your design. We didn’t find them in your overview.
- We don’t quite understand how the submission of the PowerPoint assignment for the REM subtopic is done. Are students supposed to post to the course website?
- There are quite a number of learning activities that include tracking sleep. You could consider increasing support for executive function by making these assignments more consistent in structure.
Interactivity
- Pre-assessment on “Improving Sleep Hygiene” page adds to the interactivity. Should these question responses be submitted for feedback? How should work be submitted?
- Having students use their own sleep data is very engaging and helps students make connections to their own lives.
- Reflection tasks encourage students to think deeply about the content and make connections to their own sleep.
- Requiring students to contribute meaningfully to one another’s learning is very interactive and is an engaging way to promote co-construction of knowledge.
Inclusivity
- Key terms sections are helpful for those who are not familiar with the language.
- Simple “main ideas” list at the end is an effective way to review the content. This is helpful for everyone, but particularly for those who may have difficulty with language.
- To support executive function, you could consider adding a template for tracking sleep habits.
- Grading rubrics are clear and easy to follow. For small assignments, a percentage breakdown could look a little daunting. Consider marks out of 10?
- Are there any choices in means of expression for the summative assessment?
- Generally, the website is simple to navigate and easy to read. This is helpful for technological accessibility as well as accessibility for language disabilities.
- Alt text on pictures would help increase accessibility for those with visual exceptionalities.
- Additional resources like the “Read more about it here” section in “Sleep and Mental Health” increases engagement for students who are interested in digging deeper into the topic.
- The transparent learning outcome on the “REM Cycles” section is helpful for supporting engagement.
Technology Use
- AI images are attractive and make the site more engaging.
- But you may want to consider that they should be carefully used when it’s for educational use, ensuring that any integration of AI tools aligns with educational goals and maintains the integrity of the learning experience.
- Should AI graphics attributions include the prompt used, in addition to the generative tool, which you have included?
- The overview on the front page containing a friendly course outline is a good idea to help with navigation of the course design.
- However, the link to “First, read this page…” is missing
- The first three subtopics are closed to public view (using the link that is in that overview. From the drop down menu, the content links are fine.)
- Discussion forum is a useful tool to encourage collaborative learning construction. You could consider using specific prompts to scaffold interaction.
- Consider using key words to link to rather than showing the actual website address. We think this would improve readability.
- Crafting an effective blog title is crucial for capturing readers’ attention and conveying the main idea succinctly. It would be great if you could make more effective blog name to show your main idea at one glance
References
- There are a good number of references.
- There is a link to information about Inquiry-Based Learning on the Learning Theories and Learning page. It looks like the description of Inquiry-Based Learning in the text might be a statement that might need a citation to that reference?
Overall, this course site is looking good. We appreciate the work you’ve put into it, and we learned some things about the importance of having a good sleep reviewing this!
Definitions
| Open Pedagogy – An approach to education which focuses on free access and learner participation in shaping educational structures and processes. (What is Open Pedagogy?, n.d.) |
| Open Educational Resources – educational materials that are freely available and allowed to be reused, revised, redistributed, remixed, and retained (What is Open Pedagogy?, n.d.). Open Textbooks and Open Courseware are Open Educational Resources. |
| Constructivism – A learning theory in which learners make their own meaning through personal experience and reasoning. (Bandura, 1971) |
| Creative Commons – A non-profit organization that develops and releases licenses for free and open materials (Bliss & Smith, 2017) |
Open Pedagogy
Recall that in Blog Post 2 we discussed Pedagogy, the art of teaching and the science behind its methods (Hotchin, 2025). Open Pedgagogy places students firmly in the centre of the learning process, in charge of what and how they learn, and assuming the responsibilities of being empowered participants in a community of creators and sharers of knowledge. Foundational to Open Pedagogy are the values of autonomy & interdependence, freedom & responsibility, and democracy & participation. (What is Open Pedagogy?, n.d.) This approach expects students to contribute to a communal pool of knowledge, thoughtfully adding to it, asking questions, reflecting and creating from it, and offering respectful critique.
