Myself and two colleagues (Liz Falconer and
Denyse King) attended the OER18 Conference Yesterday. They presented two case studies (VR Avebury,
and VR Healthcare) and illustrated how VR (virtual reality) brings unique
considerations for open access. For
example, considerations about whether settings, avatars, props etc are available
to others; and indeed, the point that OE-VR assets can be beneficial to
educators. Just in the way we frequently
use images, presentations and video clips we find on the Web, parts of VR can
also be recycled and used in different ways.
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?
