Open Pedagogy
6.5 Building Consent in the Classroom: Privacy and Vulnerability
Karna Younger
Learning Objectives
In this chapter you will
- scaffold your open pedagogy assignment in terms of student discomfort and educational and privacy rights.
When asking your students to engage in open pedagogy, you may find, as Eric Werth and Katherine Williams did, that many students are comfortable sharing their work publicly and appreciate the public recognition that comes with being identified with their work.[1] As many of you have experienced, though, not all students may be so enthusiastic for a variety of reasons, or they may change their mind.
Regardless of an individual student’s reaction to open pedagogy, you have to be informed of and educate students about their legal rights — copyright and educational privacy. You also have the precarious practice of caring for vulnerable learners tackling difficult topics, skills, or emotions in your class and their lives. In this chapter, we will briefly discuss the basic concepts and then give you some tips and tools for transparently partnering with students.
Students’ Legal Rights
Copyright and Open Licensing
U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, Sec. 106) protects any work by an author, including creations students produce as part of their course work. Academic institutions may have copyright or intellectual property (IP) policies to clarify copyright ownership in cases of work created for a course or under student employment (known as works made for hire). If your institution has an IP policy for students, we recommend reading your institution’s policy.
- Intellectual Property Policy for Loyola Marymount University
- Intellectual Property Policy for Santa Clara University
- Open Access Policy of the University of San Francisco (USF)
Being grounded in your institution’s IP policy and copyright basics will enable you to educate students about their copyrights and open licensing, such as Creative Commons or Traditional Knowledge Labels.
Educational Privacy
As you likely know, FERPA (Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99) prevents an institution from disclosing or publishing student work without prior written consent. It is also important to communicate to students that their decision to participate in the open pedagogy project will not impact their grades.
We recommend providing these assurances throughout the term and providing plenty of opportunities for students to opt out, even after their work is published.
Informed Student Consent
As part of an informed consent process for sharing student work, we recommend scaffolding discussions and learning opportunities for students from the first day of class onward. You could supplement discussions with readings from The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit or Technology Tools for Teaching in Higher Education, The Practical Handbook Series. You may also ask your liaison librarian or other expert to be a guest speaker or lead a discussion to help students understand their rights.
At the end of the semester, you will ask students to openly license their materials and grant you permission to share them under mutually agreed upon terms. We have created student consent forms for each of your institutions. Even after the semester has ended, though, we suggest remaining flexible with students who may want to take down or improve their work.
Vulnerability in Risk-Taking
It is vital to respect the risks students take in open pedagogy to encourage and protect the vulnerabilities of your students and yourself, as Rajiv Jhangiani has argued in his 5 Rs for Open Pedagogy. Trying to predict and accommodate the many uncontrollable and unknown factors that can effect student learning, can feel like walking a tightrope. You are pushing students “to the edges of their comfort zones to maximize learning,” creating “brave spaces” with and for learners.[2]
For us, creating brave spaces means we have to provide options for students to pick the path that is challenging, or uncomfortable enough, for them. It also means clearly and consistently communicating learning goals, expectations, and student rights throughout the semester, building trust with your students. In sum, you are making certain students are informed and supported before they consent to sharing their work. Many of you already have talked about how you do this, but below are some additional frameworks that may be of interest.
Scaffold Student Rights, Build Buy-In
Below are two approaches to building student buy-in for sharing their work while respecting students’ discomfort for sharing as well as rights. Pick one of the below to reflect on your open pedagogy assignment.
Strategy: The Renewable Assignment Spectrum
Strategy: Validating Discomfort through Assignment Design
Resources
Arao, B. and Clemens, K. (2013). From Safe Spaces to Brave Spaces: A New Way to Frame Dialogue Around Diversity and Social Justice. In L.M. Landreman (Ed.) The Art of Effective Facilitation (pp. 135-150). Routledge.
Bali, M. (2020). Building Trust & Creating Online Safe Spaces for Marginalized Participants. Reflecting Allowed: Maha Bali’s blog about education. CC BY-NC 4.0.
Ferns, S., et al. (2020). Technology Tools for Teaching in Higher Education, The Practical Handbook Series. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
Grey. A. (2023). Building-in Student Buy-in: Disposable vs Renewable Assignments. KPU Teaching and Learning. CC BY 4.0.
Hofer, A. “Your Discomfort is Valid: Big Feelings and Open Pedagogy.” CC BY 4.0.
Jhangiani, R. (2029). 5 Rs for Open Pedagogy. Rajiv Jhangiani, PhD.
Pearce, L., Lin Hanick, S., Hofer, A.R., Townsend, L., and Willi Hooper, M. “Open Pedagogy & Student Discomfort: Visual Model Blank Template.” CC BY-SA 4.0.
Pearce, L., Lin Hanick, S., Hofer, A., Townsend, L., and Willi Hooper, M. (2022). “Your Discomfort Is Valid: Big Feelings and Open Pedagogy,” Knowledge Cultures 10(2): 24-51. https://doi.org/10.22381/kc10220222.
Taylor, K.B., & Baker, A.R. (2019). Examining the Role of Discomfort in Collegiate Learning and Development. Journal of College Student Development 60(2), 173-188. https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/csd.2019.0017.
Werth, E. and Williams, K. (2021). Exploring Student Perceptions as Co-authors of Course Material. Open Praxis, 13(1), 53-67. https://doi.org/10.5944/openpraxis.13.1.1187.
Witman, J. (2023). The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit. CC BY 4.0.
