By now we are almost certain to each be familiar (perhaps even overfamiliar) with Zoom and or MS Teams. There are so many good environments for online synchronous interaction in virtual meetings space and in this event we will sample three of the newer environments. We will start together in Zoom and then meet in Butter, JITSI and Google Meet before returning to Zoom to share our experiences and insights.
Tony says:
“I get really curious about emerging and alternative technologies and I keep coming across some real gems for online and blended learning and teaching. I don’t claim to have expert knowledge of all of these tools so let’s explore together”.
Our Guide’s Bio:
Tony Carr is an Educational Technologist in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at University of Cape Town and convenor of e/merge Africa.
In designing meetings, learning activities and workshops our most generative and productive experiences are found in the zone between the extremes of total control (which silences participants) and a complete absence of structure (thus no focus for shared engagement). Liberating structures are meeting processes designed to provide just enough structure to unleash the brilliance and creativity of a group of people. Liberating Structures were originally designed for face to face interaction and have been extensively applied to online engagement during the pandemic.
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The e/merge Africa team will introduce the concept of Liberating Structures and facilitate a highly experiential workshop which features five structures, namely: Waterfall, Impromptu Networking, Spiral Journal, 1-2-4-All and Conversation Cafe’. The Liberating Structures website features 33 of the over 50 structures that have been developed.
Tony Carr is an Educational Technologist in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching at University of Cape Town and convenor of e/merge Africa.
Dr Alice Barlow-Zambodla is e/Merge Africa Network Regional Coordinator for Southern and East Africa
Jakob Pedersen is Project Manager for e/merge Africa, Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT), University of Cape Town
Irene Maweu is an Online Facilitator for e/merge Africa Facilitating Online Course
Description of the session: This 1.5 hour interactive workshop will look at approaches to designing justice-oriented MOOCs. Based on the premise that openness does not necessarily equate to justice, the concept of a justice-oriented MOOC is defined as a MOOC that seeks to address material, cultural-epistemic and political/geopolitical injustices in itself and in society. Drawing on the Dimensions of Human Injustice framework, the workshop posits three key take-ways that will lead to more justice-oriented design of MOOCs. These are unpacked through four decision-making spheres that MOOC design teams go through when embarking on a MOOC. The first sphere deals with the framing of MOOC production, highlighting the high-level decisions that are made at an institutional level. The second sphere involves the conceptualisation of the MOOC where the MOOC designers unpack the philosophical underpinnings, purpose, and envisioned target group. The third sphere involves situating the MOOC. This is where decisions are made that are external to the construction of the MOOC itself, relating to the contexts in which the MOOC will be placed. The last sphere is the actual construction of the MOOC, where power dynamics, pedagogical approaches, participation, content and assessment methods are brought together.
Presenter’s Bio: Dr. Taskeen is an Associate Manager with Open Development & Education and a Senior Research Lead at EdTech Hub. She specialises in topics such as tech-supported teacher professional development, virtual learning environments and open education. She completed her PhD on ‘Addressing Injustices through MOOCs: A study among peri-urban, marginalised South African youth’ at the University of Cambridge. Her research highlighted that historical injustices, cultural imposition, and economic dependence continue to play a pivotal role in education. Her MPhil thesis focused on the ‘Sustainable Implementation of the One Laptop per Child project in Rwanda’. Alongside her academic pursuits, she pioneered Khwela (a regional online course platform) and Solar Powered Learning in South Africa as well as Mobile Education for Smart Technology in India. Prior to her career shift to EdTech, she worked as an electrical engineer, specialising in measurement and control. Publications available here.Twitter handle: @TaskeenAdam @opendevedLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/taskeen-adam-2027a150/ Website link: https://opendeved.net/
Resources: Adam, T. (2019). Digital neocolonialism and massive open online courses (MOOCs): Colonial pasts and neoliberal futures. Learning, Media and Technology, 44(3), 365–380. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439884.2019.1640740 (Open Access: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/294422)
Adam, T. (2020). Open educational practices of MOOC designers: Embodiment and epistemic location. Distance Education, 41(2), 171–185. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1757405 (Open Access: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/341192901_Open_educational_practices_of_MOOC_designers_embodiment_and_epistemic_location)
Adam, T. (2020). Between Social Justice and Decolonisation: Exploring South African MOOC Designers’ Conceptualisations and Approaches to Addressing Injustices. Journal of Interactive Media in Education, 2020(1), 7. https://doi.org/10.5334/jime.557
