As generative AI tools revolutionize content creation, many educators ask what students need to learn in this brave new world, and how to assess learning. This session explores the possibilities of open pedagogy in this evolving landscape, engaging students as information creators shaping learning, rather than vessels to be filled.
From its foundations, higher education has leaned into content creation as a yardstick for assessing academic prowess and scholarship, whether the content involves treatises, books, journal articles, or essay questions. But as generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools make it easier than ever to produce new, and by some definitions “original” content, questions surface about what types of knowledge and skill-building educational programs should offer today, and how to assess student learning in the age of AI.
This panel discussion explores ‘open pedagogy’, an approach to teaching & learning that is particularly well-suited for this shifting, AI-infused landscape. Open pedagogy engages students as partners and co-creators in the learning process. It starts with an assumption that learning should be experiential as students demonstrate learning through the process of creation. An open pedagogy approach might invite learners to help shape the learning outcomes, syllabus, or learning activities. It might involve students co-creating, remixing, or adding improvements to textbooks and other learning materials and then evaluating the work of their peers. It might ask students to create or adapt openly licensed learning content so that it better represents diverse, culturally-relevant voices and perspectives.
This session begins by engaging the audience in a brief online survey inquiring about attitudes towards generative AI in the classroom as well as open pedagogy techniques. These survey results will be shared in real time, as helpful framing for panelist remarks and discussion.
The session moderator will briefly review survey results and then introduce a panel of open pedagogy experts from different organizations and disciplines. Each panelist will share a brief, time-limited presentation about how they are using open pedagogy techniques to enhance student learning, and how they see generative AI threading into classroom engagement and assessment. They will explore questions such as: Why is open pedagogy relevant and applicable in today’s educational environments? How does the ready availability of generative AI alter how you approach open pedagogy activities, if at all? In what ways does open pedagogy provide opportunities to harness the power of AI in the service of learning? Where do you see the future of assessment heading, as higher education adapts to new technological realities?
Following panelist remarks, a 10+ minute moderated Q&A discussion will invite the audience to engage with the panel to delve deeper into questions around the intersection of AI and open pedagogy. The session will wrap up by asking the audience to take the survey a second time, sharing results in real time to reveal whether attitudes have shifted as a result of the panel discussion.
Session takeaways include:
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General perceptions of open pedagogy and the impact of generative AI in the classroom
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Nuanced understanding of open pedagogy techniques and how they can support student learning and address challenges in assessing student learning
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Strategies for harnessing the power of generative AI or mitigating its negative impacts using open pedagogy techniques to engage students in content creation
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Ideas for how to use open pedagogy techniques to engage students in ways that increase diversity, inclusion, and cultural relevance in learning experiences