The Open Turn: Portraits, Practices, and Perspectives on the Remix of Open Educational Resources
Author
Gunder, AngelaIssue Date
2021Advisor
Gilmore, PerrySmith, Blaine
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
The University of Arizona.Rights
Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction, presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.Abstract
Open remix, defined as the objects, processes, and mindsets developed through the act of combining or manipulating open educational resources to create something new (Hilton et al., 2010; Knobel & Lankshear, 2008; Lessig, 2004; Wiley, n.d.), serves as an effective teaching and learning practice for its propensity to expand technological understanding, communication across semiotic modes, and engagement in networked communities. While remix has been positioned as a significant digital literacies practice and an open educational practice, respectively, there is a lack of empirical studies rooted in critical ethnographic approaches that capture the perspectives and practices of open remixers as observed across diverse, socioculturally situated contexts. This qualitative study uses the research method of portraiture to surface the connections between digital literacies and open educational practices through the lens of open remix. Through a series of portraits of educators who actively engage in open remix across the globe, this study spotlights the digital literacies practices employed within open remix, including how remix is employed in digitally-mediated contexts to create new ideas, mindsets, systems, and processes. Data sources include screen capture observations of the open remix process, participant retrospective interviews on open remix and digital literacies practices, as well as a multimodal analysis of the open educational resources created and shared by the participants. A sociocultural framing centers on the people and practices within open remix, calling for a shift in focus from the products created (open educational resources or OER) toward the open educational practitioners themselves, engaging in constructivist, social, and collaborative remix within digital spaces (Amiel, 2013; Beetham et al., 2012; Cronin, 2017; Ehlers & Conole, 2010; Havemann, 2016). Furthermore, this research study contributes to the field’s understanding of how open practices such as remix do not automatically achieve the goals of open pedagogy, highlighting across multiple cases how open remixers actively combat external sociocultural factors of privilege and power that seek to limit openness. Ultimately, this inquiry offers the field a new classification of a sociocultural grounding of open remix as an “open turn,” thereby recognizing the complexity and personalization of open remix across global contexts and the shift in the open community towards more inclusive values and perspectives on open remix.Type
textElectronic Dissertation
Degree Name
Ph.D.Degree Level
doctoralDegree Program
Graduate CollegeLanguage, Reading & Culture