Today and tomorrow I’ll be working with a group of academic staff here at NUI Galway as part of the Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher Education here in CELT. Of course it’s very dangerous to ask someone who’s *just* completed their PhD in open education to talk about… open education đ  So, I’ve…
After the PhD defense: Thanks
I successfully completed my PhD defense (or viva) last week — and am feeling the joy! No success is an individual accomplishment, of course. We move forward, in whatever ways we can, thanks to a multitude of sacrifices, kindnesses, and the good work of many others, seen and unseen, known and unknown. I initially shared…
Yes Equality Ireland 2015 – Storify
Over the past six years, I’ve created several Storify stories (some published, some drafts), usually summarising events, group activities, or conversations that I didn’t want to lose in endlessly streaming social media feeds. (Before that I used Storyful to create stories, but they stopped their story curation app in or around 2012.) I was never…
2017/2018, the turn of the year
A new year, starting quite differently to last year. Last January I outlined a plan for the year with the goal of submitting my PhD thesis by December 1st. I submitted on the Winter Solstice… close enough đ ‘For examination, PhD thesis final drafts should be submitted to supervisor in a car park at the…
Many faces of open research
I’m in the final few weeks of my PhD — the thesis-writing part of the process, anyway. My research topic is open educational practices (OEP), specifically how educators and students make sense of and make use of OEP in higher education. So, yes, I’ve been thinking a lot about that. But I’ve been reflecting also on…
Finding words
âSomeone died today in #Charlottesville because an ideology of hatred marched through the city, wanting battle.â – DeRay Mckesson âThree people died today in Charlottesville, Virginia because people have not just been taught to hate, theyâve been taught that itâs important to hate in public.â – Ira Socol âIâve got no words. Not now. Not…
Conversations about Teaching & Learning
I’m a lover of a variety of podcasts — education, science, politics, arts & culture. I listen to learn, to laugh, to be moved (and, honestly, often to be transported elsewhere as I inch through another of Galway’s traffic jams). A wonderful find of the past year has been Teaching in Higher Ed by Bonni Stachowiak. A recent episode with…
Opening up Open Pedagogy
Many thanks to Maha Bali for organising tonight’s Open Pedagogy Hangout. Maha has curated a number of blog posts about open pedagogy and also started a Google doc to collect notes, links, etc: http://bit.ly/CurateOpenPed. Thanks to all who have blogged and shared their thoughts. I’m grateful for the opportunity to participate and looking forward to…
#OER17: personal and political
So many important conversations, so much valuable work, so many new connections made and friendships celebrated. Thanks OER17. Over the past 11 days or so since OER17 ‘The Politics of Open’ ended, I’ve read as many conference blog posts as possible. There are a remarkable number of interweaving stories and interpretations of the conference, all…
A domain of my own
At last! Thanks to modeling* and encouragement from so many of you, a friendly nudge from Jim Groom in Galway last week, and support from all the lovely folks at Reclaim Hosting, I have A Domain of My Own: http://catherinecronin.net. Welcome to my new home… more to come đ * American English spelling, with apologies…