What, then, are teachers in this way of learning? Traditionally, educators take on the role of the experts, imparting knowledge and attempting to have learners retain it. Students might be expected to receive this knowledge without question. They are dependent upon teachers to tell them what to know or where to find information, what to think, and how to apply it. In traditional teaching, lectures, memorization, and skill drills are key methods.
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com.
In contrast, teachers who use an Open Pedagogical approach might create spaces such as wikis for students to collaborate. A key role for teachers might be to guide students to hone questions, learn to assess their own work, and gain skills in order to increase their ability to learn independently. Part of a teacher’s job might be to help students develop their empathy, see their impact on peers, and understand their power to co-create knowledge within a community. Structures such as learning outcomes, grading rubrics, and course policies can be co-created with a classroom community.
Watch the video below to explore David Gaertner’s thoughts on how to engage students with Open Dialogues.
Open Educational Resources
The Open Pedagogy values of collaboration, connections, diversity, and democracy (What is Open Pedagogy?, n.d.) are well supported by Open Educational Resources (OER). With anyone being allowed to reuse, revise, and remix content, learners can freely share materials, add their own experiences, and bring different content together in original or targeted ways. Not only does this allow students to select information that is relevant to their immediate needs, but in my experience, the act of choosing material and creating with it helps students to understand information more deeply. Perhaps of greater impact, freely accessible Open textbooks reduces the cost of education and Open Courseware reduces the cost further (What is Open Pedagogy?, n.d.). Hewlett, an early supporter and advocate for Open Educational Resources (OER), seeks to achieve OER which are openly licensed, editable, and accessible technologically and by diverse populations (Bliss & Smith, 2017).
Such freely accessible resources would mean a greater ability to bring into class materials that are up-to-date and relevant. Imagine, for example, being able to use a graphing unit built around data from the Covid-19 pandemic while the event was still fresh in students’ minds. Teachers would be able to use what was locally relevant, remix it with their own course content, adapt and refine assignments, and share it back into the educational community.
Access to free resources also means a greater ability to adapt to the needs of students with divergent needs. I know of many schools around the Metro Vancouver area, for example, that use IXL to support students who need additional practice in Math skills and Khan Academy to enable students to explore topics beyond the scope of their courses. I have had experience with elementary school students who have been able to access advanced topics through Coursera.
One of the results I have witnessed of students sharing and creating with OER is the development of skills around digital literacy. They learn to critically evaluate the information they encounter and find multiple sources to back up claims. Students learn relatively early (middle and high school) how to cite sources and they come to respect the work of others.
Another change I have seen as the educational landscape in BC has embraced more constructivist approaches is the increase in the openness of students’ minds to learning from people of all abilities. This welcoming of participation increases engagement and supports a wider variety of communication formats, increasing accessibility for learners. OERs are one more way for students to construct knowledge within a learning community.
Global Trends in OER
In “A Brief History of Open Educational Resources,” Bliss and Smith (2017) describe how countries and institutions around the world are embracing Open Educational Resources. Key events include
- 1993 – Open Access is founded
- 1997 – California State University creates MERLOT to curate mostly free online curriculum materials for higher education
- 1998 – David Wiley from Utah State University proposes a license for free and open content
- early 2000s – OpenStax (a.k.a. Connecxions) develops over 20 open college-level textbooks. MIT opens OpenCourseWare
- 2001 – Creative Commons is founded
- late 2002 – the Hewlett Foundation focuses its efforts on providing Open content
- 2006 – a review of the OER program by Atkins, Brown, and Hammond recommend that the Hewlett Foundation “shape a new culture of learning.”
- 2004 – 2010 Many Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are produced.
- 2014 – Twenty-five countries have clear policy support for OER development and use
- 2016 – the Hewlett Foundation’s strategy is focused on strengthening infrastructure, such as Creative Commons and research, and solving socio-economic problems, such as equitable access to education
Since 2016, the OER movement has continued to grow, allowing access to education for children and youth in prison or foster care, from low-income families, or in government schools in the United States and creating educational opportunities for developing countries Bliss and Smith (2017). A vision that stands out to me is the use of OERs in training professionals, particularly in the developing world. In countries where access to technology, equipment, and specialized environments are limited, virtual laboratories, diagnostic rooms, and operating rooms could allow for medical training that might otherwise be impossible. Additionally, local training supported by local mentors ensures that medical professionals learn in the context of their communities and home cultures. This application of OERs would increase equity in education and healthcare.
