Maren Deepwell

Category: Conferences

  • OER22: On the road again

    OER22: On the road again

    Wow. It’s really happening. This time, we are hitting not only the virtual but also the physical road again in order to journey to the OER Conference. OER22 here we come!

    The last time the OER Conference took place as planned as in Galway in 2019, and since that time, three years ago, no edition of this very special event has gone to plan. In 2020, OER20 pivoted online with less than two weeks to go, and became very much a pandemic conference. In the crisis mood of those early days of the pandemic, OER20 became a free event with refunds winging their ways across the globe to participants who suddenly had a lot more to worry about than a cancelled conference.

    Helloooer CC-BY Bryan Mathers

    When I look back at the posts and reflections from that year, it really hits me how much the world changed for all of us, and for this event as well. Our small staff team worked wonders to make this one happen.

    In 2021 we did plan to hold OER online, and then decided to join forces with the Domains Conference from Reclaim Hosting, bringing two communities together for what turned out to be… a journey into the wonderful unknown. OERxDomains21 was born.

    Title image from the OERxDomains21 programme

    I organise, speak at and go to a lot of different conferences of all shapes and sizes. Each conference has its own way of working, and there are some big differences between them.

    The OER Conference feels to me very much like a labour of love. It has its own voices, its own way of interpreting the criteria for peer review, its own priorities of what is important and what is not.

    I have had the privilege of being involved in organising this event since 2015 and in that time I have learnt much about the generosity of the people who shape this event, their shared passion for open education and the values that connect them.

    Inspired by the OER Conference I became an open practitioner and an open leader myself. I joined the community that this conference supports here in the UK and increasingly in other countries, too. Through the OER Conference I made connections with others who lead important work in this space, and I am grateful to be part of an expanding network, a community that is coming together again this week.

    We are coming together in person and online to recharge and re-connect. To share, learn and discuss. I am so excited to see friends, colleagues and new acquaintances in person and online. For those who are unable to take part, there will be a lot of OER Conference goodness openly shared and disseminated after the event, adding to what is now a substantial collection of videos and resources.

    Let there be penguins!

    As you may have noticed by now, the GO-GN Penguins have taken over OER22 for this year, and they are truly everywhere, both online and in the physical world. I recently shared a True Story of how a Westminster meeting led to… penguins. I am deeply grateful to the creative, collaborative and collegiate minds at Visual Thinkery and at GO-GN for helping us bring this year’s event to life with these penguins centre stage. Usually I am more of a shoe(tweet) sort of conference goer, but I must admit that the penguin theme defeated my shoe selection… so I went a little overboard and decided to go fully ‘on brand’ in a different way for OER22.

    A photo of my hand with painted nails, one of which is an image of a penguin

    … and there is a session, too

    In the last bit of the programme on Thursday, I am excited to actually get to lead a session in the programme! Long-time colleague and friend Lauren Hanks, Director of Operations at Reclaim Hosting and one of the Co-Chairs of last year’s edition of the OER Conference, and I, are getting together to reflect on the connections between open education and open approaches to online collaboration and work.

    Title slide for our session: Open in action – building connections in virtual teams.

    As leaders of virtual teams, we want to critically examine what lessons we can learn from open approaches to learning and teaching and how we can use that knowledge in an increasingly virtual workplace.

    This session builds on a recent episode of the Remote Work Show on DS106 Radio, in which we started to unpack some of this (recording to follow).

  • Talking about ethical approaches to Learning Technology during Digital Universities Week

    This week I am chairing a discussion about ALT’s development of a framework for Ethical Learning Technology with a wonderful line up of speakers: ALT’s Chair, Professor Helen O’Sullivan, Javiera Atenas whose work helped shape the framework and our President, David White. Each will bring a different perspective to the conversation, helping us explore why taking an ethical approach to digital education is important for leaders, professional and academic staff and, first and foremost, students.

    Programme entry

    Since it’s initial launch in September last year, ALT’s Framework for Ethical Learning Technology (FELT) has continued to develop with input from Members and the wider community. The first part of the work is that we are collecting case studies and examples of policies from across sectors to help establish a baseline of practice and also of gaps in practice, of questions or problems to which we don’t have robust answers as yet. The second part of the work we have focused on is the development of resources that help individuals and teams translate the framework into practice. The first resources, our FELT Reflective Self-Assessment, launched at the end of 2021:

    You can use this assessment tool to reflect on a particular project, a new tool or platform or you can use it to focus on a particular aspect of your work. We encourage all Learning Technology professionals to undertake this self-assessment to reflect on their professional practice in relation to FELT’s four core areas. Based on the outcome, you can then move on to complete individual sections focused on particular aspects of your practice. The self-assessment is mapped to the CMALT accreditation framework and this is indicated throughout the assessment. 

    https://www.alt.ac.uk/about-alt/what-we-do/alts-ethical-framework-learning-technology/felt-resources

    These resources form the start of our efforts to put the framework into practice, and the session this week will enable us to share these more widely as well as exploring why it’s important in different contexts.

