Milne Open Textbooks

Emphasizing a Student-Centered Process: Open Pedagogy Course Assessments Across Disciplines

Author(s): , , , , and

Creative Commons  License: Attribution-CC-BY

Publication Date: September 15, 2025

ISBN: 978-1-956862-14-0

Affiliation: SUNY Fredonia

About the book

Emphasizing a Student-Centered Process: Open Pedagogy Course Assessments Across Disciplines showcases how Open Educational Practices (OEP) empower students as active contributors to knowledge creation. Grounded in constructivist principles, this collection highlights student-centered assessments—from collaborative course design and renewable assignments to generative artificial intelligence—that foster critical thinking, active learning, and inclusivity. Through practical examples and reflective discussions, the book provides educators with actionable strategies to integrate open pedagogical practices across disciplines while addressing challenges such as institutional support, professional development, and resource accessibility.

Table of Contents


Jean R. Hertzberg

Jean R. Hertzberg (PhD, University of California, Berkeley) is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her teaching focuses on measurement techniques, thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and design, and her research interests include vortex-dominated flows. Her recent work includes Visual Expertise in Fluid Flows: Uncovering a Link Between Conceptual and Perceptual Expertise (IJEE, 2020). Additional publications are available at jeanbizhertzberg.com.

Heather J. Hether

Heather J. Hether (PhD, University of Southern California) is an associate professor of communication at UC Davis. Her research focuses on innovative teaching practices that enhance student learning and prepare students for professional success. She is particularly interested in collaborative and open pedagogy practices that involve students as active co-creators of their educational experiences. Dr. Hether’s work has been published in The Journal of Creative Behavior, Health Promotion Practice, and the Journal of Health Communication, as well as in several edited volumes.

Christina R. Hilburger

Christina Hilburger (MISt, McGill University) is the Research and Information Literacy Services Librarian at the State University of New York at Fredonia. In addition to providing research support and library instruction, she co-leads Open Fredonia, the campus’s open education initiative, where she works closely with faculty to support the discovery, adoption, creation, and evaluation of open educational resources (OER) and advocates for affordable learning solutions for students.

Amanda Lohiser

Amanda Lohiser (PhD, SUNY Buffalo) is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Management Communication at the Simon Business School, University of Rochester. She has taught undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S., Singapore, and Denmark. With a B.A. and Ph.D. in communication studies, an M.S. in public relations, and expertise in creativity and face coding, Dr. Lohiser combines her research and professional experience to foster communication, connection, collaboration, and creativity.

Angela M. McGowan-Kirsch

Angela M. McGowan-Kirsch (PhD, The University of Southern Mississippi) is an associate professor of communication at SUNY Fredonia and a recipient of the 2023 Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Specializing in rhetoric, communication theory, and political communication, she has completed the Lumen Circles Fellowship in OER-enabled pedagogy. Dr. McGowan-Kirsch is the editor of Encouraging College Students’ Democratic Engagement in an Era of Political Polarization (Lexington Books, 2025) and has published research in journals such as the Atlantic Journal of Communication, College Teaching, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and Communication Teacher.

Kelly Soczka Steidinger

Kelly Soczka Steidinger (M.A., Ball State University; M.A., University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point) is a Behavioral Science Instructor at Mid-State Technical College and an Adjunct Communication Lecturer at the State University of New York at Fredonia. She earned an E-Learning and Online Teaching graduate certificate from UW-Stout and completed the Lumen Circles Fellowship in OER-enabled pedagogy. Her research focuses on improving pedagogy, and she has published in Communication Teacher, College Teaching, Utah Journal of Communication, and numerous resource books and edited volumes.