Renewable Assignments: Or How to Use OER-Enabled Pedagogy to Respond to Generation Z’s Educational Needs

ABSTRACT

The new generation of students, Generation Z students, have different expectations of their education. They value inclusivity, social consciousness, and hands-on learning experiences. To meet their expectations, we argue that educators should use renewable assignments. These assignments add value beyond the course by creating Open Educational Resources (OER), openly licensed with the 5R: retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. In this article, we first present renewable assignments, OER-enabled pedagogy, the assignments that students used to develop openly licensed educational material and the products they created. Then, we offer step-by-step guidance on crafting effective renewable assignments. Finally, the two students who coauthored this paper examine how OER-enabled pedagogy follows the learning skills of Generation Z: independence, collaboration, and engagement.

KEYWORDS:

• 5R
• generation Z
• OER-enabled pedagogy
• renewable assignments

Acknowledgments

We would like to express our gratitude to the reviewers for their invaluable comments. Furthermore, we extend our sincere thanks to Miriam Chirico and Kevin Corcoran for their support in the publication of this manuscript. Their feedback played a pivotal role in enhancing the quality of our work.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The test bank and the PPT can be found in the OpenStax website. The video references can be found in GoOpenCT: https://goopenct.org/courseware/lesson/1145/overview.

² You can find these videos in the website of the Center for Community Engagement: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsfl7PKLyMgAZKh07l5Sow/videos and

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKsfl7PKLyMgAZKh07l5Sow/playlists

³ Please contact Nicolas P. SIMON at [email protected] to receive the supplemental material created for Classical Sociological Theory and Foundations of American Sociology written by Allison L. Hurst.

⁴ To see the assignment developed to create quizzes for Classical Sociological Theory and Foundations of American Sociology, click here.

To see the assignment developed to identify YouTube videos, click here.

⁵ If you want to know more on the process, please click here.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicolas P. Simon

Nicolas P. Simon PhD, is an associate professor of sociology at Eastern Connecticut State University in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Criminology, and Social Work. His research interests are sociology of higher education with a focus on underserved students, community engagement, Open Educational Resources, and OER-enabled pedagogy. His work had been published in the Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies in Education, Sociological Imagination, and the International Journal of Open Educational Resources. He is a member of the steering committee of the Northeast OER Summit.

Emma James Burke

Emma James Burke (they/them) is a student at Eastern Connecticut State University, where they expect to graduate in 2023 with their BA in Sociology and a minor in anthropology. Emma James graduated as valedictorian of the Class of 2021 at Tunxis Community College with an AA in Sociology Studies. They are currently applying their experience with open pedagogy to the development of a peer support warmline training curriculum for young adults.

Tyler Fairbanks

Tyler Fairbanks is a student at Eastern Connecticut State University pursuing a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a five-year member of the social services workforce. He advocates for using Open Educational Resources to improve education by reducing barriers to critical prosocial resources. A core belief of his is that no one is defined by any single action.