Institutional Profile & Research Participants

In 2019, faculty and staff at a private, open enrollment university undertook the task of redesigning curriculum for a First Year Seminar (FS) class. Traditionally, this required learners to purchase a common reader selected by faculty. Taught by eighteen faculty and staff members, FS represents the first exposure most students have to a college classroom. Considering the high percentage of first-generation (37%) and low-income (57.6%) students at the university, as well as a first-year attrition rate close to 40%, course instructors were interested in developing a pedagogical approach that both reduces student cost and increases engagement.

OER-Enabled Pedagogy Project Overview

A project based on the concept of OER-enabled Pedagogy was selected as a central part of the new curricula. To successfully complete the project, students identified a current knowledge gap they had regarding the university experience. Next, in small groups or individually, they developed an artifact of their choosing (e.g. video presentation, infographic) to be included in an eBook for use as the reader in future classes. Students conducted research on their topics (e.g. interviews, surveys, document analysis) and submitted a project proposal, draft with peer review, and final project. Instructors were asked to maintain the structure of the assignment including the three assignment stages. The intent was that projects would be improved by instructor feedback at the proposal and draft stages, as well as through peer review. Thus, the experience was designed to enhance student agency while providing mentorship between instructor and student.

Within the field of Open Pedagogy and thus OER-enabled Pedagogy, questions have been raised as to the ethics of requiring students to openly license their work, or mandating that learners post their artifact with or without their names (Elder, 2019; Mays, 2017). To address these concerns, instructors were given a video explaining copyright and Creative Commons licensing. Instructors played this toward the end of class and facilitated a discussion about the value of licensing options. Students then selected a license. Similarly, students determined individually whether they would be given attribution for their project. Any project missing a licensing form was copyrighted while any student not indicating otherwise was “anonymous”.

Research Process

To address instructor-related differences, training sessions were held before the term and throughout the semester related to OER-enabled Pedagogy and the project. Instructors were given three assignments (project proposal, draft/peer review, and final submission) to incorporate into their own class. These assignments included student directions, examples, and scoring rubrics.

A mixed-method approach was used to assess the research questions. During the last week of class, an anonymous survey (see Appendix A) was sent to all FS students. Demographically, the class was 52% female and 48% male, with an average of 18. Ninety-eight percent of the students enrolled within a year of completing high school and 16% identified as an ethic minority. The survey consisted of 15 questions: four demographic, six to assess student impression of the project openness, three to determine student impression of skill development, one regarding willingness to take another class with an open project, and one open-ended. Questions on the survey were answered on a 5-point, Likert-type scale. To increase participation students were offered an opportunity to enter a drawing for one of five $10 gift cards. Considering the study’s exploratory nature, descriptive statistics were generated for each question and evaluated in relation to the research hypotheses. Inferential statistics were not utilized for two reasons. First, since all freshmen participated and it was the first time the project was utilized, researchers lacked an effective comparison group. Second, a pre/post design was not practical as the study sought information on student experience with OER-enabled Pedagogy which they could not assess prior to completion of the project. While the results provide insight into important aspects of this pedagogical movement, attempts were not made to generalize findings.

Following the term semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 students, four male and eight female (average age of 18.8). Three students were recruited as they indicated earlier their willingness to volunteer for research. Nine students were randomly selected from course rosters and contacted directly. Students were offered a $10 gift card to be a research participant. Researchers planned a minimum of 12 interviews, then to assess whether additional participants were necessary to achieve data saturation. After 12 interviews, no new themes emerged so recruitment ceased. Verbatim transcripts were created from audio recordings and analyzed using the program Dedoose. Researchers reviewed transcripts collaboratively taking an inductive and line-by-line approach (Charmaz, 2012; Skjott Linneberg & Korsgaard, 2019). Open coding was followed by axial coding to develop categories/themes (Khandkar, n.d.).

Reflexivity is important in transparent scientific exploration as researchers impact and are in turn impacted by their research. In this study, the authors played a collaborative but vital role in redesigning the FS curricula to include OER-enabled Pedagogy as agency and empowerment were viewed as critical to student development. The authors developed and facilitated all training on OER-enabled Pedagogy for FS instructors. In addition, one of the researchers facilitated a section of the first-year course and as such, did not play a role in recruiting participants or interviewing a student who was a member their class.