A challenge to use of OERs in this way might be access to computer and electronic technology. One way to address this difficulty might include material support from developed countries. Another could be ways to access educational content offline and without electricity, as developed by the Foundation for Learning Equality (Bliss & Smith, 2017).
An additional challenge to the general use of OERs in education, as Bliss and Smith (2017) point out, is the lack of knowledge about OERs by many teachers and professors. However, this knowledge is increasing as social media has aided the sharing of OERs within the education community. Platforms such as Desmos Classroom allow teachers to build original content or modify existing activities and are more and more frequently being used.
Creative Commons
Creative Commons (CC) licensing enables teachers to responsibly use images, music, video, and other educational resources responsibly. Understanding the different types of CC licenses ensures that we abide by any restrictions put on the use of the content. Below are six license types, listed from most to least permissive:
- CC BY – Users may reuse, redistribute, remix, adapt, and add to the material, as long as attribution is given to the creator.
- CC BY-SA – Users can reuse, remix, adapt, and build upon the material, with attribution, but any modifications must be licensed under identical terms.
- CC BY-NC – Reusing, remixing, adaptations, and building upon the material is allowed, with attribution, as long as it is for non-commercial purposes.
- CC BY-NC-SA – Reusing, remixing, adaptations, and building upon the material is allowed, with attribution, for non-commercial purposes, as long as modified material is licensed under identical terms.
- CC BY-ND – Copying and distribution of material is allowed without adaptations, as long as attribution to the creator is given. Commercial use is allowed.
- CC BY-NC-ND – Same as CC BY-ND, except that commercial use is not allowed.
(About Creative Commons, 2023)
Creators may also choose to give up their copyright and allow reusers to use and adapt their works with no restrictions. To do this, they apply a Public Domain Dedication, CC0. (About Creative Commons, 2023)
Applying Open Pedagogy
Use of Open Educational Resources and understanding Creative Commons and Open licensing are helpful to teachers who seek to apply Open Pedagogy to their own practices.
To guide us as we evolve our teaching approaches, we can consider attributes key to Open Pedagogy: participatory technology, innovation and creativity, sharing of ideas and resources, reflective practice, openness of and trust between people, a connected community, learner generated content, and peer review (Hegarty, 2015). For my own classroom, it is useful to recognize the attributes that are also important in the Building Thinking Classrooms approach and the First People’s Principles of Learning.
To create an environment in which students are willing to openly share ideas and resources when problem solving and studying, I need to build a connected community, where students get to know people beyond their personal friends. I am transparent with this intention and ask the classroom community to participate in co-creating behavioural expectations, including suggestions for ways to show support, respond to mistakes, add to ideas, and include others. We get to know one another through structured and informal activity, and practice respect for differences in thinking, history, and identity. The collaboration with others in randomly formed groups to work on sometimes ill-defined problems gives students opportunities to share ideas. The practice of generating class notes using learner generated work encourages a student-centred mindset, as does directing groups who feel stuck to confer with other groups who have found successful pathways. Working with learning outcomes that are openly shared, students reflect upon their learning, classroom experiences, and ways in which their education supports themselves and their personal communities.
Online, I am interested in the practice of using technology such as Google applications to create collaborative notes and share resources. Perhaps this works best in small groups to reduce clutter and allow more opportunities for each student to contribute. Whiteboard applications or online journals could be platforms for collaborative problem solving, while student-created websites could be ways to organize ideas and resources.
In these ways, students are more active participants in their own learning. They are also more aware of others in the learning environment. Providing different ways to collaborate increases accessibility to participation and engagement. As a result, the learning environment is more inclusive.
