Case Studies on Students as Producers

ETUG Fall Workshop 2013

Novak RogicWill Engle

Mike Neary:

Student as Producer is a development of the University of Lincoln’s policy of research-informed teaching to research-engaged teaching. Research-engaged teaching involves more research and research-like activities at the core of the undergraduate curriculum.

http://studentasproducer.lincoln.ac.uk

Mike Neary:

...emphasises the role of the student as collaborators in the production of knowledge. The capacity for Student as Producer is grounded in the human attributes of creativity and desire, so that students can recognise themselves in a world of their own design.

Derek Bruff:

(Neary) argues students should move from being the object of the educational process to its subject. Students should not be merely consumers of knowledge but producers, engaged in meaningful, generative work alongside the university’s faculty.

-http://cft.vanderbilt.edu/2013/09/students-as-producers-an-introduction/

What makes a course a “Students as Producers” course?

Derek Bruff:

● Students are asked to work on problems that haven’t been fully solved or questions that haven’t been fully answered.

● Students are asked to share their work with others, not just their instructor.

● Students are given a degree of autonomy in their work.

University Values and Student Producers

UBC Values:

● openness● advancing and sharing knowledge● seeks every opportunity to share them broadly

Given its mission, seems that it is natural to have student creating; we seem to have the goodwill, tools etc..

Case Studies: Open Impacts

Global Impact:

Murder, Madness and Mayhem: Number of Wikipedia articles where several got the featured article status.

Jon Beasley-Murray: “in the end, an essay or an exam is an instance of busywork: usually written in haste; for one particular reader, the professor; and thereafter discarded.”

Local Impact:

Students are advising on soil improvement

The University’s Mission; The Educational Technologists’ Responsibility

● Neither of these examples are using University provided technology, while still making impact on two extreme ends.

● Great, but how often can we have these types of scenarios?● University is committed with its mission, vision and values,

and it needs to find the means to connect to local and global community.

● We do need University-provided technology to make an impact that starts locally and can scale globally: robust, user-friendly, flexible, scalable

Case Studies: Rethink Curriculum● Judy Chan asks students to create wiki pages rather than posters: http://wiki.

ubc.ca/Course:FNH200

● Jon teaches Video Game Law and wants lectures online, exposure, sharing and interaction: http://videogame.law.ubc.ca

● Christina teaches Arts One and wants students to create and share discussion, knowledge, with each other and the world

● Eduardo sends 300 students to explore, engage with community and document:

● Math students create sharable, reusable resource

Outcomes● Quality of work went up significantly

● Viewing went from dozens to thousands

● On permanent display at UBC, promotes UBC, aligned w/values

● Students learn open culture, wiki editing, keep their work

● Open to ongoing improvements and additions (students, world)

Outcomes (cont.)

● Contribution to public knowledge, can be republished and remixed (cannot do this with Coursera or most LMSs)

● Increased interactions with local and global community

● The best way to promote a university is to expose the work of its people

Where Do We Go From Here

Technology: Robustness, Flexibility, ScalabilityBuy-in on Pedagogy, Openness: LMS in the centre?User Experience (adopt new means of interaction)Teaching entrepreneurs, lead users, generalists We cannot afford to plan, have recipes, hire specialistsLots of resources so we need validation, Lean, MVPPhylo game and this changed my practice - running on the same platform - very different looks, incentives for learners

How Learning Works:

Ambrose, Susan A.. How Learning Works : Seven Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching.

BC Open Open Education Chats

A series of online discussions on the state and progress of open education in the province.

http://wiki.ubc.ca/Sandbox:BC_Open_Open_Education_Chat