Daniela Gachago, Cheryl Belford and Bronwyn SwartzCentre for Innovative Educational Technology

Cape Peninsula University of Technologygachagogd@cput.ac.za / @dgachago17

Towards (ethical) OEP in times of disruptions

Founded in 2014 - merger

Largest institution in the Western Cape

Serving predominantly underprivileged students

CC - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CPUT_Cape_Town_Campus.jpg

contextInstitutional research project:

Phase 1: OER staff and student survey

Phase 2: Selection of eight OER pilots

Importance of Community of Practice

Disruption / #FMF: September - October 2016

Four lecturers involved in teaching - three continued, one did not

Open Educational Practices?

2016 CPUT OER pilots

Open educational practices- Move from OER towards OEP

- ‘range of practices around the creation, use, and management of open educational resources with the intent to improve quality and innovate education’. (Andrade et al 2011)

- ‘[i]mmersion in using and creating OER requires a significant change in practice and the development of specific attributes, such as openness, connectedness, trust, and innovation’ (Hegarty 2015)

‘the special sauce’ are not contents produced but ‘the connections people make, the community that forms, and the identities they forge’(Luke 2017)

Bronwyn’s casePreviously used online technology (LMS) in teaching practice

#FMF triggered online activity more than ever before

WhatsApp and YouTube became additional teaching tools

Cheryl’s caseJourney starts with exposure to OEP (Literature or Project)

Become active in technology (Google, Scribing, audioclip)

Try something - PPoint, WhatsApp, video, etc

Measure it (Marks, response rate, survey, reflections)

Reflect, Revisit, Revise, Reissue

Open Pedagogy?Inspirational?

Tensions that emerged from the project● Localisation vs Shareability

● Institutional requirements vs flexibility/access● LMS vs open platforms● Openness vs safety● Quality vs responding quickly to needs● Continuation of academic project vs supporting

movement● Supporting many vs supporting all● ...

Disruption as positive trigger to more openness

Step towards blended learning easier for lecturers because of involvement in OER project

Definition of openness too limiting (Czerniewicz et al 2016)?

Open is as open does (Smith 2016)

Move towards openness / openness as a journey

Ethics of openness (Archer and Prinsloo 2017)?

Some preliminary conclusions...

Being able and willing to respond to change and disruption

1.Being attentive to your students’ needs

2.Taking responsibility

3.Being competent - being prepared & capable

4.Establishing communication channels with students - responsiveness

5.Solidarity? (to think seriously about the nature of caring needs in society)

Joan Tronto (1993). Moral Boundaries: A Political Argument for an Ethic of

Care. New York: Routledge.

Towards an Ethics of Openness in our context

referencesAny questions?

https://goo.gl/3I7jd2

http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/oer/

gachagod@cput.ac.za - belfordc@cput.ac.za - swartzb@cput.ac.za

ReferencesAndrade, A., Caine, A., and Carneiro, R., 2011. Beyond OER: Shifting Focus to Open Educational Practices: (OPAL Report 2011). Due-Publico, Essen. …, 1–191.Archer, E. and Prinsloo, P., 2017. Some exploratory thought on openness and an ethics of care. In: D. Singh and C. Stueckelberger, eds. Ethics in higher education research. globethics.net.Hegarty, B., 2015. Attributes of Open Pedagogy : A Model for Using Open Educational. Educational Technology, (August), 3–13.Luke, J., 2017. The OER Content Trap [online]. Econproph. Available from: https://econproph.com/2017/02/18/the-oer-content-trap/.Tronto, J., 1993. Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care. New York & London: Routledge.