Student Motivation and Concern in an Open Assignment

Table 1 depicts the results of questions about aspects the students found motivating or concerning. To aid in comparison to results from Hilton et al. (2019) which is one of only two empirical studies exploring student perception of OER-enabled Pedagogy and the one most similar to this research, data was condensed to three categories; less than a neutral perception, neutral, and greater than a neutral perception.

Two questions asked about student excitement or motivation to participate in the project. In relation to creating an artifact that would be available to future students, 30.7% of respondents indicated they were excited, 44% were neutral, and just over one-quarter indicated they were not excited. Results were slightly more positive in relation to whether they found the project being available to future students and a global community motivating, with 41.3% indicating it was, 35.9% neutral, and 22.8% not motivating.

The next two questions asked about concerns related to attribution and sharing their work. As evident in Table 1, only 15.2% of responses indicated concern of their projects being available to others and 12.1% reticence of public attribution. Forty percent to 50% of students indicated no concern in either regard, 43.5% stated no concern with their project being made available to future students and a global audience, and 52.7% no concern about being given attribution. When asked if they viewed the project more positively or negatively knowing it would be useful in the future (non-disposable), only 15.4% of those who responded indicated a more negative outlook. Closely mirroring these results were responses to a final attitudinal question about whether the course seemed more engaging than other classes without a project of this nature.

Development of Academically Important Skills

Three questions measured student belief in the project building tangible skills: confidence in completing a multi-week project, confidence in one’s ability to collaborate in groups, and confidence conducting research and drawing conclusions. Only a small percentage of students felt that the OER-enabled Pedagogy-based project had a negative effect on their confidence related to cross-disciplinary skills (see Table 2). While a large portion of students marked “neutral”, over 56% indicated an increased confidence in completing multi-week projects, 44% felt more confident collaborating in group settings, and more than 45% stated their confidence in engaging in research and drawing conclusions was enhanced.

The final question of the survey prior to a free response section asked students if they would be willing to take another course including similar projects. While a plurality of students (42.4%) indicated yes, 38% of respondents were indifferent and 19.6% unwilling. These results parallel those found by Hilton et al. (2019) were 52.7% of students preferred Open Pedagogy, 27.8% indicated no preference, and 19.5% of respondents preferred more conventional learning activities.

Few individuals provided anonymous feedback on the survey. Two students wrote they did not like the project, but indicated that it was because they did not believe it would be used in future classes. Three individuals stated they enjoyed the project. Three students contributed advice for future iterations, including providing additional examples and more time to work on the project. Two individuals stated they did not like the project without further explanation.

Attribution Decision of Students

Figure 1 depicts the attribution option selected by students.

Of the 178 individuals who returned forms, 77% indicated they would like to be given attribution while 18% opted for anonymity. Nine individuals (5%) wished to have their names on their project but their artifact was not included in the eBook due to quality concerns. Fourteen students were listed as part of a group but did not submit an attribution form so had their names removed by default. The difference between the total number of students on course rosters and the forms received may be attributed to students who stopped attending class with the intent to drop or those who did not submit a final project.

Motivation to Help Others

Results of interviews provided greater insight into the elements of OER-enabled Pedagogy that students found motivating. One key theme that emerged was the high value students placed on work that could benefit others. Student 2 indicated, “Just the thought of giving advice to someone who is just coming in. That’s the most interesting thing because they might feel lost or like they don’t know what to do.” Similarly, Student 8 stated, “…you know we could be the reason why, we can change somebody’s life or change their, their concept on the whole thing…”. When reflecting on whether an assignment is of greater value if it benefits oneself or others, Student 9 noted, “I think the most motivating would be valuable to others, because they can also learn something from the whole experience.” This recognition on the part of students is important as the development of a non-disposable assignment is a key element of Open Pedagogy and OER-enabled Pedagogy (Seraphin et al., 2019).

