Daniela Gachago, Eunice Ivala, Cheryl Belford, Xena Cupido, Hillary Hartle, Suzaan Le Roux, Candice Livingston, Janine Lockhart, Andre Steenkamp, Bronwyn Swartz Cape Peninsula University of Technology

1. Daniela Gachago, Cheryl Belford and Bronwyn Swartz
Centre for Innovative Educational Technology
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
gachagogd@cput.ac.za / @dgachago17
Towards (ethical) OEP in
times of disruptions

2. Founded in 2014 - merger
Largest institution in the Western Cape
Serving predominantly underprivileged students
CC - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CPUT_Cape_Town_Campus.jpg

3. context
Institutional research project:
Phase 1: OER staff and student survey
Phase 2: Selection of eight OER pilots
Importance of Community of Practice
Disruption / #FMF: September - October
2016
Four lecturers involved in teaching -
three continued, one did not
Open Educational Practices?

4. 2016 CPUT OER pilots

5. Open educational practices
- Move from OER towards OEP
- ‘range of practices around the creation, use, and
management of open educational resources with the intent
to improve quality and innovate education’. (Andrade et al 2011)
- ‘[i]mmersion in using and creating OER requires a
significant change in practice and the development of
specific attributes, such as openness, connectedness,
trust, and innovation’ (Hegarty 2015)

6. ‘the special sauce’ are not contents
produced but ‘the connections people
make, the community that forms, and
the identities they forge’(Luke 2017)

7. Bronwyn’s case
Previously used online technology (LMS) in teaching practice
#FMF triggered online activity more than ever before
WhatsApp and YouTube became additional teaching tools

8. Cheryl’s case
Journey starts with exposure to OEP (Literature or Project)
Become active in technology (Google, Scribing, audioclip)
Try something - PPoint, WhatsApp, video, etc
Measure it (Marks, response rate, survey, reflections)
Reflect, Revisit, Revise, Reissue

9. Open Pedagogy?
Inspirational?

10. Tensions that emerged from the project
● Localisation vs Shareability
● Institutional requirements vs flexibility/access
● LMS vs open platforms
● Openness vs safety
● Quality vs responding quickly to needs
● Continuation of academic project vs supporting
movement
● Supporting many vs supporting all
● ...

11. Disruption as positive trigger to more openness
Step towards blended learning easier for lecturers because of
involvement in OER project
Definition of openness too limiting (Czerniewicz et al 2016)?
Open is as open does (Smith 2016)
Move towards openness / openness as a journey
Ethics of openness (Archer and Prinsloo 2017)?
Some preliminary conclusions...

12. Being able and willing to respond
to change and disruption
1.Being attentive to your students’ needs
2.Taking responsibility
3.Being competent - being prepared &
capable
4.Establishing communication channels
with students - responsiveness
5.Solidarity? ( to think seriously about
Joan Tronto (1993). Moral Boundaries:
A Political Argument for an Ethic of
Care. New York: Routledge.
Towards an Ethics of Openness in our context

13. referencesAny questions?
https://goo.gl/3I7jd2
http://www.cput.ac.za/blogs/oer/
gachagod@cput.ac.za - belfordc@cput.ac.za - swartzb@cput.ac.za

14. References
Andrade, A., Caine, A., and Carneiro, R., 2011. Beyond OER: Shifting Focus to
Open Educational Practices: (OPAL Report 2011). Due-Publico, Essen. …, 1–191.
Archer, E. and Prinsloo, P., 2017. Some exploratory thought on openness and an
ethics of care. In: D. Singh and C. Stueckelberger, eds. Ethics in higher
education research. globethics.net.
Hegarty, B., 2015. Attributes of Open Pedagogy : A Model for Using Open
Educational. Educational Technology, (August), 3–13.
Luke, J., 2017. The OER Content Trap [online]. Econproph. Available from:
https://econproph.com/2017/02/18/the-oer-content-trap/.
Tronto, J., 1993. Moral boundaries: A political argument for an ethic of care.
New York & London: Routledge.