Non-adjoining rooms.

Where were they all?

I was beginning to feel distinctly alone.

I looked at the link in the mail.

I looked at the link in the hangout.

They were not the same.

The others were in another room altogether.




I sent a tweet to Martin Weller over in London with the new link.

I sent a mail to the others.

Martin arrived,

"The others are waiting in a different room;" he said.

"We don't have much time." he said.

I quickly went to find Mark in the other room and called him over from Oakland.

Dinah arrived from her library from somewhere in Ghana.

Graham Steele arrived from somewhere in Glasgow.

By the time everyone was together, we didn't have much time.

I fluffed through the introductions.

Darn.

Open in transit.

I got a tweet from Nadine.

Could she join too?

Nadine arrived in transit at a London airport.

Lucy Crompton-Reid, Lisa Taner, Maren Deepwell, Martin Weller gave us their generally positive impression from OER17.

All of them remarked on a growing internationalisation of the voices and the participants at the conference.

That was all very positive.

Then, Martin briefly mentioned a session from the first day:

Perspectives on Open Education in a World of Brexit & Trump [1559]
Type: Discussion
Authors: Maha Bali, Lorna Campbell, James Luke, and Martin Weller

I asked them their impressions about Brexit from their perspective.

As representative for Wikimedia, Lucy couldn't really get involved in the politics of it but she noted with Maren and Martin a generalised feeling of dismay.

Martin said something to the effect that it was too complex a question for the time they had.

Indeed, they didn't have much time, they had to leave to the afternoon sessions.

We continued an "after-conversation" with Nadine, Mark, and Dinah who was typing in the chat.

Nadine, travelling from Egypt was already having to travel/work around the laptop ban.

The battle of open.

I shared a story of how I fell upon a Twitter trolling of the Scottish first minister.

I looked at the tweet.

He was calling Nicole Sturgeon a traitor.

And what do we do to traitors he asked?

They hang.

I saw an avatar with an English flag.

I looked at the name.

With horror, I thought to myself: this is someone I know.

I checked.

It was a childhood friend.

I thought of how our lives had taken such different paths.

I, to safe middle-class higher education and ex-expatriation in France.

He, to work in a factory from the age of 16, and premature unemployment.

I, increasingly internationally connected, with a growing intercultural "awareness" of how little I am aware.

He, increasingly internationally connected, locally disconnected, with a growing frustration at intercultural exploitation and a clear awareness of what he has lost.

I fear for the future.

He has no future.

Shrinking privileges

I thought of how a few years earlier I had travelled to London for a conference.

This would now be impossible for me due to current economic constraints.

Privileges are shrinking.

Pressure on people is rising.

Mark spoke of similar experiences with old school friends who were now unemployed Trump supporters.

Platforms which carried such promise a few years earlier are being used to squeeze the life out of people around the world.

Californian dreams.

I remembered a Microsoft ad with images of Woodstock.

I remembered the free iPad I got at a London conference a few years back.

Those were the days...of being a roaming autodidact.

What happened to “roaming autodidacts,” asks @dkernohan. “They became Nazis.” #OER17

— Audrey Watters (@audreywatters) April 5, 2017

Now I roam mostly virtually.

Imagined communities.

I remembered the feeling of being European.

I had a British passport but I was European.

I think now of learning to sing the Marseillaise with my daughter.

I have to be French to be European now...for how much longer?

Shall we go back to singing old battle songs.

Aux armes, citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!

Allons enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L'étendard sanglant est levé
L'étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!

Aux armes, citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons!
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!

There are those who are winners in an increasingly polarised system.

There are those who are now losing and will look for others to blame.

There are those who were always losing and who say to us now:  "This is how it feels guys."

There are those who will continue to be winners.

They will share their smiling photos from conferences in far away places.

Shall we applaud their openness?

Making a moocery of us all?

I heard about exciting new ventures at OER17

I am sorry if I am not always able to find cheer.

There are those who are refugees and who are offered a MOOC.

MOONLITE

I know that I should be crediting the photographer.

Who will credit the refugees on the beach?

A MOOC financed with European funding while kids are drowning in the Mediterranean.

What will it be?

Swimming lessons?

I don't go and learn more about the project, I fear upsetting people, knowing one of the authors.

I simply write how my ignorance makes me feel.

I am sorry.

I heard about a Wikimedia scheme to help kids identify fake news.

Are we going to get European funding to help students see what is fake?

I think of my childhood friend and the promises made to him by successive governments.

I wonder what lies I am living?

Do we need bloody hours to work out a simple equation?

People are being screwed.

I heard John Casey talk about educational technology.

