"Openness and praxis: Exploring the use of open educational practices (OEP) in higher education" - presentation for Digital Learning research symposium #NextGenDL, Dublin, 01-Nov-2016

1. Openness and praxis:
exploring the use of
open educational practices
in higher education
Catherine Cronin
CELT, NUI Galway
@catherinecronin
slideshare.net/cicronin
Digital Learning Research Symposium
Dublin 01-Nov-2016 #NextGenDL
Image: CC0 1.0 cogdog

2. short summary of
1st phase of my PhD research study:
exploring the use of
open educational practices (OEP)
in higher education

3. networked
educators
networked
students
Physical
Spaces
Bounded
Online
Spaces
Open
Online
Spaces
Image: CC BY-SA 2.0 Catherine Cronin, built on original Networked Teacher image CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Alec Couros
Higher education

4. Much is published about benefits of and barriers to
openness, and interpretations of openness
Relatively few studies use a critical approach to
openness; relatively few empirical studies
Theoretical context for this study: openness as a
sociocultural phenomenon
Openness and open education

5. research questions
1. In what ways do academic staff use
open educational practices (OEP) for teaching?
2. Why do/don’t academic staff use
open educational practices (OEP) for teaching?
Research questions

6. Image: CC BY-SA 2.0 Marcel Oosterwijk
…’open’ signals a broad, de-centralized constellation of
practices that skirt the institutional structures and roles by
which formal learning has been organized for generations.
– Bonnie Stewart (2015)

7. INTERPRETATIONS
of ‘OPEN’
Policy/
Culture
Values
Practices
Activities
LEVELS of
OPENNESS
OEP
(Open Educational
Practices)
OER
(Open Educational
Resources)
Free
Open Admission
(e.g. Open Universities)
IndividualInstitutional
Image: CC BY-SA 2.0 Marcel Oosterwijk

8. Research approach
Constructivist grounded theory: inductive, comparative, emergent &
open-ended (Strauss & Corbin, 1990); acknowledging social context,
subjectivity & interpretive understandings (Charmaz, 2014)
Research setting
One higher education institution in Ireland
Research method
Semi-structured interviews with 19 members of academic staff *
across multiple disciplines
Research methodology
* academic staff defined broadly as university staff whose responsibilities include teaching,
regardless of job title or terms of employment, e.g. full-time or part-time; permanent,
temporary or no contract

9. • Many academic staff perceive potential risks
(for themselves & their students) in using OEP for teaching;
some perceive the benefits to outweigh the risks
• A minority of participants (8 of 19) used OEP for teaching
• 2 levels of ‘using OEP for teaching’:
(i) being open, and (ii) teaching openly
• 4 dimensions shared by open educators:
 balancing privacy and openness
 developing digital literacies (self & students)
 valuing social learning
 challenging traditional teaching role expectations
Findings

10. Balancing
privacy and openness
Developing
digital literacies
4 dimensions shared by educators using OEP for teaching

11. Balancing
privacy and openness
Developing
digital literacies
Valuing
social learning
Challenging traditional
teaching role expectations
inner circle
(2 dimensions)
Networked
Individuals
both circles
(4 dimensions)
Networked
Educators
4 dimensions shared by educators using OEP for teaching

12. Balancing privacy & openness
Image: CC BY 2.0 woodleywonderworks

13. will I share openly (e.g. blog, tweet)?
who will I share with? (context collapse)
who will I share as? (digital identity)
will I share this?
MACRO
MESO
MICRO
NANO
“You’re negotiating all the time.”

14. • Use of OEP by educators is complex, personal, contextual &
continuously negotiated
• Attention must be paid to the actual experiences & concerns
of academic staff & students (“state-of-the-actual”)
• HEIs require open education strategies & policies that
recognise the benefits, risks & complexities of openness
• HEIs should provide appropriate forms of support for
academic staff in 3 key areas:
 digital identities; digital literacies; digital capabilities
 navigating tensions between privacy & openness
 reflecting on roles as educators & researchers in an
increasingly networked society/participatory culture
Preliminary conclusions

15. Thank you!
Catherine Cronin
@catherinecronin
about.me/catherinecronin
slideshare.net/cicronin
Image: CC BY 2.0 visualpanic

16. Bayne, S., Knox, J., & Ross, J. (2015). Open education: The need for a critical approach. Learning, Media
and Technology, 40(3), 247-250.
Beetham, H., Falconer, I., McGill, L., & Littlejohn, A. (2012). Open Practices: Briefing Paper. Jisc.
Charmaz, K. (2014). Constructing grounded theory (2nd edition). London: Sage Publications.
Cottom, T. M. (2015). Open and accessible to what and for whom? [Blog post].
Czerniewicz, L. (2015). Confronting inequitable power dynamics of global knowledge production and
exchange. Water Wheel 14(5), 26-28.
Edwards, R. (2015). Knowledge infrastructures and the inscrutability of openness in education. Learning,
Media and Technology, 40(3), 251-264.
Ehlers, U-D. (2011). Extending the territory: From open educational resources to open educational practices.
Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 15(2), 1–10.
Selwyn, N. & Facer, K. (2013). The politics of education and technology: Conflicts, controversies, and
connections. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Stewart, B. (2015). Open to influence: What counts as academic influence in scholarly networked Twitter
participation. Learning, Media and Technology 40(3), 1-23.
Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques
(2nd edition). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Veletsianos, G. (2015). A case study of scholars’ open and sharing practices. Open Praxis, 7(3), 199-209.
Veletsianos, G. & Kimmons, R. (2012). Networked participatory scholarship: Emergent techno-cultural
pressures toward open and digital scholarship in online networks. Computers & Education, 58(2), 766–774.
Weller, M. (2014). The Battle for Open: How openness won and why it doesn’t feel like victory. London:
Ubiquity Press.
References & resources