UA Little Rock Professor Wins Award for Open Pedagogy
One of UA Little Rock’s newest professors, Dr. Tiffani Tijerina, assistant professor in rhetoric and writing, received an Open Education Award for Excellence for the first book in a series she is editing, Pedagogy Opened: Innovative Theory and Practice.
This award was presented by Open Education Global organization as part of the Open Education Awards for Excellence in the Open Practices Award category for 2025. Open Education is a movement to help provide free, accessible, and adaptable educational materials and practices to teachers and students.
Pedagogy Opened is a collaboration that promotes equity and innovation to invite students to create and share knowledge with future publics. The recognition came as an exciting surprise for Tijerina, who learned about the award from a previous self-nomination and award in 2022.
“These awards are often self-nominated, and that is the case for this one as well,” Tijerina said, “But it was such a pleasant surprise when I learned the project actually won!”
Tijerina nominated Pedagogy Opened: Innovative Theory and Practice because it embodies the values of open education, through both content and process. Pedagogy Opened offers seven discussions of research, theory, and practice in and around open pedagogy.
Tijerina is already putting her passion for open education into action. She’s working with Ottenheimer Library and other campus partners to build a stronger foundation for open education at UA Little Rock. She hopes her efforts will encourage more faculty to explore these innovative teaching methods in their own classrooms.
Dr. Heidi McCauley, Professor of Rhetoric and Writing and Graduate Coordinator, had the following to say,
“Dr. Tijerina is a fantastic new member of our department,” said Dr. Heidi McCauley, professor of rhetoric and writing and graduate coordinator at UA Little Rock. “This award demonstrates our commitment to making writing education accessible.”
By receiving the award, Tijerina hopes it will encourage others to advocate for recognition of their work, because success is possible at any stage of an academic career.