This is the first blog post for ‘Just Knowledge’, my GO-GN Fellowship 2022 research project. This post was published today on the GO-GN website at https://go-gn.net/research/just-knowledge-go-gn. I am re-publishing it here to have a record on my website. Just Knowledge is a community-focused, open knowledge research project guided by three core ideals: justice, equity and…
Capabilities Approach & open education
This blog post is an initial contribution to a workshop I’ll be co-presenting at OER22 (26-28 April): ‘Applying the Capability Approach to Open Educational Practice’ with Gabi Witthaus. The workshop arises from our recent discussions about overlaps in our work and our visions for open education. Next week, Gabi and I will publish a joint…
Finding words
“Someone died today in #Charlottesville because an ideology of hatred marched through the city, wanting battle.” – DeRay Mckesson “Three people died today in Charlottesville, Virginia because people have not just been taught to hate, they’ve been taught that it’s important to hate in public.” – Ira Socol “I’ve got no words. Not now. Not…
#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…
Road to Hope
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…
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…
#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…
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…
Thank you, Mary Robinson
In June 1996 I attended a poetry reading by Seamus Heaney at the University of Stirling. The Principal of the University gave a short introduction, saying that we would remember the next hour for the rest of our lives. I believe he was right. There were many reasons that Seamus Heaney connected with and elevated…