{"id":188,"date":"2022-04-17T17:22:52","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T00:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/?p=188"},"modified":"2022-04-20T17:12:39","modified_gmt":"2022-04-21T00:12:39","slug":"malat-2022-virtual-symposium-a-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/malat-2022-virtual-symposium-a-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"MALAT 2022 Virtual Symposium \u2013 A Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Note. From \u201copen brown wooden window\u201d [Photograph], by K. Pavlyuchkova, 2018, (https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/FQYCJSqER_0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 2022 MALAT Symposium offered a smorgasbord of tasty offerings of which I was a happy consumer! Over several days I managed to take in some very rich presentations including, Intentional Messiness of Online Communities<\/em> by Dave Cormier, Instructional Design In & After COVID-19<\/em> with Melanie Meyers, Dr. Veletsianos and Dr. DeVries and a wonderfully flavourful morsel from Amanda Coolidge titled, Open Education; what it is; what is does & its amazing impact<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One general theme, I noticed throughout these particular virtual presentations was the theme of “open”. I had heard of this idea before but had little idea of the many different aspects surrounding the concept of open. To begin with, there is Open Learning, Open Pedagogy, Open Learning Processes, Open Practice not to mention Open Educational Resources (OERs). However, there are subtle layers within each of these facets such as Open Data, Open Research and Open Science. Just like open, it is practically endless! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Dave Cormier (2017) mentioned in his presentation, Intentional Messiness of Online Communities<\/em>, which particularly struck me, were his statements about learning with open. It can be exhausting, demanding, and frustrating, but also why open is important. Open learning is like a rhizome (Cormier, 2017). Therefore, learning should be shared and divided with others and is only bound by our limit in creativity and knowledge (2017). So, how do I navigate the “mess”? I hate getting dirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstraction Rhizome Vecteur [sic], Abstract trees, tree Branch, palm Tree, abstract Lines | klipartz<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This brought me back to thinking about my current teaching and learning philosophy which has always been that students should have equal access to the curriculum and any barriers need to be summarily dealt with. I had been following the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) for several years in my teaching, so I wondered how the concepts of \u201copen\u201d are connected to these principles of engagement, representation, and action and expression (Posey, n.d.). How could they work together in my practice?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I found especially eye-opening is Amanda Coolidge\u2019s presentation on Open Education (2021). Her first question asks how do we create spaces that are welcoming and that foster a sense of reciprocity? In turn, I asked myself, how do I move beyond the textbook centered approach and shift the learning and teaching process to more of a collaboration of our collective ideas (Coolidge, 2021)? How can I be more mindful when thinking about technology? \u00a0How could I utilize the different platforms, books, and other open resources available more meaningfully (Cormier, 2017; Coolidge, 2021)? For example, I currently use one open coursebook for a Human Development class I instruct but surely there must be other open options that will meet the requirements of the program and meet the needs of my learners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coolidge (2022) pointed out there there are many benefits to “open” learning, particularly cost. By creating spaces that are welcoming and foster a sense of reciprocity we can begin to break down the barriers that prevent some marginalized groups from being able to pursue higher learning. When an institution uses OERs the savings are significant for students. Furthermore, teachers can adapt free OERs to suit the the needs of the learners by being more inclusive. Unfortunately, institutions are still often at the mercy of vender pricing (Coolidge, 2022).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I realized six important fundamentals after my whirlwind trip down symposium lane (#RRUMALAT<\/a>). Learning needs to be authentic. Technology needs to be inexpensive. Resources need to be available. Access needs to be for everyone. Instructors need to be flexible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I guess I need to get dirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coolidge, A. (2021, April 21). 2021_coolidge_malatsymposium<\/em>. Royal Roads University. Retrieved April 17, 2022, from https:\/\/admin.video.ubc.ca\/html5\/html5lib\/v2.86.1\/mwEmbedFrame.php\/p\/154\/uiconf_id\/23449276\/entry_id\/0_ko4t0vzv?wid=_154&iframeembed=true&playerId=kaltura_player_1632766319&entry_id=0_ko4t0vzv<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cormier, D. (2017, April 18). Dave Cormier Virtual Symposium Presentation | LRNT 521 [EDUTECH 2022\u20131 OL] Apr 11 2022<\/em>. Royal Roads University. Retrieved April 17, 2022, from https:\/\/malat-coursesite.royalroads.ca\/lrnt521\/recordings\/dave-cormier-virtual-symposium-presentation\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pavlyuchkova, K. (2018). open brown wooden window<\/em> [Photograph]. Unsplash. https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/FQYCJSqER_0<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posey, A. (n.d.). Universal Design for Learning<\/em>. Understood. Retrieved April 17, 2022, from https:\/\/www.understood.org\/en\/articles\/understanding-universal-design-for-learning<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2022 MALAT Symposium offered a smorgasbord of tasty offerings of which I was a happy consumer! Over several days I managed to take in some very rich presentations including, Intentional Messiness of Online Communities by Dave Cormier, Instructional Design In & After COVID-19 with Melanie Meyers, Dr. Veletsianos and Dr. DeVries and a wonderfully […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":270,"featured_media":182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23,20,22,21,19,18],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lrnt521","tag-lrnt-521","tag-malat","tag-open","tag-reflection","tag-rru","tag-symposium"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/270"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":213,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions\/213"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/malat-webspace.royalroads.ca\/rru0260\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}