I had the opportunity to present at a symposium recently. I was trying out a new workshop and is often the case I went on too long. I wasn’t able to use the part of the workshop that I was most interested in, the part that was to address some “wicked questions” in regards to open pedagogy, using the model provided by liberating structures found here.
Something wicked this way comes
Life is not binary. It is not black and white. There is a lot of grey, and to be honest, it is in the grey that great things can happen. At its base, a wicked question is one that does not have an easy answer. It forces us to acknowledge and sit in the grey. Their value is the conversation and innovation that can come from sitting down and wrestling with these questions. An example might be:
“How can I raise my kids to value family and make it a priority while at the same time raising them to be fiercely independent”
There is a lot of power in the space between the two perspectives addressed in the question, isn’t there?
Open Education sucks (or does it?)
I have a habit of seeing my glass as half full, in fact, I’ve been accused of seeing my glass as spilling over. For me, it is important to force myself to see the other side. Open is not the cure-all I want it to be. It has its issues that surround:
- Student agency
- Student choice
- Creativity
- Student construction
- Faculty engagement
In a later post, I may start unpacking some wicked questions I have with Open Education but until then, what do you think are some of the wicked questions that need asking from the list above?
May 19, 2019 at 5:57 pm
This post got me thinking! For all of the benefits that open education and learning create, I do think there are some wicked questions. One that I have been exploring lately relates social justice and open education. Although the open movement began with the best intentions, I have been reading a few articles that suggest the social justice intention of OER has been lost in recent definitions and depictions (Lambert, 2018; Watters, 2014). Watters (2014) gives the example of open data, and whether sharing data on how people use tools is just. The lens I have been looking at this from is accessibility and inclusive design, and whether current versions of ‘open’ capture access for learners with specific barriers to access.
References
Lambert, S. (2018). Changing our (Dis)Course: A distinctive social justice aligned definition of open education. Journal of Learning for Development – JL4D, 5(3). Retrieved from https://jl4d.org/index.php/ejl4d/article/view/290
Watters, A. (2014, November 16). From “open” to justice [Blog post]. Retrieved March 28, 2017, from http://hackeducation.com/2014/11/16/from-open-to-justice
May 21, 2019 at 8:27 am
Hi Jessica
Thanks for sharing those articles. The article from Audrey Watters was very interesting. When we get into these discussions it is important to define what we are really talking about. I think it is interesting how we define Open education and open educational practices. If you start digging into the research you see that it is a term that is not so easy to define. When we talk about open education we are often talking about the resources and the teaching practices. Often times we forget (read that as Chad forgets) that there are data issues, inclusivity issues, and accessibility issues. This isn’t to dissuade one from diving into the pool of open but it does make me realize just how deep that pool actually is.