Thursday 19 April 2018

Reflections on the #OER18 Conference




There was a diverse range of international speakers who discussed their projects and ideas including: the results of an EU wide review of OER practices (which concluded that countries are travelling on the same journey- though perhaps with different types and sizes of vehicles), an historical systematic review of OER practices (by Vivien Rolfe and her team) and a presentation linking OER to music and David Bohm (youtube) talking about perception. 

The end of day keynote was given by @mosallah who said: OER – to co-produce knowledge and help communities equalise imbalance.   And that the cornerstones of Open are: co-production, disruption, sustainability, accessibility beyond digital, tech knowledge sharing, counter-orthodoxy spaces.

Liz picked out a quote from John Casey- “tendency to privilege text in education.”  Which she feels is very true and misses many opportunities for active learning.

Thoughts of the day
OER are key for girls and women in remote and developing areas.  However, OER cannot be the default.  We need to think when is it appropriate?  We need to consider privacy (seen the sharp end of that recently).  It is a difficult area to negotiate and we need to be sensitive.

Questions to come away with
We are trying to fit new tech into ancient institutional structures.  What can we do about this?

What is the problem that openness solves?

What is the problem that “closedness” solves?  Closed can be the right answer.

My own question- are there different considerations for academics at the start of their career compared to alter on?

 
Follow day two on twitter now: #OER18

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