Motivation Through Agency

Another theme that emerged was the importance of agency in the development of motivation. Apparently, motivation is largely dependent on the student being able to align personal interest with their classwork as opposed to having this determined by the instructor. Student 1 stated:

I always think being able to choose your own topic on any assignment no matter what makes the person who is doing it 10x more motivated to do it. It just, even just my case because in the past when they have given me a topic and I like, I don’t want to do this, I don’t want to write a whole project about this, but when I get to choose myself, I know what I’m looking for. I know what I’m writing. It’s really exciting to me.

Student 12 echoed this sentiment stating, “Yea because if they give us our own then I don’t want to do it.”, while Student 7 viewed agency as providing an opportunity to create something of lasting value, “. . . that’s why I picked the topic I picked because people were going to be able to use it from here and maybe like, 20 years later.” Student 9 expanded on choice connecting this to the concept of freedom:

…you know like, normally when you get a project for science or something somebody tells you what to do it’s like, I’m doing this for them but seeing that I had the option to pick the topic that I wanted to do, it made me have like free will in the situation so I got to be myself...

Every student interviewed mentioned the motivational value of being given agency. Student 3 indicated that it was somewhat overwhelming to have complete choice and would have liked to have had a list to select from, but this was not mentioned by others. Agency is not limited to projects conforming to OER-enabled Pedagogy. It does, however, serve to disrupt the hierarchical power dynamic within a classroom and provides voice to those who are traditionally oppressed, foundational elements within the decolonizing and critical pedagogy pillars of open pedagogical approaches (DeRosa & Robison, 2017; Ehlers, 2011; Hegarty, 2015; Lambert, 2018).

Motivation Through Public Recognition

A third major theme from student interviews related to the perceived value of receiving public credit. Several students saw attribution as an issue of pride. Student 9 indicated, “I love that because that’s like me getting credit for my work…”, while Student 4 stated “…if I help people learn how to study, then it’s nice to get a little bit of credit I guess.” Student 2 wanted her name on the project for a more specific reason noting, “... people could reach out to me if they’re coming into band and, be like, ‘Hey I’m coming into band. I’m going to be a marching band student. Can you give me more advice, or how did you do this’?” Student 10, on the other hand, showed indifference saying, “I really didn’t mind one way or another.” Only one student interviewed indicated a desire to remain anonymous. She stated, “. . . I’m very shy and I wrote kind of stuff like, how to deal with things that I did and stuff and I didn’t really want people to know that, so try to hide it . . .”

Research Question 1

The first research question explored how a project based on OER-enabled Pedagogy impacts student motivation and engagement. Researchers compared their findings to Hilton’s et al.’s (2019) study on the use of Open Pedagogy in the undergraduate classroom. Survey results reported here suggest that the criteria inherent in framing works as OER-enabled Pedagogy also improve students’ attitudes toward the assignment. Although approximately 35% to 45% of students were neutral about the impact of sharing their work on their own excitement and motivation, nearly 31% of those who responded found sharing with future learners exciting and 41% sharing with future students and a global community motivating (see Table 1).

Researchers hypothesized that the open nature of the project would positively impact student perception. Survey results generally affirmed this, both regarding motivation and excitement. Interviews were even more definitive regarding the perceived value of sharing work publicly, with all participants indicating they appreciated this part of the project. The reason this was motivational varied among three main ideas: 1) sharing helps others which is a good thing to do, 2) sharing makes you try harder so that others see your best work, and 3) sharing is a way of receiving credit for your efforts.

Future iterations of the project may show continued positive trends in student attitude towards becoming content creators, as each new class will be able to see the fruits of the labor of previous cohorts. The published eBook may address the concerns of two students who provided free responses on the survey indicating an overall negative impression of the project based on the belief that it would not be used by future classes. Three of the 12 students interviewed also indicated doubt that students in subsequent courses would reference their work. It is unknown how widespread this impression was or how it affected student responses regarding excitement and motivation.

