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 the Programme Leader for the BA (Hons) Applied Music and lectures on the MA Music and the Environment.
As Programme Leader for Applied Music, Anna-Wendy has led the development, curriculum design and delivery of the degree through to the re-approval in March 2016 at which the degree was highly commended for the ‘national and international engagement made possible by the residencies’. Anna-Wendy is module leader and tutor for 7 modules including all the performance related activity on the degree and has led in the design and delivery of four 3-5 day intensive residential placements each academic year. She was awarded UHI HISA ‘Most engaging Video Conference Lecturer 2016’. Her research focus spans the pedagogy surrounding blended learning on a networked, multi-genre and practical based degree programme to professional engagement through performance practice and composition.
Anna will be joined by students from the Applied Music degree, based at UHI Outer Hebrides.
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.