The MALAT Virtual Symposium this year was a perfect opportunity to educate myself on concepts related to the current situation I find myself in, as an adult learner, returning to school after many years of being away from post-secondary education. To be perfectly honest, I work in a post-secondary environment, and being on the other side of the coin has been an extreme challenge, but with this degree, I am hoping to meet the continued need for technology-minded educators in the dynamic world of online, flipped classrooms for my students.
The content throughout the week provided a variety of intriguing samples of various topics, but one topic in particular that struck a chord with me and intrigued me to learn more was the 2017 presentation on Choosing Open (Cronin, 2017). Working in online education, but not fully aware of the terminology presented so far, the session here made me realize what OEP and OER and what my role was in all of this. I even went as far as reading into Cronin’s latest research into the topic and directly saw parallels from my own work in post-secondary education. Cronin (2019) found some educators to be open, some not; but all thinking deeply about their digital and pedagogical decisions (p.221).
Hearing the need to increase openness in education, especially in using OEP (Open Education Practices) in a teaching context is crucial to me in my current role. What role do I take if any in reaching out beyond the traditional means of teaching online with my students to better introduce concepts and have them retain it? It has been a source of numerous debates and discussions with others in my field. To break down the need to be more networked as educators to assist networked individuals, reiterated my own personal preference when using social media as an educator. Do we use Twitter, Facebook and other forms to engage our students, and if so, which identity do I use? Professional, personal, or both?
Students today are more tech-savvy and expect a certain level engagement in their social networks, so why not incorporate this into their educational network as well? I have colleagues that choose to use social media to make connections to students and are curious as to why it fails in an educational context. There are others such as myself who have decided to not dive head-first into this concept but would rather test the waters so to speak and wait to get a better understanding of the class and students before selecting an identity to network with students. I believe a more piecemeal approach in selecting how to define what level of openness to follow and according to Cronin (2017), the idea of “are you open, is a very personal question”, and those who choose to use this platform when using OEP for teaching will have a variety of reasons for choosing the way are open and the identity we use. If anything, I look forward to pursuing more information through articles and journals on the topics of openness and identity throughout the coming years here in the MALAT program.
References
Cronin, C (2017) Choosing Open
Presented at the 2017 Virtual Symposium for Royal Roads MALAT Program, Victoria BC
Cronin, C (2019) Openness and Praxis: Exploring the Use of Open Educational Practices in Higher Education. In Merriam, Sharan B., and Robin S. Grenier (Ed.). “Qualitative Research in Practice: Examples for Discussion and Analysis.” (pp 215-234).San Francisco, USA Jossey-Bass
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