 Hello everyone and welcome to the session on learners as partners co-creating an open textbook. I'm really pleased to introduce our presenter today, Sean Ferns, and without further ado, I'm going to hand over to Sean. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Emma, for the introduction. So to keep myself on time as we discuss or explore learners as partners and students creating an open textbook, I've created a video which I'll play now and then I'll be happy to answer any questions at the end of the presentation. Thank you. Hello, my name is Sean Ferns and I'm delighted to be able to discuss the development of the OER resource developed by learners as partners. And this is very much their work. It's a celebration of their blood, sweat, tears, effort, creativity, and the creation of this open textbook. Before I begin, I'd like a big thank you to the OER 22 committee for all the hard work and organizing. This reflective practice session will explore the development of a process for positioning learners as co-creators of an open textbook. It describes the delivery of a multimedia development module as part of the second year creative digital media program at TU Dublin during semester two of 2021. In the initial stages of this semester, learners were encouraged to co-design their module based on the learning outcomes. They decided to develop a textbook that would be of value to future learners. Supported by the Blanchardstown Library staff of TU Dublin through 12 weeks of the semester, 32 individual sections comprising six chapters were collated into an OER textbook called Game Design and Development. This textbook was created by students, four students, and this is their story. The way I'm here to describe the development of the OER that was developed with students in semester two, I really need to set the scene or the context by quickly discussing the previous multimedia development module. As part of multimedia development one, students learn how to use the Unity game and engine. It includes an introduction of the game engine, process for developing games, and this is half the workload for that module. The other half was examining literature around the process for game design and game development and then reflecting on this through their e-portfolios. Each student at the beginning of this semester developed their own e-portfolio solution, most selected blogger, and I offered instructions for a variety of platforms so each student set up their blog. Multimedia development two, we build on those technical game engine skills over the course of the second semester. So we switch our focus from a blog reflective type writing to a more academically focused type of writing, still dealing with the same type of topics around game design and game development, though through a more academic lens. To sum up we use the Unity game engine for developing technical skills and knowledge and then we use the process around writing for different audiences across the two semesters. Some of the pedagogical approaches that then feed into this and I would suggest we're the key enablers of success for this approach. The first is on grading and for these modules in particular I've been using different flavors of them grading for approximately five years based loosely on the writings of Jesse Stommels and Laura Gibbs practical approach of contract gating. I've then built it in with other pieces I've developed over the years that purpose of taking fear away from the learner's approach to engagement. In addition, inspired by some of the work around Malibaha, pedagogy of care and Catherine Cohn's capabilities and our open work through the national forum and the open badges programs. I approach with a greater focus on community building particularly because of COVID but I think I was moving this way anyways to the importance of the need to create a community of learners and the importance of meeting each of the learners individually and this was part of the transform of nature of the work that was done. In supporting learners with the goals of living a pedagogy of a care approach I leaned heavily on universal design for learning framework. The framework helps me to support learners to be able to engage to the best of their ability. Practical elements like audio in terms of feedback and in terms of instructions on top of that written feedback and written instructions I think help to support the learners throughout the process. In terms of developing the community for example, timing around work I began to start classes at quarter past nine to allow students to deal with their family caring commitments and to be honest I used to show up before nine and some of the best parts of my day was talking with the students that showed up early from nine o'clock. By the end of semester two someone started bringing musical instruments and we used to have a bit of a session before the class started the quarter past nine. So again I come back to this view that it was the underpinning of ungrading supported through the pedagogy of care approach and with that universal design framework that helped create the community within the classroom. This allowed us to have confidence in each other to approach the development of the open sourced textbook. Some of the practical approaches and just to add to that discussion I purposely don't want to focus on technology but as you see we've talked about using blogger as an e-portfolio already and I'll quickly describe some of the elements on the website we developed for the module and the use of google docs and in this I'm leaning on some of Tim Fawn's recent descriptions of the interwoven or entangled dance of technology in pedagogy. Definitely in all of the work to the development of the OER I see that the technology tools is enablers and I see the pedagogy and the technology working in tandem. From a practical approach a website that