Kelly Steidinger, Dr. Angela McGowan-Kirsch
Department of Communication faculty Angela McGowan-Kirsch and Kelly Steidinger recently had an article, “Fostering Inclusive Communities through a Student-Constructed Open Pedagogy Textbook,” published in the May issue of the online journal College Teaching.
College Teaching publishes research on issues in teaching and learning at the undergraduate and graduate levels that include teaching methods and other instructional practices.
The pair’s manuscript thoughtfully reflects on and summarizes the evolution of a learner-centric Open Education Practice that they administer in Health Communication and Communication Theory courses. It offers practical strategies for instructors assigning a student-authored Open Educational Resource (OER).
In the essay, the authors advocate for the importance of designing open pedagogy renewable assessments, namely a student-authored OER textbook, that encourage the acquisition of course knowledge by utilizing a constructivist and social justice approach. The article can be accessed here.
Assignments discussed in the article were part of the Professional Development Center and Reed Library’s Open Pedagogy Incentive program. The Department of Communication faculty presented the research at the 2023 SUNY Digital Learning Conference and are scheduled to present a similar paper at this year’s Digital Pedagogy Institute.
Associate Professor McGowan-Kirsch and Adjunct Lecturer Steidinger are also co-editing a book with Senior Assistant Librarian Christina Hilburger, of Daniel Reed Library, that exclusively discusses open pedagogy renewable assessment. The book, which is under contract with Milne Publishing, is titled “Emphasizing a Student-Centered Process: Open Pedagogy Course Assessments Across Disciplines.”
This article serves as a jumping-off point for the larger project.
