Module C2: Student Agency and Ethical Concerns

Module C2: Student Agency and Ethical Concerns Worksheet

 

Overview

It can be easy to get swept away in the excitement of open pedagogy projects and lose sight of the power imbalances that exist between instructors and students. There is a lot of labor involved in this work, and we must be mindful of respecting the labor of all those involved. If we fail to do this, open pedagogy becomes a transactional relationship rather than a genuine collaboration.

There are many great resources available to help inform and check your thinking so that you design this in a way that respects everyone involved. In particular, we suggest looking at A Student Collaborators’ Bill of Rights developed by UCLA’s Digital Humanities Program, 5Rs for Open Pedagogy, Student Selection of Content Licenses in OER-enabled Pedagogy, and Open Pedagogy at the Margins: Critical Perspectives on Open Education. Also, consider looking to other institutions for examples of best practices around FERPA, student rights, and open pedagogy.

Activity

  1. Defining your public and communicating it to students: Who are you sharing the output(s) of this work with? How much agency do students have in that decision? How are you ensuring that students can make an informed decision?
  2. Student consent: Students may have a variety of legitimate reasons for not wanting to share their work openly. In what way(s) will you allow them to exercise their agency?
    • Students should have options. This may be an opt-in or opt-out process or may allow students to share their work under a pseudonym.
    • How will you obtain and document student consent? Be sure to do this in a way that eliminates any potential to impact grades if students choose to opt out.
    • What role will students have in choosing the license for work they are contributing to? How will you educate them about licensing? Can one of the supporters you identified in Module B2 assist you with this?

 

Section D