was developed for the module that was open and still is open and hosted on reclaim hosting. This was developed for many reasons though primarily to be in solidarity with the students I was asking them to place their thoughts and ideas and prototypes and drafts up on their e-portfolios and their blog sites and present a public and open face to all of their work. I felt it was only right that I do the same so several years ago I took the decision that all modules I deliver would be supported with an open website. The website allowed me to add features that Universal Design for Learning Framework suggests around multiple means of representation. So for example many of the instructions on the weekly tasks they complete are written out and hopefully are presented in plain English. Each instruction is also supported with an audio version and to note throughout the semester feedback was presented both in an unwritten audio format to our learners. In reflections from the students they highlighted this in particular. Some identified an actual need for those audio descriptions but many thank me just for the added effort that went into ensuring the materials accessible as possible. In addition through some of the instructions might have been long-winded I brought again on Laurie Gibb's work and you can see that in the blue box at the bottom of your screen there with a short description of the work that must be done for each task. In addition through the use of the website and the students e-portfolios or blogs we use Google Docs then for the development of the actual game design development textbook. Again allow to allow for our work to be open to allow everyone to engage with the work as we progressed was very beneficial for using triads for peer feedback sessions. And lastly before I get into the actual development of the textbook I had confidence that we could practically deliver this as I previously edited two OER resources and a collaboration through the Centre of Higher Education and Research Policy and Practice with colleagues from TU Dublin, Ontario Tech University and Durham College of Oshawa. So this gave me confidence both the approach and the process I had in place to support the development of the textbook and a particular note is the second book which had included a description of development an OER textbook published by Jordan Christie. So now to the development of the actual OER. So in December as we finish up semester one we had agreed that the textbook was our approach for semester two. Our very first week we got to the task of creating the outline for the book so identifying key themes or ideas or chapter headings that the learners might want to explore more and engage with over the following semester. That week we used a myro board to collate our thoughts and ideas around chapter headings, develop those in the sections and it was very interesting to see this play out that collaborative process and this is where I began to I think to reap the benefits of the community building that happened during semester one. Based on that outline I asked Lindsay Delling of the TU Dublin Blatchestown Library to support the students in accessing the resources that they would need to use to develop their own pieces of writing. Lindsay was professionally able to walk them through the databases, the use of citation tools and this important work helped to fill the learners with confidence in these fundamental tasks. One note to make at this point is to make use of the expertise and passion of librarians where possible they're absolutely brilliant. Week three based on the theme of the chapter the learners had selected we then worked through the supports provided by the library and the learners began to collate the series of documents to read and then develop their series of annotated bibliographies and I must say the annotated bibliography filled me with confidence in that fight against plagiarism. At every stage I could see the individual learners work develop. On average students developed between six and ten annotated bibliographies and lastly in week five learners were provided with a workshop and thematic analysis. This began to they began to identify the emerging themes from their own annotated bibliographies. Learners in their reflection stated this really enjoyable week. They enjoyed the process of thematic analysis and felt a little less taxing week after a really challenging first four to five weeks of the semester. This heavy front loading was a design feature acknowledging that some modules are less time heavy in the beginning of the semester and to take advantage of that in our work. In week six and seven learners were involved in the development of their individual paragraphs based on the emerging themes they had identified. Remember at this stage they've read six to ten pieces of academic literature. They've completed annotated bibliographies for each one. They've applied a thematic analysis to identify some emerging themes and they've used these emerging themes as headings or signposts for each paragraph. Week eight we moved into a peer review phase and this work heavily leaned on the national forum for the enhancement for teaching and learning open badge programs where they utilize a triad for peer review. So at this stage I randomly placed students in triads or groups of three to provide peer review and support for their chapters. Week nine was the week we added the interactivities in H5P.org. The students developed a series of interactive activities most goal in choosing for multiple choice or fill in the blank questions to add to their chapters. Again on reflection students found this as an enjoyable week and a break from the more literature focused work of the previous few weeks and this developed a balanced ebb flow to the workload for the semester. And just a reminder that the module is a five ECTS credit module six to eight