#oer17 #edtech "a neoliberal attack dog dressed as a Ted talk." pic.twitter.com/2NIcyBwb57

— Simon Ensor (@sensor63) April 6, 2017

What was Alek Tarkowski talking about in an earlier virtually connecting session?

That he wanted to theme OER17 an open learning party or some such?

The party is over.

For many there never was a party...ever.

They paid for our party.

Non-adjoining rooms?

For a few moments sitting in that empty hangout room, I felt panic.

I felt fear that I wouldn't be re-invited to be a virtual buddy.

It was my anxiety to do well which was at the origin of my technical downfall.

I get anxious.

I remembe what it feels to be given your cards.

I remember the boss calling me over for a chat.

I remember how it feels to be excluded.

There are some of us who share hope and happiness.

There are some of us who have only anger and despair to share.

There are some of us who have only anger and despair but no means to share.

I find myself caught between feelings of  hope and despair, between belonging and longing.

Those feelings are in adjoining rooms, perhaps in the same room.

Virtually connecting

Thanksgiving.

This a thanksgiving for the openness and generosity of my fellows.








Being thankful.

I am thankful for the openness of ALTC.

It is one of the most stimulating conferences that I have never had the fortune to attend in the flesh.

I was able to watch Ian Livingstone's keynote on games in learning.

I remark his use of the slogan: "Life is a game."

I might have used such a slogan in the past myself...perhaps not.

I feel inclusion at his mention of a book in my collection:

"Program or be programmed" by Douglas Rushkoff

I can identify with this culture.

I admit to feeling a little uneasy at the story and the photo of a meeting with Angelina Jolie.

I hesistate to admit it openly.

I felt nostalgic for the Learning Without Frontiers Conference that I had first attended in 2012.

Game-based learning, graphically engaging video games, virtual reality is indeed seductive.

Jane McGonigal's book "Reality is Broken: Why games make us better and how they can  change the world." has pride of place on my bookcase.

Those were the days when everything seemed shiny and new.

I loved the fact that I got a free iPad.

If I retain much enthusiasm and two "free" iPads, all this is now accompanied by a more critical eye.

I think back to a previous session of Virtually Connecting at ALTC where the participants, Catherine Cronin, and Remi Holden among them, were talking about the importance of humility and learning from our failures.

Changing the world.

I was thankful this afternoon to be able to benefit from the work of the Virtually Connecting Crew who enabled me to hangout with Fiona Harvey and Lorna Campbell who were speaking at the conference at Warwick University.

I was thankful to be able to say hi to my good friend Teresa Mackinnon who was buddying onsite.

Having participated as a virtual buddy at last year's ALTC, I have an idea of the incredible work of Maha Bali and Rebecca Hogue the founders of Virtually Connecting and of the people like Autumm, Alan, AK or Nadine and others who are enabling it to grow.

I am suddenly reminded of a quote that Teresa and I have shared and discussed in the past:

"Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

Margaret Mead.

Virtually Connecting gives evidence to support this sentiment.

In a small way, a small group of committed educators are indeed changing the world.

Experiences of changes in the world are not necessarily all so positive.

Being connected, becoming critical.

I would describe myself as a "connected" educator.

I have benefited enormously personally from developing a personal digital presence and openly sharing and collaborating online.

I spend a good deal of time opening up classrooms, connecting learners and encouraging them to develop open digital identities, portfolios, networks.

Such efforts are considered by some in the institution as "innovative".

I don't count the hours entailed in my personal professional development.

Any research I do, is done for free, on top of my full-time job.

I am thankful for the freedom that I have been able to establish in my work.

In being an openly "connected educator", I have become more nuanced in my enthusiasm.

I have been drawn to be more critical in my thinking and in my pedagogy.

It has been through dialogue with fellow co-learners from different backgrounds and contexts that I have become more critical.

Free, freedom.

I hear Fiona talk about using "free tools."

I think to myself of Facebook's attempts to "offer" free internet to India, to Africa.

Facebook lures Africa with free internet but what is the hidden cost?

"Free tools" don't necessarily equate with "freedom".

"Free trade" doesn't necessarily equate with "freedom."

The transatlantic trade deal TTIP may be dead, but something even worse is coming. @GeorgeMonbiot https://t.co/bmLvprfa8N

— Simon Ensor (@sensor63) September 6, 2016

"Openness" doesn't necessarily benefit the individual.

"Openness" may benefit corporations more than individuals.

We may be blind to how privileged voices, our privileged voices, silence those of people who need to be heard.





I go back to listen to the session again and annotate it with a free tool - Vialogues.

I too use "free tools."

I too encourage "openness".

I share the fruit of my labour freely.

Institutional Policies.

I note with interest that "more universities" are encouraging openness.

I write this having spent a morning learning about how our latest walled garden VLE will restrict us.

