Fostering Open Pedagogy in Faculty Cohorts: Opportunities for Applying the Open Pedagogy Incubator Model

Abstract

This poster outlines a faculty cohort model for growing open pedagogical practices in an educational community. We provide an overview of our experience facilitating the Open Pedagogy Incubator, a semester-long program designed to incentivize faculty to go beyond the first step in open education - adopting open course materials - to engagement with open pedagogy.

Since 2020 the Open Pedagogy Incubator has brought together cohorts of six instructors to develop competencies in open pedagogy through a series of hands-on workshops, curated readings, and cohort discussions. Topics include an exploration of select web-based tools and philosophies which center equity, agency, access, and public engagement. 

The Incubator supports explicit engagement with open pedagogy in each participant’s courses, reducing costs and empowering students in innovative ways. By developing a cohort, the Incubator also builds a community of learning so that instructors can share ideas, offer feedback, and explore cross- and interdisciplinary approaches to pedagogy. In addition, the Incubator produces a set of public, locally-tailored models for open pedagogy to inspire other instructors with grounded, concrete examples of what “open pedagogy” can mean on campus.