hours workload on average with half the time focused on the development of the book and the other half on improving their unity technical skills. In preparation for week 10 I placed all the emerging sections into one document for ease of review. This in itself generated momentum and engagement at the conclusion element of the project. We completed a group review as a class for two hours and then we went through and left comments and offered guidance and improvement to each chapter in addition to a peer reviewed triad process again over that week. The last couple of weeks were for polishing as other modules in the semester in this program are ramping up in terms of workload for this module we were easing back so for the most part students had completed their tasks around the unity game engine so the technical element of the module was complete. In addition we were coming to a conclusion of the written piece. Week 11 they all designed their own visual element to add to their chapter which they thoroughly enjoyed on reflection. So each chapter now had at least one visual element a unique piece of writing and an interactive piece at the end. Students were then asked would they like to get contributed to the book cover and two students collaborated in the development of this. During week 12 I took the time to move the Google Docs version to press books and then each contributor were asked to complete a final review. In addition to this one student offered to write up a forward for the book on how it was developed and designed and the head of department of the informatics Daniel McSweeney kind of contributed to the forward. So here you can see a slide with an example of some of the student reflections and they really represent I think the general feeling of the student cohort. Many were fearful before it began some of the confidence building measures the ungrading approach the pedagogy of care and the universe design provided them some comfort but even with all that there was a fear around the process and the idea of writing in an academic sense. They acknowledged as a positive that they really enjoyed some of the research elements the readings they particularly valued the feedback on the annotated bibliographies and the sharing of each other's work and watching that development of that work as it progressed. They're quite happy now to understand the process of creating an academic piece of writing and then they talk about and it chimes with the ideas around authentic assessment that the scene of that finished piece and though that may be personally enjoying the academic writing but happy that they progressed in it and happy that their skills have improved from the beginning of the semester. Success for this approach was provided through the lecture Helen Williams a colleague of mine on the creative digital media program. She had this cohort of students the following year and she had previously identified that many struggled with the necessary academic writing and referencing skills. She noted though with this latest cohort of students there was a significant improvement in their writing competence and referencing skills and she attributes to the experience of the game through the development of the game design development book in year two. As well as Helen's kind comments a colleague of mine Irene McGinn has carried on with the delivery of these two multimedia development modules. She's continued to develop the OER book project using the format that we've just described and set out and she particularly highlights the potential for the development of peer interaction and feedback and acknowledges that the role of authentic assessment formats in helping to develop written academic skills. So the OER that we've developed that has just been described through the presentation now supplements the reading material for multimedia development one for this current academic year and has provided a living example for the current multimedia development two students in developing their own OER project. And finally a reflection and some personal views on the development of the OER. The ethical considerations of asking students to put their work out in an open platform through our work of the e-portfolio or the Google docs or the press books or even the Myro board played on me. Permission from each member of the course was given to use and share with opt-out opportunities at every stage and this offer was open at all times. Each learner could complete their work within the VLE if they so choose but even by adding these options I have concerns that they are strongly encouraged to use the open practice and they might feel disadvantaged if they opt out and I still search for a better solution for that. In addition ethical considerations around the celebration of the development of the book. I wanted the focus to be on their achievement and to celebrate that the library kindly shared their work on Twitter to acknowledge this. I need to further consider though how to properly celebrate their work without the focus being on the lecture involved as we've identified this is about their work in co-creating not about me. Building relationships was critical and most importantly were the learners to build a true community of practice and also with others. These include for example the library staff as mentioned and all of the creative digital media program team. They all had to have confidence in the work that we were doing within this module. Number three there on the screen and you can see some of the large impact numbers but hopefully as you've heard through this presentation today the total page views and the total visitors is the least relevant indicator of the impact of this work. The development of the students confidence, their engagement through the processes, the skills they've developed throughout the semester and the fact that their work is helping to shape