Today I started writing a blog post about openness, inequality, and the complex reckonings we make about our digital, networked identities. But tonight I’m finding I can’t write anything until I write this. I’m just back from a meeting with two wonderful people here in Kinvara. Maeve Kelly and Pete Brazier are part of a…
Digital Identity redux
In the course of my work over the past few years I have circled back, again and again, to digital identity. In my research and teaching, when invited to speak with or facilitate workshops for staff and students (on open educational practices, social media & academia, digital literacies, etc.), and when working with young people…
If open is the answer, what is the question? #oer16
How would you answer the question above? Please join the conversation by tweeting your response (using the #oer16 hashtag) or adding to the comments below. Whether we consider ourselves to be open education practitioners or researchers, advocates or critics, wonderers or agnostics, our motivating questions regarding openness are likely to be different. For example, you…
#iCollab, communities and networks
Nurturing global collaboration and networked learning in higher education, an article based on our iCollab experiences, has been published in Research in Learning Technology today. The article was authored by Thom Cochrane, Averill Gordon and myself, three members of the iCollab community of practice – it is based on a presentation which Thom and I…
#dlRN15: Hope, Hands, and Stories
And so, the Digital Learning Research Network conference. I have been mulling over all-that-was-dlRN since leaving Palo Alto a week ago. I extended my stay in California for a few days to visit family before making the long journey back to Galway. It was a wonderful and memorable week. In looking at the photos I…
Whither higher education? Considering big questions at #dlRN15
As the terrain beneath and surrounding higher education shifts, what possible futures do you see? Are any of them beautiful? How is, and will, higher education respond to the growth of participatory culture and openness across networked publics? How will issues regarding access to education, equity, agency, and ethics be addressed? Later this week, participants…
Taking a broader view at #ALTC
Many of us talk of “blurring boundaries” in education — between online and offline, our classrooms and the world, formal and informal learning, the roles of learner and teacher, research and practice, etc. Yet at last week’s ALT Conference in Manchester, UK, another boundary was challenged. Thanks particularly to two excellent keynotes by Jonathan Worth…
Ready & open for #ALTC 2015
Last year at this time I was busy preparing for my first visit to the ALT Conference #altc. This year, as I pack my bags, it feels like I’m returning to visit a wonderfully engaging, animated and inspiring group of friends and colleagues, and I can’t wait. Once again I’ll meet many Twitter friends —…
Alone and together, moving and learning — #blimage
Thanks to a challenge from Steve Wheeler this afternoon I’m responding to the #blimage challenge. I love the idea — blogging in response to an image — concocted by Steve and Amy Burvall. I’ve seen a few #blimage posts fly by me this week, thought “I must do that!”, and now there’s no getting out…
Navigating across boundaries: openness in higher education #OER15
The OER15 Open Education Conference held in Cardiff last week may be over, but the reflections, connections, and tweets (#oer15) are still simmering. For a flavour of the conference, excellent summary blog posts by Marieke Guy (Window boxes, battles, and bandwagons) and Grainne Conole (The OER15 conference) are well worth reading, as is Viv Rolfe’s…