This month’s Resource Highlight was contributed by Mahrya Burnett, Scholarly Communications Librarian at the University of Iowa.

Conversations around OER are often centered on the money that open textbooks save students. This makes sense, since the cost of traditional textbooks is a substantial barrier to students succeeding in college. But OER also provides an excellent opportunity for faculty to explore teaching practices that encourage students to be active creators and participants in their own learning.

This month, I’d like to highlight Rajiv Jhangiani and Robin DeRosa’s Open Pedagogy Notebook, which provides a wealth of information and examples for instructors who are interested in incorporating Open Educational Practices (OEP) in their teaching. The authors envision OEP as going hand-in-hand with the use of OER. They write, 

“If we merge OER advocacy with the kinds of pedagogical approaches that focus on collaboration, connection, diversity, democracy, and critical assessments of educational tools and structures, we can begin to understand the breadth and power of Open Pedagogy as a guiding praxis.” (Jhangiani & DeRosa, 2017).

Some examples of open pedagogy include adapting, remixing, or creating OER with your students; teaching students how to edit and create content on Wikipedia and other sources of public knowledge; using non-disposable assignments that have application beyond the classroom; and inviting students to create and design their own learning communities. 

The Open Pedagogy Notebook contains a wealth of practice-tested examples that instructors can adapt. If you’re already using elements of OEP in your teaching, you can also contribute your assignments to the notebook. This resource is definitely worth a look if you’re interested in making the most out of teaching with OER.