Open Education: Creating accountable spaces for equitable participation
Channel: Knowledge Equity Network
Date: 2024-02-28

In this thought-provoking session, we delve into the concept of creating collaborative spaces that encourage equitable participation for all and foster accountability. 

Chrissi Nerantzi, Professor of Creative and Open Education at the University of Leeds, is joined by guest speakers, artist and educator, George Sfougaras and Gabi Witthaus, academic specialist in mass displacement.

George Sfougaras discusses his perspective on Accountable Spaces, based on his extensive work combining art and education, particularly in contexts where there is an attempt at post-conflict reconciliation amongst communities. He touches on the issues that hierarchical approaches can engender in these endeavours.

Dr Gabi Witthaus explores the notion of accountable spaces from a learning design perspective, focusing on the challenges around fostering students’ social engagement in online learning. Her recent research into the experiences of displaced people in online Higher Education settings (Witthaus, 2023) showed that social engagement is closely tied to cognitive engagement, and that students may miss out on valuable learning opportunities by withdrawing from peer learning processes or by self-censoring. Drawing on social justice concepts from the Capability Approach, Gabi will argue that creating a climate of affiliation and recognition within the class/learning group is crucial to fostering social engagement.

George Sfougaras and Dr Gabi Witthaus additionally share their insights around opening up education, establishing new cross-cultural collaborations and around the role of equity, diversity and inclusion as it relates to sustainable progress towards knowledge equity.

Read George's blog in relation to accountable spaces:
https://georgesfougaras.blogspot.com/2023/09/accountable-spaces.html

Read Gabi's blogs about her research:
https://artofelearning.org