Survey data indicating that OER-enabled Pedagogy positively affects student engagement aligns with the limited research data on the topic. Hilton et al. (2019) indicate that students who participate in Open Pedagogy respond positively, with 52% stating that they preferred Open Pedagogy. Sheu (2020) echoes this sentiment, with renewable assignments being preferred by 70.6% of class participants. Students surveyed here were not asked whether they preferred OER-enabled Pedagogy but if their feelings were more positive or negative due to the open nature of the project and if the course was more engaging because of the project structure. Only 15.2% of students indicated negative feelings regarding the non-disposable nature of the project. Similarly, 15.4% of students said this course was less engaging than courses without a similar project (see Table 1).

The first research hypothesis also speculated that students would find OER-enabled Pedagogy helpful in building skills needed for college-level work. Many students who worked in groups and participated in the survey indicated that their collaboration skills increased as a result of the project. While given the opportunity to work individually, 80 of 92 projects were completed by groups. When asked about their development of collaborative skills, 44% indicated an increase. This aligns with the experience of students at other institutions regarding the impact of Open Pedagogy on their ability to collaborate with others (Marsh, 2018). It also parallels findings by Hilton et al. (2019) who write that 48% of students indicated collaborative learning skills were higher with Open Pedagogy. As students in this study could choose to work alone or with others, results may be different if group work was mandated.

As Table 2 indicates, a significant number of students perceived an enhancement in their confidence completing a multi-week project (56.5%), and conducting research and drawing conclusions (45.5%). While these skills are not inherent in all “open” assignments, they are important for students to thrive at the college level. These findings are complementary to those of Hilton et al. (2019) who indicate that students felt Open Pedagogy improved critical thinking and problem solving (45%) and learning how to learn (37%) to a greater extent than more traditional approaches.

Research Question 2

The second research question explored whether students were concerned with the “open” nature of assignments inherent in OER-enabled Pedagogy. Researchers hypothesized that students in this age group would not have the same concern for privacy their instructors may expect due to frequent use of social media. Research assessing the perceived risk of providing personal information online indicates that adolescents (ages 12-19) may feel more comfortable sharing than older individuals (Steijn & Vedder, 2015). A study by Pereira et al. (2017) comparing Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials indicated younger Millennials (ages 18-27) were less concerned about both privacy and security than other generational groups.

As predicted, students showed little hesitation including their names on projects. Of the 173 attribution forms received, 137 students requested to be given credit for their project. Of the students surveyed, 52.7% indicated they did not have concerns about the project including their name.

These findings were supported through student interviews. Ten of the 12 students interviewed indicated a positive view of attribution for their work, with one student indifferent and only one reticent to having their name on their project. One reason for this may be the nature of the assignment. Being a college survival guide and providing students agency to choose the topic, students may have been less concerned about others knowing their identity compared to work viewed as more personal. The definition of OER-enabled Pedagogy encompasses activities as diverse as writing test question banks, editing Wikipedia articles, creating study guides, and co-authoring books. While many of these activities would likely not be seen as private, some students do not wish to have their name associated with work available to others and this should be respected.

A high number of students in this sample post frequently to social media (88% weekly or more) and also demonstrate little concern about online privacy, although causation between these was not established. Further research may assess the willingness of current college-aged students toward sharing their classwork publicly and their social media habits. Such an endeavor may demonstrate that a causal relationship exists between social media behavior and one’s willingness to share academic artifacts.

Additional research is needed regarding the various ways OER-enabled Pedagogy is implemented and how this impacts student perception. Here, freedom was given to students to work alone or in groups. Although this increased student agency and all students interacted with others in the classroom, future studies may determine how student experience is similar or different if they are in a group or work alone. Additionally, this project was the creation of a college survival guide. Data collected from both the survey and interviews was thus contextualized. While students indicated during interviews that they saw the activity as beneficial both to themselves and others, motivation likely depends on the values held by each student. Thus, findings may differ in other academic subjects, by a student’s academic standing, or using other open assignments.

Finally, on the survey some students indicated negative views of the project. The most common reason stated was the belief that the artifacts would not be used by future students. While this concern may be ameliorated in future classes, it is clear that some individuals did not find the project motivating or engaging. Research specifically on those with this belief would be beneficial in improving the experience for all students.