    As many of us are emerging into some sort of post-pandemic way of working, we need to make some space for considering the ethical dimension of digital practices in our strategies and the FELT framework can offer a practical starting point for exactly those conversations for institutions, teams, with students and with industry.

    … and returning to in person conferences

    Like many, I am just about to make my first steps back to in person conferences. It feels like closing a loop, the “what I last did two years ago” loop. Part of my role as a CEO is to represent my organisation and share the work we do and the voice of our Members on the best possible platforms. For the past two years, that has been a lot harder than it used to be, and there is a whole dimension of networking and influencing that has been absent from much of my day to day work during the time of online only events.

    Like many, I have mixed feelings about the return of travelling for work, partly because here in Wales we continue to have more restrictions in place than is the case in England. But mainly I am grateful to have the opportunity to represent my organisation again, to have the option of generating engagement (and income) through running events both in person and online and, most of all, to reconnect with colleagues who inspire me and who contribute to my enjoyment of my work.

    Given how much of my professional practice is online, I know what really, really great virtual work looks like. I experience it every week. And I also know how much effort and time and resources it takes to make it happen, and that relatively few people have either the skills or the set up to make it work consistently.

    So I am looking forward to returning to the comparatively ‘easier’ way of connecting in person. And, in just over a month, to dancing with penguins…

  • Looking forward to my 12th ALT Annual Conference – completely online

    Looking forward to my 12th ALT Annual Conference – completely online

    My first ALT Annual Conference was in 2009 in Manchester (I missed the first year I was working for ALT because I was submitting my PhD that September).

    Umbrellas, badges, fire alarms.. looking back

    In 2019 we were in Manchester, in the magnificent (and at times chilly) McEwan Hall. 2018 was in Manchester to celebrate 25 years of ALT with custom pin badges and a special gala dinner! in 2017 we took the conference to Liverpool for the first time, and as well as a lot of fun, this year will always stay in my head as the year in which we had a fire alarm during a keynote (I did my best flight attendant impression for that one).

    2016 we were in Warwick, and things took a playful turn with a special conference game. in 2015 we were in Manchester as well and maybe one of my all time favourite keynotes from Laura Czerniewicz. 2014 was the first Annual Conference in Warwick, 2013 was the 20th anniversary conference in Nottingham, 2012 (also in Manchester) was my first conference as CEO, 2011 took place in Leeds, 2010 we were in Nottingham and that year I think it was so wet we bulk bought umbrellas and 2009, my first outing at the conference, was in Manchester with balloons and sweets at the ALT stand.

    In 2020, we were planning to take the conference to London for the first time, and that was the first time we had to cancel our Annual Conference all together. Instead, we held a crisis summit.

    This year, we were determined to hold our Annual Conference, as its such a special event for our Members and our community, so we headed online to make sure it would all go ahead as planned.

    Today, our 2021 Annual Conference is getting underway.

    Custom emoji, treasure hunt and yoga… looking ahead

    It takes to make this conference happen, and planning has been underway for 9 months, led by the Co-Chairs and Conference Committee. Over 150 speakers are running over 90 sessions over 4 days. There are 350 participants from 24 countries coming online, supported by a staff team of 10 and plenty of volunteers, too.

    As everyone who works in Learning Technology knows, it takes a lot of creativity and ingenuity to make an activity online feel like fun – and we work hard to make that happen. To create conference fun online whilst working on a properly robust conference delivery with a difference.

    There is a CMALT Ceremony complete with balloons and custom emoji on the chat channels in the social space. There is a hallway chat (both text and voice) in which folk can hangout in and bump into each other. There is a gala evening with a glitzy film premiere. There is a Helpdesk staffed with a team to help with everything from access codes to finding rooms.

    There is a shop for conference goodies, a community report launch and a treasure hunt, yoga and meditation sessions. Plus a quiz, panel discussions, keynotes and parallel sessions.

    The programme is designed to be rich, but not overwhelming, and there are plenty of breaks, late starts and social activities to drop in to when time permits.

    Say hi!

    DM me on the conference Discord site or @ me on Twitter, or email me if you prefer. It’d be great to say hello and hear from you #altc21.

  • OERxDomains… Reclaiming the Joy of EdTech

    OERxDomains… Reclaiming the Joy of EdTech

    I am really excited (just like Jim Groom), because something special is happening in April… as OER meets the Domains Conference in what I hope will be a really awesome two days!

    Cue ALL the hashtags, #OERxDomains, #OER21 and #Domains21.

    It’ll be a lot of work to pull this together and I am thrilled that we have a whole team of Co-Chairs to make it happen: Heading up the Domains strand are Lauren (Brumfield) Hanks and Jim Groom and leading on the OER side are Lou Mycroft, Louise Drumm and Joe Wilson.

    From a main stage which should host some of the most exciting voices in Open Education, to a whole range of fringe events and activities to connect, network and hangout with old and new friends… I think this is one of the most exciting things I am going to be working on in 2021.

