The past few summers, I’ve had the honor of working with faculty in BMCC’s open education seminars. We help faculty transform their courses in ways that enhance student engagement, for example by creating open pedagogy assignments. Open pedagogy assignments enable students to share their work publicly, enriching the knowledge commons with their unique understandings, perspectives, and language.

I’ve worked most closely with three faculty members: Ina Litera and Julie Applebaum in Music and Art and Kelley Vick in English. Each of these professors has created an assignment giving students the opportunity to write for publication on the OpenLab. Because these assignments give students a larger audience to write for, their writing is more purposeful. Students come to see themselves as authors with insights for others to engage with.

Writing for the public demands some extra care from students and teachers alike. Time for workshopping and revisions is needed to make sure that students are happy with the published results. And students need to think about how they want to present themselves as authors to the public. Some students may want to use their full names in their byline, but others may wish to use a pseudonym or publish anonymously. And in some cases, students may wish to opt out of publishing altogether. This extra care with the process arises from the fundamental purposefulness of the writing.

I’d like to welcome you to watch this first of three videos by Professors Litera, Applebaum, and Vick. In this video, Professor Litera shares her experiences transforming what had become a routine assignment into something that feels fresh and exciting for both her students and herself. And after you watch the video, please check out the student reviews at Concerts You Missed.

Ina Litera – Engaging Students in Writing in the Open, Part 1

Uploaded by BMCC CETLS on 2025-04-04.