References
About CC licenses. Creative Commons. (2023, September 28). https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/
Bandura, A. (1971). Social Learning Theory. https://www.asecib.ase.ro/mps/Bandura_SocialLearningTheory.pdf
Bliss T. & Smith M. 2017. A Brief History of Open Educational Resources. In: Jhangiani R. & Biswas-Diener R (eds.), Open. London: Ubiquity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bbc.b
Building Thinking Classrooms: Teaching Practices for Enhancing Learning Mathematics. BTC Site. (n.d.). https://www.buildingthinkingclassrooms.com/
CAST. (n.d.). Universal Design for learning｜Cast. Universal Design for Learning. https://www.cast.org/what-we-do/universal-design-for-learning/
Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology, University of British Columbia. (2018, January 29). Open Dialogues: How to engage and support students in open pedagogies. YouTube. https://youtu.be/PGVzKqvKhQw?si=rU7dxCUmAyESB3Um
FNESC. (n.d.). First People’s Principles of Learning. First Nations Education Steering Committee. FNESC. Retrieved March 11, 2025, from https://www.fnesc.ca/first-peoples-principles-of-learning/.
Hegarty, B. (2015). Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources. Educational Technology, 55(4), 3–13. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44430383
Hotchin, J. (2025, January 5). Edci 339 (A01) module 1 – University of Victoria – EdTech. University of Victoria – EdTech. https://connectedlearningpathways.ca/category/edci-339-a01-module-1/
What is open pedagogy?. Open Pedagogy Notebook. (n.d.). https://openpedagogy.org/open-pedagogy/
Hi Chase, I really enjoyed reading your post about UDL and accessibility. The ideas you shared in lists and tables are really practical and useful. I like that you have included reflection in your list of ways to offer feedback. In my experience as well, reflection is such a powerful learning tool for students to assess themselves and set their own goals.
It sounds like the English course that shifted to online during the Covid-19 pandemic really did not offer sufficient support. I can only imagine how difficult it would have been for those students who faced additional barriers to learning. Your use of this context to illustrate applications of UDL was very effective. I agree that online and asynchronous courses rely a great deal on the clarity and structure of course materials, and transparency in grading and schedule help students to direct work appropriately and to manage anxiety and time.
Ethan, thank you for sharing your research and experience with open pedagogy. I am very interested in the structure of your schooling where you got the opportunity to engage deeply in your learning interests. It must have been wonderful to have such strong ownership of your learning. When transitioning to a more traditional high school model, what did you find difficult?
I agree that health and diet is very personal, requiring some trial and error. I like your idea of integrating student-generated content, and developing peer-reviewed meal plans aligns with Design Thinking as well. Let’s talk!
Blog Prompt: Choose one (or more) of your planned learning activities from your Blueprint and identify any barriers to student success. How can you alter or adjust your current plan to reduce those barriers?
Students to any course bring with them unique needs, abilities, and history. This diversity, if not addressed, can lead to a large proportion of students having trouble engaging fully in learning within the course. Universal Design for Learning (UDL), a framework created by CAST to address a diversity of student needs based on what is known about the human brain, offers guidelines to support student learning in a number of ways (CAST, n.d.). Based on these guidelines, we can design multiple options for engagement, representation, and action & expression in order to increase access, support the learning process, and support executive functioning.
One of the planned learning activities we have in our Blueprint is to read an article and a webpage about healthy food choices. Barriers to reading could include difficulty with language, literacy, or vision. To reduce these barriers, we could encourage students to use translation or text-to-speech technology if they choose. We could also offer video or podcast alternatives which cover the same content. If the course is given in person, we might investigate to find out if any student needs alternatives for large print. We could also offer the article and/or webpage in options written for multiple levels of English comprehension. Finally, we could ensure plenty of pictorial support of the text, with captioned descriptions.
Additionally, there may be misunderstandings in the students’ conceptions of healthy eating, which could impact access due to bias and distracting ideas. CAST UDL Guidelines suggest creating a supportive culture by exploring how biases can impact learning (CAST, n.d.). This could be done in a short introduction to the reading, video, or podcast, acknowledging possible preconceptions or myths about healthy eating.
