Library Instruction West 2020

In recent years, librarians have become driving influencers and supporters of open educational resources (OER). However, OER is simply one part of the larger open movement within higher education. The open pedagogical movement, which sits at the intersection of learning, technology, and social justice, informs the very foundation, purpose, and outcomes of education to seek a more transformative experience. Since 2017, librarians at Oklahoma State University have been teaching a 3-credit information literacy course that focuses on critically examining information systems through the lenses of race, gender, class, and other identities. As part of these critiques, students were asked to engage with the concept of the cost of information--both literal and figurative-- and with the role of information systems in social justice. The course itself, however, followed traditional models of design, including purchase of a textbook, disposable assignments, and  most class work happening within the physical and mental confines of the classroom. While the course addressed concerns of open education, it did not in itself seek to disrupt the system in which it was situated. Over the past year, two librarians and an instructional designer collaborated to build open pedagogy more intentionally into library instruction, specifically within  the credit course.

Participants will explore strategies they can undertake to “open up” their classrooms and promote key tenets of open pedagogy: access, transformation, social justice, and collaboration. Presenters will share their own experiences, and invite attendees to join the conversation by considering ways to implement open pedagogy in their own lives.