    Submit your ideas

    The conference will put the spotlight on both the value and limitations of Open Education in a (post)pandemic world. We are particularly keen to hear from people who have an interest in the following indicative areas of practice:

    • Theme 1: Openness, care, and joy in the times of pandemic;
    • Theme 2: Open Education responses to surveillance technologies and data ownership in education;
    • Theme 3: Open in Action: open teaching, educational practices and resources, how you might be using Domains and other tools;
    • Theme 4: Shifts in agency and creativity as empowerment of learners and educators;
    • Theme 5: Open Source Tools: infrastructure, cloud environments, targeted teaching tools.

    Wildcard proposals that specifically address the conference themes in relation to open practice, research and policy are also welcome.

    The Call for Proposals is now open https://go.alt.ac.uk/CfP21OERxDomains .

    Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2021

  • Summit week (with heart) #altc #altcSummit

    Summit week (with heart) #altc #altcSummit

    It’s been a busy week at ALT HQ as we have been busy with the ALT Summer Summit and this weekend, a much-needed long weekend, has seen me mostly offline, but there is a radio show to do on a Sunday, and that’s led me to blog, too.

    I really liked this heart, that was put up on a farm fence close to the hill, and it seems like an excellent visual jumping off point for reflecting on a summit (with heart). So here are ten tweets from this week #altc #altcSummit:

    It was an awesome event, which gave me a sense of community and connecting, and a sense of hope that I am grateful for.

  • Virtual hugs and no conference chicken… #altc #altcSummit

    Virtual hugs and no conference chicken… #altc #altcSummit

    Next week is ALT’s first summer summit and the first time since 2009 that I don’t spend this weekend packing up clothes, shoes and EVERY cable and charger in my study and make a 5 day trip to Edinuburgh, Manchester, Nottingham or this year London.

    But just because I am not packing my suitcase doesn’t mean I am not preparing for what is promising to be a crazy and fun week!

    Shoes

    Conferences are serious shoe business for some of us… and one of the real upsides of virtual events is that there is really no limit to the shoe tweeting you can do, combining all your shoes or trainers… after months of not having a real reason to dress up, I for one am looking forward to the opportunity to have a bit of fun and get back into conference dressing 🙂

    Pizza

    Having pizza the night before a big event has become something of a tradition in our staff team. I take the blame for that as it’s probably me suggesting it year after year… but it’s led us to have dinners in some very fun places over the years in different cities across the country!

    So this year, we are tuning in to ALT Summer Summit Radio Show
    at 7pm UK time on Tuesday, to join our very own online radio show in partnership with The Thursday Night Show, hosted by The Thursday Night Show and ALT Members.

    I have really fallen in love with online radio during the pandemic, so I am looking forward to hearing those sets and sharing some pizza with my colleagues, no doubt tweeting along a bit as well. The night before the storm that is the opening day of a big event… good company is key 🙂

    Not walking 10 miles a day

    One characteristic of my conference trips is that I end up walking many miles each day, depending on the venue. On a normal day, it’s up to 10 miles. One of the reasons why I always wear flat shoes to events.

    But this year it’s all virtual, so I have come up with a number of ways in which I am going to keep moving throughout next week: first up, standing up whenever I can, and I have a small standing desk for just that purpose. So I expect to gear up to the keynotes, panels and parallel sessions standing up at least.

    Also, being online for 10 hours a day is tiring, so mornings and evenings are going to need some walking. Fortunately most of the evening social events such as Monday’s LTHEchat or the ALT Quiz on Wednesday I will be able to participate in from my phone, so… a bit of fresh air and movement is definitely on the cards. Er… and my excuse to not inflict my singing voice on the good folk from Reclaim Hosting as we are lucky enough to have the KaraOERke master Jim Groom host the show on Wednesday night.

    Virtual hugs, but no chicken

    One of the things I miss most about running face to face events is meeting people (and hugs, too)!. It seems distant, like another era entirely, but I miss it anyway and so I am going to make an extra effort to connect with both old and new colleagues. I am going to drop by the Summit Cafe, take part in Social Bingo… I am going to tweet along #altc #altcSummit… I am going to post word into wordclouds… say hello to participants, speakers and sponsors… I am going to revel in my community.

    A community that has been through so much and kept going so long through this year… the year we all found out what a Learning Technology emergency looks like. An emergency which is now into months of duration and for which I can sense no kind of normal.

    But despite everything (and thank you, A-level results day, for adding another layer of complexity to the chaos) and maybe particularly because of everything, I am really excited. Tired, too, but also inspired that a few hundred participants from the UK, Ireland, Canada, America, Sweden, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Uruguay… and many other countries have signed up for this ride.

    I haven’t been to many virtual events that had real heart, but if OER20 is anything to go by, then this Summit should be a very special occasion indeed. It’s a milestone moment, championing everyone in Learning Technology, against a backdrop of bleakness and burnout.

    It may be that you only get a virtual hug this year… and the dancing will have to be in your own living room. But there won’t be cold conference chicken and coffee should be excellent.

    I am heartened by reading the blog posts and browsing through the programme that there is appetite for asking the hard questions, for sharing knowledge that will help meet the challenges of the next academic year… and that there is so much of our community at the heart of this Summit.

    If you want to say hello and exchange virtual hugs, ping me @marendeepwell.

    See you at the Summit #altc #altcSummit 🙂