My journey learning about Open Scholarship began in the January of 2022 when I decided to take the IP&T 575R Open Scholarship. I decided to take this class because I was intrigued by Open Educational Resources (OER), part of Open Scholarship practices. I wanted to learn more about it. Some of the lessons I learned in this class have helped me understand the Open Scholarship movement. I learned the basic concept and why Open Scholarship is so vital. I embraced the open education philosophy, which is the belief that people should produce, share, and build on the knowledge that everyone has access to freely. I'm glad I decided to take this class.
Here are my impressions of some of the cool things that I'm doing in this class:
Writing a weekly blog post: before this class, I had never thought about blogging, so I initiated blogging from zero, i.e., without basic knowledge. One of my biggest worries about blogging was that English is not my native language, so I was afraid to make mistakes. I have been writing in English for the last two years, but blogging was different. I'm used to writing in academic English, so writing in a blog was challenging. Including informal language, writing in my first-person point of view, and including personal and emotional details seemed to be a big task. However, I can tell that blogging has improved my writing skills, given me access to the external world, and built my confidence.
Exploring Open Scholars profiles and work: every week, we learn about an open scholar. I enjoyed this activity because I learned some of the open scholar's academic practices. As a class, we reflect on the efficacy and influence of these practices.
Contributing to developing an Open Scholarship framework: this was the more challenging part of my class. I read a lot every week to learn about the open scholarship movement, but still, I feel the imposter syndrome. I wonder, "What am I writing here?”, “I don't know enough,” “I feel like I don't have anything to contribute.” I'm still experiencing the same feelings, but after reading a lot and learning from our class discussions, I feel a little more confident to make some small contributions to the development of this framework.
Gloria, this is a great post and I love your thoughts. I also had never blogged before and had to start at ground zero. It was kind of intimidating and I am definitely learning as I go. I would sometimes look at the great blogs of others in the class and feel self-conscious, but I have learned to get past that.
I also had a bad case of imposter syndrome when it came to writing in the framework, and I would make modifications and read the new stuff each week but I was definitely hesitant to post my own thoughts and writings. I am so glad to hear that I was not alone and I am glad we got to…
I agree with Yvette. It has actually been a huge strength to my understanding to read what other open scholars are writing, as well as what my classmates are writing. You have such good insights. I think my bullet points would be about the same as yours, in terms of what has been helpful this semester. I also felt like I don't know if I really know enough to contribute to frameworks, etc. And yet it is taking shape. It has been an interesting project to watch evolve.
Gloria, I think your blog posts are well thought out and personable. I've enjoyed reading about your learnings this semester. Thanks for being open about your journey in this class.