I have been using the word “intentional” a lot. I think I know what I mean when I use it. When I saw the title of an OERxDomains21 session entitled “Intentional Open Learning Design in Action” I was intrigued! Verena Roberts and Helen DeWaard presented and began with a statement honoring and celebrating those who were on the lands they live on now. Both presenters have a background in K-12 education and are part of GO-GN. I want to learn more about and get involved with GO-GN after listening to several awesome talks. DeWaard is also getting a Ph.D. in open practices! Verena Roberts talked about their dissertation research on Open Learning Design Intervention (OLDI) published in 2019. This work led to open learning design principles including the two below that I love:
- Learning is dependent upon the opportunity for learners to co-design personally relevant learning pathways
- Learners collaboratively and individually share their learning
Roberts and DeWaard reviewed how they think about learner profiles and apply what they call “Learner’s empathy map” to courses and learning. The presenters also talked about using a “week 0” to connect with students and figure out what they want to do before starting. Roberts emphasized thinking about who the learners are, and DeWaard introduced UDL as a way to aim for learners “to become expert learners” through multiple means of representation and engagement. Roberts talked about Open Learning Design as process to product with feedback and increase in engagement & learning, feelings of support, and connections though choice, peer groups, and external feedback.
One excellent question asked by the audience was “if students set their own goals, how does that work with learning outcomes?” and Roberts responded that they ask students about how they feel they are reaching them. Interestingly, both Roberts and DeWaard mentioned that at their institutions they can’t change the learning outcomes. Nevertheless, they use “week 0” to have students reflect on their course goals and learning outcomes and think about how they are reaching them. DeWaard stressed how they like to have students figure out why the course is structured while helping them find their own way. Roberts mentioned “designing for sustainability beyond the course […] for everyone“. I agree with them: while you have learning outcomes/objectives, you want to make your students aware of the structure and how it can help them reach their own goals by connecting to their lived experience and career ambitions/interests.
…designing for sustainability beyond the course […] for everyone!
Verena Roberts, OERxDomains21
Benjamin Eugster then presented on “Open Source Technologies for Instructional Design: Hands-on Experience in Teacher Education with H5P.” I haven’t used H5P more than once or twice in a course yet have seen how others use it. The new H5P update we have for Moodle allows for the creation of stylish interactive “Books” with H5P that I really want to learn how to use! Eugster described a project-based course. The project was focused on the use of open source technologies. Eugster compared H5P and the now defunct use of Flash. H5P offers several open priorities for embedding, reusing, and metadata. Students created complex H5P games that “pushed the technology to its physical limits” by creating huge decision making trees. Eugster mentioned a second example of a student project that required setting up a private Moodle server to access H5P and be creative. Eugster ended by talking about “Fostering critical and creative skills with FOSS” and the implications of this work for teacher education. The message of teachers as creators was evident… and also the notion that there are explicit and implicit learning objectives in the courses we teach. During the discussion session they talked about teaching learners about open source technologies and the sharing frameworks they can support. Was this the implicit learning objective in Eugster’s course? I find it interesting that both examples were student projects that became complicated challenges that were then overcome by creative students. The participants really had to learn about the limitations of the software and work to ensure functionality for their goals. This is problem solving! Students are exposed to authentic “wicked problems” we face in the real world. What’s even more important in the context of open practices is how the ability to learn and share about open source technologies enables creativity. While the course design allowed learner choice in terms of problems, the participants, in a way, chose their challenges and learned about open software in the process.
