This document summarizes a study on the role of learning support professionals in advocating for open educational practices (OEP). The study utilized a survey of 43 participants and interviews with 8 participants. Key findings include: 1) Participants influence OEP adoption through sharing practices and resources more than direct advocacy; 2) Lack of leadership support, cultural shifts, and quality/availability perceptions inhibit OEP adoption; 3) Participants learn about OEP mainly through external networks rather than formal learning or influence within their organizations. The study aims to understand strategies for promoting OEP and address gaps in research on instructional designers' views and experiences with open practices.

1. IRWIN DEVRIES AND MICHELLE HARRISON, TRU OPEN
LEARNINGAPRIL 5, 2017
ADVOCATING FOR OPEN: THE ROLE OF
LEARNING SUPPORT PROFESSIONALS IN
CHANGING PRACTICE
Image Source:
opensource.com
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2. OVERVIEW
WHY
WHAT WE’RE
DOING
WHAT WE’VE READ
WHAT WE’RE
LEARNING
CONCLUSIONS…
MORE QUESTIONS
2

3. …WHY AND HOW
• IDs can have important role as change agents in their practice,
institutions and field (Porter, 2013)
• Research Question: What strategies and practices are used by
learning design professionals in higher education to influence
update and implement OEP?
Two part study:
• Survey questionnaire (snowball method sampling)
• Follow up interviews (8) - plan to do more
flickr photo by George Alexander Ishida Newman
https://flickr.com/photos/takoyaki_king/14226873022
shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license
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4. “OEPs constitute the range of practices around the creation, use, and
management of open educational resources with the intent to improve quality
and innovate education” (Conole & Ehlers, 2010)
“OEP strive to promote what Bloom calls a radically higher academic level in
learners, to use OER to develop networked learners who can self-organize,
co-create, innovate, and peer validate” (Hogan, Carlson and Kirk, 2015)
FOR THE PURPOSES OF OUR STUDY:
Creation and/or use of open educational resources; adoption of open
pedagogies; use of open source and/or free software and tools;
and/or open sharing of scholarly practice and knowledge with others.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY
OPEN EDUCATIONAL
PRACTICES?
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5. WHAT WE’RE READING
OEP represent opportunities to enhance instructional design practice:
New pedagogical models including development of “networked
learners who can self-organize, co-create, innovate, and peer
validate” (Campbell, 2013)
Development of attributes such as “openness, connectedness, trust,
and innovation” in educational practice (Hegarty, 2015)
Ability to experiment, nurture diversity; (Weller, 2014)
Counter to knowledge and ideas as “product to be bought and sold
in a capitalist market economy” (Attwell & Pumilia 2007)
Cultural shift from ‘my resources to ‘our commons’” (Piedra et al.,
2009)
Work across organizational boundaries in new ways – break down
walls and silos (Beetham, Falconer, McGill, & Littlejohn, 2012)
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6. GAPS IN RESEARCH
Gaps in instructional design and OEP research include:
Case studies focusing on instructional designers in
existing contexts
Deeper instructional designer views and experiences
Open learning designs for open pedagogies
Challenges to instructional design in OEP
Strategies for influencing and promoting OEP in
instructional design work
Are we taking advantages of the opportunities afforded
by OEPs?
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7. Chaotic, overwhelming
Visible
PARTICIPANTS
• 43 completed
surveys
42
12
18
27
0 12.5 25 37.5 50
ID
Teaching/Research Faculty
Administration
Other
CategoryAxis
Roles
7
73
20
0
20
40
60
80
College
University
Other
Institution Type
7

8. PRACTICES
Conole, G.C., Ehlers, U.D. (2010): Open Educational Practices: Unleashing the power of
OER.
Paper presented to UNESCO Workshop on OER in Namibia 2010. Windhoek
VALUES
14
33
26
26
0 8.5 17 25.5 34 42.5
Improved Pedagogies
Adoption/Advocacy
Students (costs/access)
Sharing Practice
42
19
39
0 12.5 25 37.5 50
OEP (pedagogy/research/policy)
OER Creation
OER Integration
Strategies
Islands
Practices
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9. INFLUENCE
0 12.5 25 37.5 50 62.5
great extent
moderate extent
somewhat
very little
not at all
incorporate OEP in your work?
have influence on uptake?
To what extent do you….
Reasons for lack of
influence:
Advisory role (not a decision
maker - over 50%)
lack of buy-in from faculty
lack of availability
limited support
(resources/funding/leadershi
p)
9

10. Open practices
(pedagogies/researc
h/other)
FLICKR PHOTO BY DAMSELFLY58
HTTPS://FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/DAMSELFLY58/17234017501 SHARED
UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS (BY-NC-ND) LICENSE
• 50% feel leadership
support is crucial for
enabling OEP
• Culture shift -
Promotion/Tenure,
institutional rewards
systems (valuing of
work/openness)
• Perceptions of
Quality/Availability
• Release time or
specially funded
projects
ENABLING AND INHIBITING
FACTORS
10

11. 11
• To a moderate or great extent OEP
development/discourses impact on:
๏ their work 67%
๏ overall organization 30%
• 37% indicate they have little or no
support in their role (15% library, 18%
institutional)
• For OEP 79% learn through networks
(often external)
• Formal learning
๏ the field 56%
๏ OEP 11%
ASNAPSH

12. WHY?
• OPEN PEDAGOGY
• WAYS OF WORKING
• BIG IDEAS
(CHANGING THE
WORLD)
12
"LIGHT GIF" FLICKR PHOTO BY BYZANTIUMBOOKS
HTTPS://FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/BYZANTIUMBOOKS/145071
91708 SHARED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS (BY)

13. Questions/Tensions
Influence of digital vs. open
Meaning of open—beyond pragmatism
Reasons to be open—and not
Assumptions re: privilege and cultural assumptions
Considered advocacy
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14. Please get in touch!
idevries@tru.ca, @irwindev
mharrison@tru.ca, @mkinchina
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15. REFERENCES
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Attwell, G., & Pumilia, P. M. (2007). The new pedagogy of open content: bringing together production,
knowledge, development, and learning. Data Science Journal, 6, S211-S219.
Beetham, H., Falconer, I., McGill, L., & Littlejohn, A. (2012). Open practices: briefing paper. online], Jisc,
https://oer-synth. pbworks. com/w/file/58444186/Open Practices briefing paper. pdf.
Ehlers, U., & Conole, G. (2010, May). Open educational practices: Unleashing the power of OER. In UNESCO
Workshop on OER in Namibia.
Hogan, P., Carlson, B. R., & Kirk, C. (2015). Open Educational Practices' Models using Open Educational
Resources.
Hegarty, Bronwyn. "Attributes of Open Pedagogy: A Model for Using Open Educational Resources." Educational
Technology (2015): 4.
Piedra, N., Chicaiza, J., López, J., Tovar, E., & Martínez, O. (2009, June). Open educational practices and
resources based on social software, UTPL experience. In Proceedings of the 2009 Euro American Conference
on Telematics and Information Systems: New opportunities to increase digital citizenship (p. 34). ACM.
Porter, D. A. (2013). Exploring the practices of educators using open educational resources (OER) in the British
Columbia higher education system (Doctoral dissertation, Education: Faculty of Education).
Weller, M. (2014). Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn't feel like victory (p. 232). Ubiquity
Press.