Open Education: open as in mindset
Mann, S., and O’Brien, R.
Increasingly we are being called upon to deliver education that is transformative, self-determined and preparing learners for futures in a rapidly changing world. Often learners have clear change agendas with very different ideas about the value of learning and what and how they want to learn. In designing educational programmes concepts such as constructive alignment provide a structure for learning design and specifying learning journeys. However, as usually applied, the closed cascade of graduate profiles through learning outcomes and assessments leads to tightly prescribed inputs and outputs with little room for authentic learning, for self-determination, or for unexpected learning journeys. In this paper, we introduce a wider interpretation of Open Education – one that focuses on the openness of the educator to being a collaborator with the learner in the design of the learner’s journey – open as in mindset. We describe the application of open principles to the design of a heutagogically-based programme, the Bachelor of Leadership for Change. We show that an open approach is fundamental to this programme – from an open-ended graduate profile to open pedagogy and using (and producing) open resources. We expect this application of Open Education to dramatically change the face of education.
Speaker profiles
Samuel Mann is a Professor within Capable NZ, Otago Polytechnic’s school of work-based learning and professional practice. He led the development of the Doctorate of Professional Practice and the Bachelor of Leadership for Change. He is on Research and Study Leave this semester, exploring how we integrate complex narratives into learning, research and practice, focussing on socioecological transformation and professional practice.
Ray O’Brien works across several areas at Otago Polytechnic, but at the core of all of them he is a learning designer. He has been part of the team designing and implementing the Bachelor of Leadership for Change and specialises in the integration of sustainable practice into programmes across many disciplines.
Event Timeslots (1)
Track 2 (Room Z115)
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Sam Mann and Ray O'Brien
