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Topic 2: Open pedagogies, authentic assessment, and choice.

  WordPress enables us to have students think and learn in the open, which can have both big benefits and big risks. Engaging with the larger community can help students see the value and utility in their learning, and it can help the stakes of an assignment feel real or meaningful.

It’s critically important to remember that when we engage in teaching and learning on the open web, we relinquish some control of the learning environment. In order to do this safely, always ensure the following:

  • Students have the option to use a pseudonym, work anonymously, password protect their site, make it only available to you, or opt out of working online altogether. There may be many reasons why a student is trepidatious to put their name to work publicly online, and this must be respected.

  • Discuss appropriate online behaviour with students and consider their work on the web for your class an extension of the classroom space as far as rules, conduct, and decorum are concerned.

Remember that choice is an empowering concept for students that they don’t always get much of. Allowing them to consent to being online (rather than demanding it!) is a much fairer approach.

Risks can include unexpected feedback from community members, including the risk of negative feedback that may be phrased in harmful ways. Marginalized learners are at greater risk of encountering hate speech online.

Despite these risks, though, opening up our classrooms to the world can have many benefits, and can be particularly inclusive of students who feel disadvantaged by essays and exams. Considering these teaching practices can help make your classroom a more inclusive place, as long as students are empowered to choose their level of exposure.


Resource 2a: A Student Reflection on Open Pedagogy

  Working in WordPress can enable us to take our learning experiences out of the classroom and into the world. In this essay, student Jaime Marsh reflects on what having opportunities to learn “in the open” meant to her.

Stretch Goal:

If you have time to explore this topic more, the entire Open at the Margins collection is really excellent. Read an article or two of interest to you from the table of contents to Open at the Margins.


Resource 2b: Authentic Assessment

  Because WordPress is a useful, transferable skill, and because learning in the open allows students to share their knowledge with others, many WordPress assignments align with the values of Authentic Assessment. This means that it is

  1. Realistic;

  2. Requires judgement and innovation;

  3. Requires the student “do” something;

  4. Replicates public accountability;

  5. Explores a range of skills; and

  6. Allows for practice, feedback, and revision (Wiggins 1998).

Authentic assessments should look and feel more like how we share knowledge out in the world than like a multiple choice exam or a fixed-topic essay. There should also be an element of choice so that students are exploring projects that they really care about. Authentic assessments can also benefit students who don’t feel they show their work best in traditional classroom assessment settings.

Teachings in Education (2017, January 17). Authentic Assessment: Examples & Overview [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPCk27tM4U

Activity 2: Forum Reflection

  From what you’ve learned in this section about learning in the open and authentic assessment, consider how you can apply these ideas to a course you currently have in development. Is there one assignment in particular that you could see taking an open, authentic approach to? Share your thinking in the Bonus Module Learning Activity (Optional): Discussion Forum, and then come back to respond to at least two colleagues.

Example: I have always assigned a final essay for my sociology class where students identify a social problem within the scope of the class and propose a solution. Every year I am impressed with the research they do and I always think more people could benefit from their learning. I wonder if we could develop a class blog of one-page summaries of the problems and solutions they propose, with links to the research that would allow people who find the site to follow their thinking? And then, perhaps, it could be a jumping-off point for the next year’s students, because my learners always struggle to start this assignment.

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