I love watching the YouTube videos Mike Wesch creates! Wesch creates engaging stories and opportunities for students to experience learning. Therefore, when I saw Tom Woodward and Mike Wesch listed as presenters for a day 2 OERxDomains21 session, I knew I had to watch it! I have watched Wesch talk about the ANTH101 course they designed. However, I did not consider the scale of the course! They developed a site on WordPress (http://anth101.com/) and then used Instagram for “outsourcing content” and now are rethinking the design. I visited the site and was in awe by the amount of resources for instructors: videos, TopHat “books”… links to books! By using a hashtag and Instagram, students from different courses across the world were able to see and learn what others were doing! Wesch explained that now they encourage students to participate in the course on Canvas and share in Instagram if they want. Mike mentioned how students like having one place to visit and it seems to be working much better, and then some students go out and post on Instagram. Wesch mentioned some posts were borderline offensive and this made them rethink the use of completely public space. They mentioned how the site has evolved to include resources like a film school and instructor resources. Wesch also mentioned becoming a little more “careful” about what media he puts “out there,” spending more time developing and curating resources before releasing. Wooodward talked about the blurred and complex boundaries of what is public and private in higher education. I admire what they have created and their careful consideration of student privacy and sharing of resources. I find any video/talk/resource with Mike Wesch’s name inspiring.
The keynote for day 2 of OERxDomains21 was Jasmine Roberts. Her session was entitled “Open for Whom?: Revisiting the Global Commitments of Open Education with Jasmine Roberts.” Roberts started by openly sharing the trauma of Black deaths due to police brutality. It was a thoughtful and vulnerable disclosure and a dedication of the keynote to a murdered black teenager. I also thought it was interesting to learn about why Roberts mentions Territory Acknowledgement AND connects it current higher education spaces and practices. Without being performative, the thoughtful acknowledgements Roberts included were informative, inspiring, and aligned with her social justice framework. Roberts began by talking about how commitments to open may not have been kept and in some cases open is not the most culturally appropriate educational strategy. The impact of the pandemic on emphasizing inequities, the need for empathy, and how we treat students was discussed.
We are teaching students, not content. […] Prioritize student wellness.
Jasmine Roberts
Roberts then asked difficult questions: how do we include marginalized communities in open education? How do we ensure equity and representation of the Global South? Roberts cited bell hooks and the transgression of boundaries and connected this to centering student knowledge and contributions as valuable. To emphasize that Open Pedagogy is not new and a creation by white men, Roberts provided examples of work from amazing scholars: Dr. Sherry Deckman from SUNY who created a final project about the presence of slavery in everyday life and the Equity Unbound projects were mentioned. Roberts eloquently described the racialized risks of “open.” Jasmine Roberts urged for us to protect the scholars doing the work. Roberts ended by saying that open education can help us on the path toward healing. The question and answer session was full of tough questions and honest responses by Jasmine Roberts. What a wonderful, emotional, and inspiring session! I hope to hear and learn from Jasmine Roberts soon.
