Mary R. Lea - Open University
Livestream of keynote: Thursday 9.30am
 
Literacy in the digital university
 The last decade has seen some significant changes in higher education as digital environments have become commonplace. These include the development of virtual learning environments for managing teaching and learning, the increasing use of online and web-based resources, the harnessing of technologies in monitoring plagiarism and regularising assessment and a growing interest in open educational resources. At the same time, both students and academics are immersed in online, networked worlds with a potential to blur distinctions between academic and personal spaces.  Whilst on the one hand academics raise concerns about the unbridled student let loose on the internet with an assignment title, on the other they find themselves required to integrate digital technologies into their own teaching, whether or not there is any proven pedagogic benefit. This presentation will attempt to step back and take a critical lens to changing knowledge making practices and the implications of these for understanding academic literacies in today’s digital university.

Catherine Cronin - National University of Ireland, Galway
Livestream of keynote: Friday 9.30am
 
We are in the early days of open education. The boundaries are blurring between real and virtual spaces, formal and informal learning, educators and learners. Open, participatory and social media are not just enabling new forms of communication; they are enabling new ways of learning, and thus are transforming education. In Joichi Ito’s (2011) words: “I don’t think education is about centralized instruction anymore; rather, it is the process [of] establishing oneself as a node in a broad network of distributed creativity.” What this means for the future of higher education is still unclear. We have a great opportunity, however, as educators, scholars and students, to engage in reimagining and creating that future – what Keri Facer calls future building (2011).

Catherine will explore current practices of open education, both within and outside HE, based on her research and learning and teaching experiences. Open practices in education will be explored: open research, open learning and teaching, open publishing; as well as the digital literacies required to engage in open education practices, particularly using social media. A radical approach to open education is to metaphorically and physically (inasmuch as possible) work beyond the confines of the classroom and lecture hall: engaging with students as co-learners; openly sharing ideas, feedback and reflections – with students and with wider learning communities; and acknowledging the value of informal learning and personal learning networks (PLNs) as the key to integrated and continual learning. As educators, we each must consider our own approach to openness and to open education. What role will we play in building our future – as individuals and as universities?