{"id":7808,"date":"2019-04-15T17:46:48","date_gmt":"2019-04-15T16:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=7808"},"modified":"2019-04-15T17:46:53","modified_gmt":"2019-04-15T16:46:53","slug":"oer19-it-was-emotional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2019\/04\/oer19-it-was-emotional\/","title":{"rendered":"OER19: It Was Emotional"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For some reason I seem to have established a pattern where I only attend the OER conferences every other year. While I would have loved to be there in Newcastle, in Edinburgh, in Bristol (and I followed each one intently online), I find being at the OER conference in person almost too much to process, not just on an intellectual level but also on an emotional one. Like no other academic gathering I know, these conferences are full of powerful emotions and OER19 was no different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

From the opening keynote by Kate Bowles<\/a>, OER19 was full of hope. Not na\u00efve, unbridled hope \u2013 that would prove impossible from the moment we heard Kate\u2019s searing critique of the \u2018expanding university\u2019 \u2013 but a sense that a commitment to \u2018optimism as a discipline\u2019 would help to ensure that higher education around the globe can genuinely fulfil some of its open potential. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wonder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Galway is a magical place and there was wonder all around at this conference. From Su-Ming Khoo\u2019s breathtaking, imaginary, deeply metaphorical journey around the Pacific<\/a> to the incredibly rich short stories that we entered through the portal of room G009 on the second afternoon, we travelled far and wide, in time and space, to understand the importance and many meanings of open. An absolute highlight came with the bravura performance by Sara Thomas<\/a>, in seven or eight minutes interweaving the stories of two women, Marie Lamont & Lady Catherine Bruce of Clackmannan: women\u2019s stories that, thanks to Wikipedia editathons, are now openly available. Even if it stops you reading the rest of this post, I urge you to take eight minutes out of your day to listen to Sara<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apprehension<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We are undoubtedly in a difficult moment and, guided by the conference theme \u2018Recentering Open: Critical and Global Perspectives\u2019, delegates and online followers knew that they would be asked to face up to some challenging questions. I was particularly taken by Billy Meinke\u2019s calm but devastating deconstruction of our problematic technological landscape<\/a>, not least because it was a future that was clearly predicted. Likewise, I was convinced by Bonnie Stewart, Lawrie Phipps and Dave Cormier<\/a> that we need to (re)commit to (re)building a #ProSocialWeb. Given some of the negative, downright scary, things people are exposed to and experience when they inhabit online spaces, I fully understand the apprehension this might cause but if we don\u2019t \u2018bring our values to the internet\u2019, who will?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Encouragement<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As with all OER conferences, it was greatly encouraging to see the breadth and depth of research and scholarship on open. The Galway edition was particularly notable for the way it foregrounded the voices and work of current research students. Students from the Global OER Graduate Network<\/a> featured prominently and along with others stood shoulder to shoulder with established names in the field of open. The keynote panel<\/a> featuring three of these voices, Taskeen Adam<\/a>, Caroline Kuhn<\/a> and Judith Pete<\/a>, was one of the most thought-provoking sessions at the conference, challenging many of us to consider our position of relative privilege and reflect on what open means from other perspectives, literally upending our lens on the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should also be encouraged by the various ways, sometimes surreptitiously, often ingeniously, folk have managed to insert and embed open practices within their institutions. This remains thorny territory but Dave White and Kate Lindsay\u2019s session<\/a> gave us an idea of how it might be done and, even though I wasn\u2019t there, I know my Edinburgh colleagues also demonstrated the potential for really embracing openness in a university\u2019s values and practices<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regret (mild\/tempered)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

This is not unique to the OER conferences but I really did\nwant to be in at least three places at once in Galway (even more so on day one,\nwhen part of me yearned to be on a sunlit Atlantic-facing beach<\/a>\nwith my family). All the more reason to be thankful for the sessions that were\nrecorded by Martin\nHawksey<\/a> and Harry Lamb<\/a>\n(see the sessions marked YouTube on the conference programme<\/a>) and\nall the more reason to set aside some proper time to review the hashtag and treasure\ntrove of linked resources. You will do this as well, won\u2019t you?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also a source of regret that I didn\u2019t get to speak to\neveryone in person. And I mean everyone. There were a number of people who I\nknow from Twitter who I wanted to seek out (can\u2019t believe I never managed to\nsay hello to Bonnie Stewart<\/a>!) but\nthe truth is everyone at the conference brought with them such fascinating\nstories and a myriad of reasons for engaging with open that time spent with\neach individual added a layer of richness to the experience of being in their\ncompany. Kate Bowles encouraged us to deliberately speak to someone we didn\u2019t\nknow before arriving at OER19 but, such was the warmth of the community that\ngathered together, these conversations seemed to happen completely organically.\nThe half an hour I spent at lunch on day 2 with new friends from Brazil and\nIran will be one of my most treasured memories of OER19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hope (reprise)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

What a beautiful and powerful quotation by Rebecca Solnit<\/a> that our brilliant co-chairs Catherine Cronin<\/a> and Laura Czerniewicz<\/a> chose independently (together), to conclude this conference. For me, hope remains the abiding emotion of OER19. It resonated with those in the room and those following online<\/a> and it is also a call to action that will \u2018shove us out the door\u2019 every morning between now and the next conference and many conferences after that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, onto OER20. Given my pattern of attendance, I probably\nwon\u2019t be there but, if not, I will once again follow closely online. Either\nway, I fully expect that it will be another critical, and emotional, nodal\npoint for this incredible open community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(all images CC-BY-NC Simon Horrocks)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

Simon Horrocks is reviewing online strategy at the University of Edinburgh. Twitter: @horrocks_simon<\/p>\n\n\n

If you enjoyed reading this article we invite you to join the Association for Learning Technology (ALT) as an individual member, and to encourage your own organisation to join ALT as an organisational or sponsoring member<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For some reason I seem to have established a pattern where I only attend the OER conferences every other year. While I would have loved to be there in Newcastle, in Edinburgh, in Bristol (and I followed each one intently online), I find being at the OER conference in person almost too much to process, […]","protected":false},"author":163,"featured_media":7821,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[1286,956],"class_list":["post-7808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conference-reviews","tag-oer19","tag-openaccess"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2019\/04\/oer19-splash.jpg?fit=980%2C551&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":579,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2019\/03\/webinar-oer19-preview\/","url_meta":{"origin":7808,"position":0},"title":"Webinar: #OER19 preview","author":"ALT","date":"13 March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The OER19 Conference is nearly upon us and will take place at the National University of Ireland in Galway. 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That gratitude bookends my work, and I hope that my research and practice make visible the impact this community has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Events"","block_context":{"text":"Events","link":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/category\/events\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Conference audience raising hands.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/01\/jaime-lopes-0RDBOAdnbWM-unsplash-1.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/01\/jaime-lopes-0RDBOAdnbWM-unsplash-1.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1112\/2023\/01\/jaime-lopes-0RDBOAdnbWM-unsplash-1.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10024,"url":"https:\/\/altc.alt.ac.uk\/blog\/2022\/03\/guest-post-10-years-of-oerx-part-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":7808,"position":3},"title":"OER Guest Post: 10 Years of OERx – Part one","author":"Christina Vines","date":"17 March 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"As one of the conference co-chairs, I\u2019ve been reflecting on my own journey into the field of open education research. 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