Seminar – Open Education: research and reality (Sheila MacNeill) (note 11:30 start)

Speaker: Sheila MacNeill, Senior Lecturer, Glasgow Caledonian University

Abstract:

Open methods in educational research, publishing and learning and teaching primarily through the release of OERs (open educational resources) are now established. Indeed, it could be argued that open-ness is now part of mainstream educational practice. More and more Universities (including my own) have OER policies, and mechanisms for sharing OERs. There is an increasing body of evidence around the impact of OERs and open educational practice, not least from the OER Research Hub. As Weller (2014) has argued, the battle for open-ness may well have been won, but the wider war still rages on.   As is often the case, translating the research around open-ness into wide scale mainstream adoption and changing of practice is still a major challenge. As a self- declared open practitioner, I will use this talk to share my journey into open-ness and my relationship with the research around open educational  practice.  More importantly I will share some of everyday challenges, and opportunities, around open educational practice I face working  in a mainstream university in the UK.

Speaker bio:

Sheila MacNeill is a Senior Lecturer in Blended Learning at Glasgow Caledonian University, where she works as part of a team who provide strategic direction, pedagogic guidance and practical support to staff embedding digital, blended online learning across the curriculum. Sheila works with colleagues across the university to support the development of open educational practice. Open-ness is at the heart of Sheila’s professional practice and she regularly blogs about her adventures and musing in and around the use of technology in education at www.howsheilaseesit.wordpress.com and can be found on twitter @sheilmcn.  Before working at GCU, Sheila was one of the Assistant Director’s at Jisc Cetis, a national innovation support centre for the UK HE Sector. She was the ALT Learning Technologist of the Year 2013.