EDCI 337 and 335

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Category: EDCI 335

Open Pedagogies: Why Your Assignments Should Matter Beyond the Grade – Blog post 2

What Is Open Pedagogy?

Most assignments follow the same pattern: write it, submit it, never see it again. Open pedagogy challenges that. Instead of creating work that disappears into a dropbox, learners produce things that live in the real world and actually mean something to someone outside the classroom.

David Wiley describes this through the idea of renewable assignments, work that has value beyond the course. The opposite is a “disposable assignment,” something only your professor ever reads. Open pedagogy shifts learning from private consumption to public contribution. Content is freely shared under Creative Commons licensing, learners have real agency over what they create, and work is published for a real audience rather than just graded.

In technology-mediated environments, specifically, this matters a lot. The tools and platforms we choose are not neutral; hosting something on a public WordPress site versus submitting a PDF to Brightspace sends a completely different message about who the work is for.

How It Aligns With Our Topic

Our group is teaching how passwords are stored, hashing, salting, and digital security. Open pedagogy fits naturally here because digital security literacy benefits everyone, not just students enrolled in a course.

We plan to host resources publicly on WordPress so that anyone can find and learn from them. That is open pedagogy in practice. The way we designed, like the Crack the Hash Challenge using CrackStation.net, also reflects these value, learners experiment with real tools and draw their own conclusions rather than passively absorbing definitions. Choosing free public tools like HaveIBeenPwned instead of paywalled software reinforces openness at every level of the design.

Comments

Comments

Reference

Wiley, D. (2013). What is open pedagogy? Iterating toward openness.

https://opencontent.org/blog/archives/2975

Why I Quit a Machine Learning Course (And What I Learned From It)

The summer before my third year, I signed up for a deep learning course on Coursera. I was genuinely excited — I had a research co-op coming up and wanted to actually understand what I’d be working on. The first few weeks felt great. The videos were clear, the pace felt manageable, and I was picking things up.

Then week four hit, and everything changed.

The assignments got harder fast, with barely any explanation of what was expected. The only feedback I got was pass or fail — no hints, no guidance, just a score. I’d spend an hour on something, get a fail, and have no idea where I went wrong. The discussion forums were basically empty, so there was no one to even ask. I slowly just… stopped logging in.

Looking back, it makes a lot of sense why I lost motivation. Ertmer and Newby (2013) talk about how learners need to feel competence — like they’re actually growing. When your only feedback is a binary score, that feeling never comes. Self-Determination Theory adds two more pieces: relatedness (feeling connected to people around you) and autonomy (having some say in how you learn). Both were completely missing for me.

Weller (2020) describes connectivism — the idea that real learning happens through networks of people and resources, not just one course in isolation. Funnily enough, I actually did end up learning the material — just not from that course. I switched to fast.ai, read papers, and talked through concepts with grad students at my lab. Messier, but way more effective.

If that Coursera course had included even simple things — peer discussion, flexible projects, links to active communities — I think I would have finished it. Motivation isn’t just willpower. It’s built into the design.

References

Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (2013). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 26(2), 43–71. https://pressbooks.pub/lidtfoundations/chapter/behaviorism-cognitivism-constructivism/

Weller, M. (2020). 25 years of ed tech. AU Press. https://aulasvirtuales.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/25-years-of-ed-tech-by-martin-weller.pdf

Sneh Duggal – Self Introduction ( EDCI 335)

Hi everyone!

My name is Sneh and I’m a 4th year Computer Science student at UVic, expected to graduate in May 2027.

My degree has pulled me towards AI and machine learning — I recently finished a co-op at the National Research Council of Canada doing AI research, which was one of the best experiences I’ve had so far. Getting to work on real research problems outside of the classroom really solidified my interest in the field.

I grew up in Seattle and moved to Victoria for university. I’ve come to really love it here — great city, great people.

Outside of school I stay pretty active. I play badminton, train jiu jitsu, and spend a lot of time with friends and family. Something most people don’t expect — I’ve been playing piano for years and performed at every high school talent show, and even played at Victoria’s Got Talent at UVic!

I don’t have much background in educational technology or open learning, so EDCI 335 will be a new experience for me. I’m genuinely curious to learn how technology shapes the way people teach and learn, and I’m looking forward to connecting with everyone in the course!