Are you interested in a joint reflective practice presentation regarding graduate students’ learning about OER and openness? What this learning process is like from the point of view of an instructor – the observations, concerns, and celebrations that unfolds individually and collectively each time a student or class, synchronically or idiosyncratically learns about openness – whether face to face, blended or completely online environments?
In this webinar Connie Blomgren (Athabasca University), Elizabeth Childs (Royal Roads University) and Clint Lalonde (BCcampus) provide the point of view of such perspectives and their experience of teaching graduate students ranging from instructional designers to K-12 teachers. Because of who these graduate students are, the presentation is also about how Elizabeth, Connie and Clint, personally and professionally, currently experience openness and participatory technologies, their perceptions of the barriers, and their hope in meeting the challenges of open education.
Our presenters will consider how making explicit open educational practices (OEP) enable graduate students to name what they do and how it fits within their developing digital literacies and pedagogy. The presentation offers an informal pulse-taking of what graduate students currently experience through their study of OEP (Cronin, 2017) and related research. These students will be able to share out their knowledge with colleagues and their own students, and thus support the growth of OEP with a sense of criticality and tempered optimism (Weller, 2010).
Despite the numerous benefits of OER (McGreal, 2017) and the inroads of BC Campus, ABOER and eCampus Ontario, there remains significant work to be done. Pockets of educators, at all levels, have yet to make a substantial difference affecting the awareness, use, and advocacy for OER. Vague understandings of OER textbooks is not enough.
The webinar will run in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra, and we will issue joining instructions approximately three days prior to the event. Even if you are familiar with Blackboard, it is important that you check in advance that your system and connection are capable of handling a session. More support on using Blackboard Collaborate Ultra is available from https://help.blackboard.com/Collaborate/Ultra/Participant, and refer to the guidance at https://www.alt.ac.uk/events/webinar-faqs.