Abstract:

This paper outlines my experiences of teaching a new module. EDM122: Digital Literacies and Open Practice is part of the MA in Academic Practice at City University of London aimed at teaching staff. It is a 15 credit module for those completing the ‘technology enabled’ route through the programme and compliments the core module EDM116: Technology Enabled Academic Practice. Teaching on a similar course at the University of Manchester partly influenced the decision to create this module, but it was also shaped by concepts such as the Digital Scholar (Weller, 2011) and the idea of ‘Residents and Visitors’ (White and Le Cornu, 2011). It combines my research interest in copyright literacy and online learning (Morrison and Secker, 2018, Secker and Morrison, 2016) and explores how these relates to concepts such as open praxis (Cronin, 2017).

The session will provide an overview of the course, how it was designed, assessed and some feedback from two cohorts. An important component of the course has been a blog and public webinar series with a series of guest speakers (see https://blogs.city.ac.uk/dilop/webinars/). External delegates have been able to participate in the webinars and the course has attracted interest externally.

I will also share findings from my research into the attitudes of staff towards digital literacies and open practice and the implications for their own teaching. I’ll consider how we support staff to become more digitally literate and suggest ways of supporting teachers to become more confident in sharing their practices openly. During the session we will consider the following questions:
• How do staff understand terms such as digital literacy and open practice in relation to their own and their students’ abilities?
• Where do issues such as open education policies, copyright literacy and digital literacies fits into institutional strategies and policies?

Some of my experiences have also been shaped by the international community of open educators and I taught a version of this course in Uruguay in August 2018. I’ll provide a short reflection on the lessons learnt from these participants that shaped my own thinking about what openness might mean. During the session participants will have a chance to contribute their own reflections on the content of the course and I will share a write up of the event on the course blog after the conference.

References:
[1] Cronin, C. (2017). Openness and praxis: Exploring the use of open educational practices in higher education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 18(5).
[2] Morrison, C & Secker, J. (2017). Understanding librarians’ experiences of copyright: findings from a phenomenographic study of UK information professionals. Library Management, 38 (6/7)
[3] Secker J and Morrison C. (2016) Copyright and E-learning: a guide for practitioners. Facet Publishing: London.
[4] University of Manchester (2018) Open Knowledge in Higher Education. Available at: https://medium.com/open-knowledge-in-he/about
[5] Weller, M (2011) The Digital Scholar: How Technology Is Transforming Scholarly Practice. London: Bloomsbury Academic. Available online: https://www.bloomsburycollections.com/book/the-digital-scholar-how-technology-is-transforming-scholarly-practice/
[6] White, D. S., & Le Cornu, A. (2011). Visitors and Residents: A new typology for online engagement. First Monday, 16(9).

Keywords:

Digital literacy, open practice, staff experiences, technology enabled learning.