Open Pedagogy Toolkit: Module 1
Challenges of Implementing Open Pedagogy
While OP offers transformative potential for higher education–both in terms of students’ role in the learning process and the affordability for students to gain access to necessary educational materials to succeed as students–implementation involves navigating both practical obstacles and fundamental questions about educational values. These values may be ones you have adopted from your institution, as well as those that you have formed from your own experiences as a learner and educator over time. The following challenges of implementing OP are accompanied by strategies drawn from research on OP.
Time and Effort
Designing, implementing, and maintaining OP projects can require a significant time investment, particularly when first developing these approaches. Time is important when redesigning any class, but with time and scaffolding, you can implement OP into your courses.
How to address this: Start small! Before overhauling your entire course in the name of OP, consider converting a single assignment or module of your course. Proper scaffolding helps students succeed while reducing the need for extensive intervention. The OER Starter Kit by Abby Elder offers practical guidance on effectively scaffolding OP assignments.
Quality Control
A common challenge in implementing OPs is the perception of variable quality and accuracy in open content, and peer-reviewed or curated resources may be limited in some disciplines.
How to address this: Frame this as an opportunity to develop students’ information literacy and critical evaluation skills. Engage students in discussions about knowledge production, dissemination, and evaluation. Explore how judgments about quality are made, who makes them, and how access influences these determinations. These conversations benefit both students and you while strengthening research and scholarly practices.
Digital Divide
OP often assumes equal access to technology and digital literacy, but students’ technological resources and skills vary significantly.
How to address this: Provide multiple opportunities for participation by offering offline access to materials when possible and allowing flexible submission formats. Choose freely available, simple tools over elaborate, costly platforms. Ask yourself: Can reading materials be downloaded for offline use? Is there a simpler alternative that accomplishes the same learning goals?
Assessment Challenges
Traditional grading systems that emphasize competition and comparative achievement may not align with collaborative, process-oriented OP work. Evaluating individual contributions within collaborative projects can be complex.
How to address this: Prioritize transparency through detailed rubrics, careful scaffolding, and alternative grading approaches that value process alongside product. Build in checkpoints that provide formative feedback to ensure both you and your students remain aligned throughout the project.
Institutional Barriers
Some institutions may not fully support or recognize OP efforts in promotion and tenure processes. Also, intellectual property concerns and limited incentives for faculty can create obstacles.
How to address this: Examine how OP aligns with your promotion and tenure requirements. Consider publishing materials in your institutional repository under a Creative Commons license before classroom use to establish intellectual property rights and contribute to the knowledge commons. Seek grants and funding opportunities that support OP integration. Consult resources like the DOERS3 Collaborative on OER in Tenure and Promotion and Valuing OER in the Tenure, Promotion, and Reappointment Process for guidance on documenting and framing this work.