I hear an expression "business heart of the university"  which sounds weirdly scary from my French public university perspective.

I make a comment in the chat about the importance of reclaiming "public good" but there is no response.

Has the idea of education as a "public good" become untenable?

I hear how fees that British universities will be able to charge will depend in part on National Student Satisfaction Surveys.

I hear about the rethink going on in UK universities about sustainability of MOOCs on commercial platforms.

I make a comment in the chat:

"Does openness favour the strongest?"

This provokes an energetic response to suggest the contrary.

I am not so sure.

I wonder now why it is that big American Universities are so in favour of sharing course content for "free".

Doesn't openness favour MIT?

I wonder if some of us are still living with a dream of a web of openly shared knowledge.

Doesn't Google favour open?

We speak of an open share economy.

Wasn't Airbnb or Uber built on the basis of a "share economy"?

What do ex-journalists write of unpaid articles in the Huffington Post?

I find an article entitled:

"Hell is working at the Huffington Post."

Identities or brands?

I hear that there are dangers with tying our professional identities to our institutions, that we need to develop independent identities.

Are we to develop identities or brands?

Are we preparing ourselves for more open employment structures?

Are we to join the ranks of  freelance, intermittently paid academics?

Are those employed in privately funded scientific research laboratories to thrive while those in less commercially viable academic pursuits to be encouraged to become willing, lesser (un?) paid adjuncts/amateurs?

Don't get me wrong, I believe that the pay-wall system around academic publishing is a scandal.

There is no question in my mind that research funded publicly should be shared openly.

You need a network.

I hear that "being open gives you a network."

Well being open may well be a first step to developing a network.

Are networks so open?

Don't badges act to control access to power on networks too?

It is one thing to be part of a network, the most important question is how your network is able to benefit you.

Power differentials in networks mean that some may benefit from open sharing more than others.

Whose networks really count in the world?

Whose platforms will support such networks?

You Tube?

ELGG?

Tidal?

Who will have the power to analyse the data, to decide on policy or ethics?

The NSA?

Badges, and open badges.

A comment of Fiona "People are more than their badges" made me think.

I am not so sure that people are necessarily more than their badges.

Aren't we all reduced to badges to those who don't know us?

How do the participants in the VC session introduce themselves?

How did I introduce myself?

What do people see when they look at my Twitter Profile?

love life, love learning, edupunk language teacher and aikidoka.#clavedu #rhizo14 #ccourses #clmooc #digiwrimo

What is my avatar?

Is it not a badge for a brand?

Am I not making connections with groups of people who group around a hashtag, a movement, a profession?

What do people see when they look at our photos?

What is that professional card that I carry in my wallet?

Is it not a badge?

Why is it that my parking card doesn't work any more?

A person with power has deprogrammed my card, I discover yesterday.

I write this while applying for French citizenship, post Brexit.

What can be said of those people who don't carry the correct passport?

Are they expats or emigrés, refugees or migrants, illegal immigrants or potential first ladies, citizens or potential terrorists?

Language teachers

We learnt during the hangout that a number of us were current or former language teachers.

I wonder which languages the others taught.

Being an English language teacher is hardly neutral.

When I encourage a student to learn English by telling him it is important for his career, that is underlining cultural dominance.

Openness and risk.

I get to ask a question about the danger of being over-enthusiastic in encouraging students to be open.

I am met with energetic rebuttals from Fiona and Lorna.

I am not surprised at their replies.

I would say the same - up to a point.

I try to give an example of how it is necessary to be critical.

Working with a Syrian refugee convinces me of the danger to him of being open for himself and his family.

On sharing this, Lorna shares her story of participating in a book entitled: "The cost of freedom."

I was unaware of the plight of Bassel Khartabil, an openly connected Syrian educator who has gone missing.

I feel that our own freedom, our own privilege comes with a cost.

Learning from others

I hear a story of attending a conference in Tunisia.

I hear about the sharing of practices: portfolio development, learner centred teaching.

I hear "Us going there gives them an insight into how things could be."

A few minutes later, I am Googling the word "Thanksgiving."

I think of that foundational, disputed story at the heart of American freedom.

I find some documents:

"Thanksgiving: a native American view".

I read:

"Among the Dakota, my father's people, they say, when asked to give, "Are we not Dakota and alive?" It was believed that by giving there would be enough for all -- the exact opposite of the system we live in now, which is based on selling, not giving."

Who benefits from open sharing?

"Since that initial sharing, Native American food has spread around the world. Nearly 70 percent of all crops grown today were originally cultivated by Native American peoples. I sometimes wonder what they ate in Europe before they met us. Spaghetti without tomatoes? Meat and potatoes without potatoes."

I find another document: "The real story of Thanksgiving."

