Open Participants, Syndicated

Some Open Questions for #OpenLearning17

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They say when one door closes, another opens (or a window, maybe). But we don’t usually talk about how sometimes opening a particular door might actually close another. For the same people, or different ones.


Open/Shut flickr photo by sarae shared under a Creative Commons ( BY-ND ) license

I’m really looking forward to #openlearning17, with a bunch of really awesome people discussing different dimensions of open learning…

I’m particularly interested in asking questions about open for whom, by whom, for what purpose? Can we think about issues like access, and recognize how just being “open” does not mean we are necessarily making something accessible for others? Just by being “free” (as in gratis, zero cost to the user) does not mean everyone has equal access to it? I want to ask about the privilege of open, and what our responsibilities are when we have the privilege of open… how can we think critically about the different approaches of open learning, from OERs to open scholarship to open pedagogical practices…and these aren’t issues no one has talked about before, and I’m particularly influenced by the work of sava singh, Robin DeRosa and Catherine Cronin and others on this…

Could a social justice orientation to openness occasionally mean being closed to a privileged group in order to create openness for marginal groups? Why do we, and why should “we” care about advocating for openness for marginal groups? What are the most respectful ways to do that as allies, and what’s the role of the semi-privileged open educator who lies at the borders/intersections?

Looking forward to some deep discussions. inshallah

On a more practical note, check out Creative Commons new “one-click attribution” tool in beta

Also, do you know about cogdog’s Flickr CC attribution helper bookmarklet? That’s how easy it is to do attribution for CC Flickr images on your blog, as I’ve done above… it’s possibly my favorite tool EVER. Now if only I could get my students to use it 🙂

Syndicated, Virginia Group

Laura Gogia, Connected Learner and Connected Learning Coach

Dr. Laura Gogia practices leadership in “connected learning,” a paradigm that shaped the work of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Academic Learning Transformation Laboratory (ALT Lab), and one that continues to inform vital research and practice around the world. This “way of life,” as Laura describes it, also helps to describe the many powerful links between AAC&U’s Faculty Collaboratives project and Open Learning ’17.

Laura sat down with me recently to describe her background and how her work first as a physician, and then a Ph.D. student in educational research, led her to the practice of openly networked learning. In part one of our conversation, Laura tells the story of her search for community, and how as Open Learning ’17’s “connected learning coach” she will help our community of learners find their own paths to more effective networked learning.

Please click on the image below to see and hear our conversation.

In part two of the interview, coming soon, Laura discusses strategies for the most effective kinds of connected learning. She also points out important connections–or “crosswalks,” as Susan Albertine calls them, between connected learning and the “mind-liberating education” Dr. Albertine and the AAC&U advocate as an essential part of all higher learning.

You can read more of Laura’s impressive and soulful work on her website, Lauragogia.com, where you will also find a link to her blog, “Messy Thinking.”

Syndicated, Virginia Group

Open Learning ’17

This site has been created to participate in Open Learning ’17. As part of Virginia’s “Faculty Collaboratives” effort, the AAC&U and the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia are partnering to sponsor a free, online, and open learning experience called “Open Learning ’17.” Somewhere between a course of study and an informal conversation, the experience emphasizes collegial, interactive, networked learning and sharing.

Syndicated, Virginia Group

Open on the Edges and in the Middle

Yesterday Steve Greenlaw  ( @stevegreenla ) asked me  why a “typical faculty member” who teaches and pursues their own research might get involved in Open Education.  His question was a tad disingenuous, of course.  We know that the “typical” faculty member is as much a fiction as the typical student.  But his invitation to explain … Continue reading Open on the Edges and in the Middle →

Syndicated, Virginia Group

Okay, here I go…

I’ve decided to sign up for the AAC&U Faculty Collaborative’s Open Learning Connectivist MOOC, which starts this Monday. Let’s see if I can convince myself that this is a type of procrastinating…

See ya, with more blog posts on open learning and such.

Edit: The RSS feed for Blogger that the friendly people at http://openlearninghub.net/the-stream/i-have-a-blog/specific/ suggest doesn’t work

The network is the deliverable