Keynotes
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Martin Weller
Monday, May 16, 11:00 AM
Metaphors of EdTech
In this talk, I will explore why metaphors are both a useful and potentially misleading way of thinking about educational technology. A number of metaphors will be proposed and analysed which demonstrate how metaphors can shape our thinking and help us view educational technology from different perspectives. The Covid pandemic saw nearly all education institutions engaging in an online pivot, which usually involved online versions of existing practices, such as lectures. As we seek to build on this experience and offer a richer online experience it has become evident that the face-to-face lecture has become a dominant model that many struggle to see past. This talk will examine how different metaphors can help us approach educational technology.
Session Link
Sherri Spelic
Tuesday, May 17, 11:00 AM
Hide and Seek: On Kids, Power, and Resistance in Education
I want to explore what happens when the learners in our care resist our offer of help, expertise, and teaching. How do we make sense of students applying refusal skills in the classroom? Rather than provide answers I will draw on student statements about the possibility and significance of saying “no” at school and use these to probe our understanding and appreciation of power in students’ hands and voices. We’ll also pose the question: to what degree do our pedagogies leave space for negotiation and power sharing? And where does this show itself in practice?
Session Link
Maha Bali
Wednesday, May 18, 11:00 AM
Outside-In: Openness as Subversion
We often talk about how open education expands access, supports
knowledge sharing, and potentially enhances the quality of education. We
also critique open education for sometimes reproducing inequalities
despite promising to promote social justice.
But what about the ways in which “openness” removes/destroys barriers
within us? In what ways does openness empower us from the outside-in?
When does openness influence critical change and when might it fail to
do so?
In this interactive session, we will explore some of the things openness
makes possible that are often not possible within the walls of
institutions, and which can end up challenging and subverting
injustice.
Session Link
Brenna Clarke Gray
Thursday, May 19, 11:00 AM
Things Unsaid: Exploring the Margins and Limits of Open
Keywords: limits of open, challenges to open, autoethnography, pregnancy loss and miscarriage, institutional silences
Open is not an unambiguous good, a panacea, or accessible to everyone. But maybe it could be more of all of those things if, as a community, we could talk more openly about open’s borders and limitations. What does it mean to say we are a community of open educators? What is the edge of open-ness, and how do we account for its definition? What — and whose — truths remain unsaid or unspoken even in communities that define themselves as open? And who is safe to choose open? Offering an autoethnography of pregnancy loss set against the backdrop of the pandemic university as a place to start this exploration, this talk looks to chart the margins and limits of open and to ask about the benefits of expanding the scope and possibilities of openness in our institutions. It invites all of us to imagine a more perfect open, or at least to consider how more of us can be supported to speak our things unsaid.