Another barrier could be difficulty in transferring learning from the article, website, video, or podcast, to application in meal planning for themselves. We can support this by including explicit references and connections to this learning in future assignments. We could also survey students ahead of time to learn about the foods they like so that we can use relatable examples to help make sense of the content during instruction.
References
- CAST. (n.d.). Universal Design for learning｜Cast. Universal Design for Learning. https://www.cast.org/what-we-do/universal-design-for-learning/
Hi Justin, thank you for sharing your thoughts on pedagogy and networked learning. I found your thoughts about different teaching styles interesting. You mentioned that you worked best when you have control over your learning and form your own opinions, but in a statistics course, you would rather be told exactly what to think and learn. I’m curious what you think the difference is in the courses. Is it that you prefer to have autonomy in courses where you have intrinsic motivation to learn the material? Or do you think some topics lend themselves better to student-directed learning than others?
It sounds from what you write like you have taken many online courses. I am curious how your more effective instructors encouraged discussions and created supportive learning environments. I can relate to being more engaged by interactive content and variety in forms of content. Digital learning spaces create a lot of opportunity for different ways of interacting with content and peers. In addition to videos, readings, and podcasts, I’m also thinking of virtual experiments and tours, games, and presentations. So much opportunity in the digital world!
Liam, I really enjoyed reading your Blog Post #2. Your experiences and insights made me think about these issues in new ways.
In particular, I was interested to read about how online learning in 2020 evolved your learning and helped you gain tools in open learning platforms and online conversation. I, too, learned a great deal by connecting with peers online, at first through email forums and then, when social media came into existence, through online groups. I agree that the added perspectives and resource networks are incredibly valuable.
I’m curious what you mean by Network Pedagogy becoming something you need to search for yourself. Are you saying that each student needs to find the online tools that work best for them?
Your view of the role of the instructor as one who “send(s) the students down the path of success” also piqued my interest, and I liked the way you articulated that. Often as teachers, we are focused on helping students learn and the different ways we might enhance their learning, but from a student perspective, instructor appreciation of what they have learned is an important motivating factor. Paying attention to detail and transparency in expectations and being flexible in how we see accomplishment in an online setting not only supports students to be fairly graded but supports a successful social exchange in which the student meets the teacher’s expectations and is rewarded with approval.
Thank you for your thoughts. I look forward to reading future blog posts!
Chase, thank you for sharing your thoughts about digital identity, online presence, and personalized learning!
I enjoyed reading about the very practical ways of creating, differentiating, and protecting one’s professional and personal digital identities. Your digital visitor and resident map caught my attention as I haven’t seen a tool like this before. I can see how useful it would be to learn about our online habits this way, particularly since we often have a skewed sense of how we spend our time. I wonder how many people underestimate the time they spend on social media. When we spend an evening with friends or pass an hour in an engaging lecture, time seems to slip away quickly, with the event over before we are ready to move on. No wonder online social connection is so hard to let go of, even if we want to.
I appreciated, as well, your tips on caution around our digital footprints. I do find it hard to keep up with privacy settings and app permissions. They frequently change without notice, and it is time consuming to constantly read through policies and check on permissions. In light of concerns around privacy and security, it really is important to stay on top of what information about ourselves we share.
Finally, thank you for sharing your perspective on learning approaches. It sounds like you enjoy having room to freely grow in your areas of interest and benefit from self-created structure when you need to learn things that aren’t intrinsically motivating.
Conrad, thank you for sharing your thoughts and findings on Inquiry-Based Learning. I agree that inquiry-based learning promotes a deeper understanding since learners are actively engaged in seeking and evaluating answers to their questions, taking information apart, and putting back together into something new. Thank you for sharing external sources to explore as well – so that we can do our own inquiry based learning!
The topic of health and wellness does present an opportunity for students to explore the wealth of misinformation available. Open-ended investigation of diet myths and social media trends, compared with evidence from trustworthy sources, might surprise quite a few learners. This is especially powerful when we think back to the video from a few weeks ago where learners had trouble learning new information about force directions just from being told and really needed to wrestle with the misconceptions they had.
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