OER23 is proud to feature a stellar line up of speakers including individual keynotes, panel discussions, a special OER23 GASTA session and GO-GN speakers. Our conference is unusual in that most participants are speakers, too – which makes for a very interactive programme. Head to our programme overview to see the whole programme.
GO-GN Members at OER23
The Global OER Graduate Network (GO-GN) is a network of PhD candidates around the world whose research projects include a focus on open education (i.e. OER, OEP, MOOC). These doctoral researchers are at the core of the network; around them, over two hundred experts, supervisors, mentors and interested parties connect to form a community of practice.
We are proud to host over 20 researchers from GO-GN this year including Stanislaus Agava, Melissa Ashman, Tanya Elias, Leo Havermann, Emily Helton, Lucas Johnson, Igor Lesko, Anuradha Peramunugamage, Mortooza Puttaroo, Eyal Rabin, Vidminas Vizgirda and Gabi Witthaus.
5 April – Featured Speakers
Opening Plenary: Rikke Toft Nørgård
Associate Professor at the Danish School of Education, Aarhus University, Steering Group Member at the Centre for Higher Education Futures (CHEF) and Elected Board Member of the international Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society (PaTHES) and the national Danish Network for Educational Development in Higher Education (DUN) where she is also founder and co-leader of the DUN-SIG on Digital Pedagogy & Learning in Higher Education. Dr. Nørgård’s research and projects focuses on the complexities, challenges and potentials of education, design, technology and philosophy in relation to the future of hybrid higher education institutions and practices. She is participating in and leading projects on the future of higher education with a focus on the arts and humanities as well as emerging technological fields and their impact on the future of education and culture across society. On March 1st 2023 the EPIC-WE Europe Horizon project that Nørgård is the Coordinator of is launched, trying to bring these fields together in an effort to provide new co-operative models, formats, events and activities for bringing higher education institutions, cultural organisations and creative industries together to co-create new cultural futures.
OER23 GASTA!
Hosted by the one and only Tom Farrelly, this year sees the return of the Gasta to OER23. Gasta and OER are a particularly good fit as they are both about promoting a spirit of openness. If you want to get a sense of the Gasta format you can look at this video from the 2018 ALT conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHMDeSdImMU
Our GASTA line up: Jim Groom, Lou Mycroft, Eamon Costello and Mags Amond.
Afternoon plenary: Anna-Wendy Stevenson
Anna-Wendy is Senior Lecturer and Programme Leader for the BA Applied Music with the University of the Highlands and Islands. A visionary music educator passionate about the transformational impact music can have in promoting individual and community well-being, she came into HE in 2006 with a move to Uist, the Outer Hebridean islands off Scotland’s West Coast, bringing a wide range of experience and networks having performed and delivered workshops in traditional Scottish music world-wide and curated and directed events for a range of communities, media groups and festivals. From the Outer Hebrides campus (one of 12 colleges which make up the University of the Highlands and Islands) Anna-Wendy designed and delivered a range of dynamic courses and initiatives including in 2012 the pioneering and internationally accessible BA Applied Music, producing many award-winning musicians. Her work has led to major investment in infrastructure with the building of a new Gaelic arts and Education Centre in South Uist.
Her fostering of community and professional industry partnerships have provided transformational opportunities for student and graduates including numerous international festival performances and tours; Celtic Colours in Canada, Porcia Festival in Spain, National Piping Centre, BBC Scotland; Educational placements with Soundstorm Music Education in Dorset, and devising of Continuing Professional Development awards with new curriculum in music for film and TV.
Anna-Wendy’s innovative approaches to building online collaborative learning environments and communities of practice include the development of the virtual residency in 2014 which has facilitated interdisciplinary and cultural exchange within the curriculum between with universities across the world whilst providing in-built COVID resilience. The 2019 and 2020 virtual residencies with universities in Senegal formed the basis for Knowledge Exchange project African Digital Academy supported through the Global Challenge Research Fund.
Her approaches have benchmarked collaborative working across the university college partnership as well as providing leading exemplars which have influenced HE providers of practical music and arts curriculum across the world; recognised with the Collaborative Award in Teaching Excellence in 2021. Anna-Wendy is Senior Fellow HEA (Advance HE) and works closely with the University’s Learning and Teaching Academy to support strategic developments.
Watch the National Piping Centre’s The Piping Show with Anna-Wendy Stevenson.
6 April – Featured Speakers
Opening Plenary: Dave Cormier
Dave Cormier does digital learning strategy and special projects at the University of Windsor’s Office of Open Learning.
His research interests circulate around how our educational systems, our teaching practices, and our concepts of learning can be social processes where the community is actually the curriculum.
His first book, forthcoming in January 2024, deals with how we need to learn for uncertainty in a world of information abundance.
His work can be found at http://davecormier.com.
Closing plenary: OER23 discussion panel: Open Education in Scotland
One of OER23’s key themes is Open Education in Scotland – celebrating 10 years of the Scottish Open Education Declaration. This panel discussion brings together voices from across our host nation’s Open Education landscape, together with colleagues from The Netherlands, to share insights into current practice and policy. We’ll discuss engagement with open education across Scotland, focusing on the benefits and affordances of open education and OER and how it can help to address local and global education challenges and priorities, while reflecting on the relevance of the original aim of Open Scotland: To raise awareness of open education, encourage the sharing of open educational resources, and explore the potential of open policy and practice to benefit all sectors of Scottish education.
Speakers: Lorna M. Campbell, Open Scotland and University of Edinburgh; Scott Connor, University of the Highlands and Islands; Maren Deepwell, ALT; Stuart Nicol, University of Edinburgh; Robert Schuwer, consultant and former UNESCO Chair on Open Educational Resources; Joe Wilson, Open Scotland and City of Glasgow College.