future learners in this module is the real highlight and to conclude my three key takeaways. In order to provide learners with more choice and flexibility we need to design modules with more structure and not less and for example this look towards the work of Laurie Gibbs. Learners will engage include complete assignments without a grade. This leads really to the question does assessment really drive learning? I'm not so sure. And building community is a key enabler. It provides the foundation developing opportunities for learners to engage in a way that meets their needs. It opens the door for engagement and supports them in having the experience that they deserve. Thank you very much for listening. Thank you very much. Sean that was excellent. Thank you so much. We haven't had any questions or comments yet but I've got a couple of questions for you or one anyway. Sometimes you know working out this approach if you haven't done it before can be intimidating and I was just wondering if you had a colleague that was interested in working on this kind of project or in this partnership way. What would be the top tip that you would give them before they got started? It's interesting and much like our learners it's that fear of the unknown and when we engage with learners I think in a partnership approach compared to our traditional approaches is that chaos that comes with it but it's a healthy chaos and our traditional approach we work through stages and steps through the semester and we know where we are at every stage and I always get a nervous feeling in my stomach around week six or week seven of the semester when we're engaging as co-creators or partners that are we going to actually achieve our goals. I think is to have confidence both in yourself when you decide to go along this path but confidence in the students they always in my opinion come up trumps particularly when we really need them and they always reach the goal that they've set themselves. So I suppose by investing that time in the community at the beginning allowing them to share in the setting of the goals for the semester so it's not your goals it's theirs allows them to buy into the process and I suppose it's just to hold strong that week six or seven when you feel that not in your stomach when you might not just reach what you had planned at the start of the semester. And do you have because sometimes I think especially students students that I would have worked with sometimes when you say to them on what are your goals they're not they're not used to working in that way or being asked that question and I was just wondering and sometimes they're kind of flummoxed like it's almost like a trick but you know and I was just wondering do you have to support the students and gain in that confidence or thinking about what their goals are. 100% and I suppose I spent five minutes of the presentation talking about the semester before really and for me that was the grounding and it took probably a full semester to get that confidence between myself and the learners and the students there was a trust built up. I think the ungrading approach underpins all this really strongly and they didn't believe me when I told them I wouldn't be grading them in the first semester they would be grading themselves and it took us a year to believe that. So when we stepped into this bit about the second semester of them developing their own goals first of all they had a confidence and trust in me that we were working as partners for the semester and we developed those goals they acknowledged during the first semester that they were having difficulty around writing and that was part of that exploration at the end of the semester one is right we have this bit of space and time semester two I would like us to do some development of our academic writing based on their reflections in semester one what's a unique or in and of way we can do that but they recognize quite clearly that they had issues during semester one around writing so that was the catalyst for the rationale behind driving on with the book project with to give them a space to develop those writing skills and I think the library support and I can't emphasize this is enough and and the librarian herself Lindsay says sure I was only there two weeks with you but again it was to meet their goals that they had developed through I suppose the hard effort of semester one. Yeah so they were already sort of prepped for thinking about their their goals in that way and just we popped into the the comments area there a link to a document do you want to tell us about what's uh what's in the document there? Great yeah so I robbed this idea from Catherine Cronin many years ago to I went to one of her presentations where she always follows up with the document including all the details and comments and people that I've mentioned are pieces of work so I include that links to any of the books that I've mentioned or people who I've I've been inspired by to develop this approach so there's a series of links to follow there's a series of articles that that definitely influence this work here so feel free to enjoy. Well thank you very much Sean and thanks for the presentation I'm definitely going to use that to myself about using the video to keep myself to time that's great idea um is there anything you want to add before we finish this session? Only that I've shared both through that link and you can see in the slides there my contact details I'm more than happy to discuss or or look for areas of collaboration around the development and particularly with OER textbooks but more about creating opportunities for students to be partners. Thank you so much thank you very much Sean and thanks everyone for attending if you want to carry on the conversation you can do so in Discord but for now I'm going to end our broadcast thank you so much. Thanks Emma thank you