Festival of Learning 2020

Session Title: Student Perceptions of Openness: Survey of Current Literature
To date, there is little research that speaks to the student perceptions of open education environments (Childs, Axe, Veletsianos & Webster, 2019). As higher education institutions change to meet the requirements of contemporary learners, there is a need to discuss the benefits and challenges of implementing open education practices in these spaces. This session will share a review of current literature focused on student perceptions of open educational practices and digital pedagogies implemented within open education environments.  By open education environments, we refer to practices that include student and instructor use of institutionally supported open source blogging and other collaboration tools accessible on the open Web, as well as learner-chosen social media. Having an enhanced understanding of the student experience provides course developers and instructors insights into supports that are necessary for students and faculty working in open education environments. Themes emerging from the literature review as well as the gaps that were identified will be discussed. In addition, challenges in addressing these gaps and obtaining student views will be explored. A detailed author matrix and reference list will be shared, and implications for practice identified.