Hiking Together: Open Pedagogy
Building Consent in the Classroom: Privacy and Vulnerability
Learning Objectives
By the end of 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
Select arrow for copyright and open licensing policies
U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, Sec. 106) protects any work by an author, including creations students produce as part of their coursework. 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.
Select arrow for educational privacy laws
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.
Your Turn: Map Your Students’ Rights
Select the arrows on the roadmap below to read how you may scaffold educating students about their rights as well as useful resources for doing so. Next, map your own timeline and resources needed to ensure your students are informed. At the end of the tutorial, you may export and save your reflection.
Select the arrow for an accessible version of the Roadmap interactivity
Scaffolding Student Rights
Now that you have considered the need to continually inform students of their copyrights and educational privacy rights, let’s revisit the roadmap for scaffolding open pedagogy that we discussed in “Disposable and Renewable Assignments.”
Below you can see we have suggested opportunities for students to read The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit or Technology Tools for Teaching in Higher Education, The Practical Handbook Series.
Roadmap – Scaffolded Experiences are Integral
Image description: A horizontal roadmap titled “Roadmap – Scaffolded Experiences are Integral” shows a winding gray road with seven numbered milestones. The milestones move from left to right:
- Expectation setting: What will they be doing, and why?
- Walk your students through the expectations of the class, assignment, or project. You should explain to them clearly what they will be doing and why.
- Possible reading: “What is Open Pedagogy” from The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit.
- What does working in Open mean? Creative Commons Training
- Talk to your students about what working in the open means. You should review concepts like the 5 R’s, Creative Commons Licensing, and your rights as creators.
- Possible reading: “So You’re the Creator, Now What?” from The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit.
- Tool training.
- If you are using any digital tools in your class, you should provide training sessions so your students feel confident in using the tools.
- Possible readings: Finding and Using Openly Licensed Images: A Quick Guide for Students and Technology Tools for Teaching in Higher Education, The Practical Handbook Series (includes a chapter on Pressbooks).
- Work happens.
- Once the background of the class, assignment, and/or tool has been established, students start working on their project. Students will begin to figure out where they might need more help and where they feel confident
- Check in: How is the work going? Where do they need support?
- You should schedule several check-in points throughout the semester to ensure students’ progress. You should see how the work is going and what additional support your students might need.
- Final projects get turned in/Student Authoring Agreement Signed
- You’ve reached the end of the semester! Students will turn in their final project with a signed authoring agreement.
- Check licenses and publish final version.
- Review the final projects and double-check the licenses and authoring agreements. Kindly notify students of any suggested revisions or feedback and if you would like to publish their work. Continue to provide students the option to opt out of sharing their work.
Note what resources (readings, tools, or experts) you will need to properly scaffold informing students of their educational privacy rights and copyrights.
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 affect 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.
Your Turn: Scaffolding Rights for Humans
Select the arrows to read strategies for scaffolding your students’ rights in holistic and transparent teaching practices. This tutorial is best viewed in full screen. Select the four-pointed arrow in the top right of the tutorial to expand to full screen.
Remember, as you grapple with these issues, you have your support team. Reach out to your OER librarian or program coordinator to talk about designing and implementing your open pedagogy assignment.
Recommended Readings
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.
Witman, J. (2023). The Open Pedagogy Student Toolkit. CC BY 4.0.
- Eric Werth & Katherine Williams. (2021). What motivates students about open pedagogy? Motivational regulation through the lens of self-determination theory. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 22(3), 34–54. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v22i3.5373 ↵
- Arao and Clemens, 2013, 143. ↵
