OA21 Plenary: Open Education on a Post-Pandemic Planet
Channel: Apereo Foundation
Date: 2021-06-23

Open Education on a Post-Pandemic Planet

Dr. Melissa Highton, Assistant Principal and Director of Learning, Teaching and Web Services, University of Edinburgh, Scotland

Melissa is strategic lead for online education at University of Edinburgh and her teams deliver the services and support a world class university needs. This includes the platforms and tools for teaching, learning and the public facing web estate. She chooses to champion open source technologies such as Drupal, uPortal, Wordpress, Sakai , web PA, Kaltura, and Fiosan as core parts of university business. Her teams provide training and support for production of open educational resources across the curriculum and work in partnership with major platforms including EdX and Wikimedia.

Session Description: 
As we try to predict what the future may hold there are a few things we still know to be true. Open educational resources, open source software and open access digital tools offer our last, best hope for equity and inclusion. Education must not be dependent on digital platforms controlled by private companies and large educational institutions must show their support for open sharing, collaboration and assurance of accessibility for all our audiences. As well as deep reflection on our purchasing decisions and the skills in our edtech teams we must ensure ‘open literacy’ within the curriculum and within pedagogical training. As we struggle against the denial of scientific knowledge, actively fight misinformation, attempt to decolonise and care for our planet, there is much to be done. Melissa will bring stories from Scotland on how universities are rising to these challenges and bringing their own leadership to the table.