I wonder who really benefits from learning a dominant language?

"The story began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to  England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those who had escaped.  By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and knew their language.  He taught them to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags." 

I find another document which makes me question the "real story of Thanksgiving."

It is entitled: "What really happened at the First Thanksgiving? The Wampanoag Side of the Tale.

I find a final document:

Thanksgiving: Native Americans Reveal What They Really Think About Thanksgiving Day.


I reflect on our discussion about the commons, the public good, open sharing.

Then I remember Dakota.

"Dakota Access Pipeline Company Attacks Native American Protestors with Dogs and Pepper Spray."

I think of that Margaret Mead quotation again and I annotate it pessimistically.

"Never doubt that a group of thoughtful, committed citizens...

[with access to the best information, equipped with the latest connecting technology, ships, trains, bulldozers, tanks, drones, massive capital, major media presence, carefully designed slogans to arouse fear or desire, control of communication platforms, extensively developed networks, speaking the dominant language]

...can change the world, indeed it is the only thing that ever has."

I no longer buy that slogan: "life is a game."

If it is to be seen so, then whose rules are we playing it by?

Adhoc voices

One forty nine pm. Saturday.

Frustration. 

I am up a ladder folding clothes.

Suddenly it occurs to me that I am listening to the radio. If I am listening, I could also be speaking while folding clothes. 

One fifty two pm.

I prop up the smartphone on a shelf go to Audiocopy app, hit record, then speak.

There was no time for preparation, no time to do other than speak and pause and fold. 

One fifty five pm and seven seconds.

The recording for #clmooc is finished. I upload to Soundcloud and I share on Twitter with four people mentioned in the recording.

I add a hashtag for good measure #adhocvoices. 

I ask the four people to add their voices to mine.

I tweet it out.

Approximately one hour later, my voice is joined by Kevin Hodgson's. 

He speaks not of being up a ladder but being up a tree. 

I make a mental note to create something directly connected to trees. 

I wonder how Kevin knows the crucial importance of tree-climbing in my life. 

I immediately feel myself again brought closer to Kevin.

It seems an untruth to say that we have never met.

Five pm.

Our voices are joined by Susan Watson in Ballenger Creek (where??) who shares a sixty second #clmooc confession. 

She later tells me that last year she wouldn't have dared do this. What is it that makes us so vulnerable sharing our voices??

Hearing a friend's spoken voice for the first time after a year of working closely via blogging, I find moving. 

Five twenty two pm

Our voices are joined by Terry Ellliott's and those of assorted cats and chickens.

I immediately feel at home on Terry's farm. 

These are familiar sounds from our ad hoc #clavpicnics. 

Those few seconds spent in his company  today evoke a mass of imagery, a rich sensory ecology. 

My brain is immediately attempting to orient my body in this space. 

I am blind all the more to see.

Six oh eight.

These voices are met with that of Scott Glass on the road in Arlington. I listen to this late in the day. I hear a local firework display which punctuates and blends with the traffic on the highway which surrounds Scott's voice.

I love the impression of movement in Scott's narrative of his roadtrip and look forward to the next episode. 

Even if our contacts via #clmooc have been brief, his name is one that has marked me, with this recording, I feel a developing friendship.

One twenty six am.

Autumm joins us from her parent's home. I hear someone (her mother?) clattering plates behind. 

She shares her projects, her plans, mentions she is working in her childhood room.  

I feel hesitation in her voice, it's authenticity, its immediacy. There is no performance here. The recording adds to an impression of vulnerabilty. We are sharing with the world. 

It is an act of generosity.

I feel a tinge of sadness. 

I am transported to my parents' home, I hear my mother busying herself in the kitchen. 

My father is sitting reading the sports news. 

He will pause, lower the newspaper and I will share this story with him and he will marvel. 

There will be a gleam in his eye.

I remember the time I spent looking for a cassette of him speaking.  I never find his voice again. I only find the one of my uncle giving a sermon. 

There is no no twinkle in his eye when he speaks. He is a hard man, hiding hard secrets behind his ecclesiastical attire.

One fifty two am

I am transported on waking to a New World. 

Wendy Taleo shares what she sees and hears with us. 

I am immediately met with a profusion of colour, of exotic vegetation, of unheard of birds, of beauty. 

My brain is in overdrive trying to make sense of the sensory stimulation. I begin to understand the wonder of New Worlds. 

I can see nothing but I can see so much.

I am reminded of the films of Terence Malick. 

I am reminded of the peace of human voices which fall silent to hear what is essential.

I have travelled so far today from folding laundry.  

Those three minutes of creative abandon were worth every second. 

Please join our #adhocvoices with yours and let us dream together.

https://soundcloud.com/simon-ensor-1/sets/adhocvoices