I had the great pleasure last week to participate in the OE Global 2020 Conference virtually from my home in Richmond, BC, Canada. While I have attended other virtual events and conferences throughout the year, this one was a bit different, and more engaging and exciting for me for a number of reasons:
- Firstly as I had been invited to speak at OE Global 2019 in Milan, but had not been able to afford to attend, it was wonderful that a virtually hosted conference made that possible.
- Secondly as I had met a number of the delegates for the first time at another conference in 2019, and I was looking forward to ‘seeing’ them again.
- Finally, as the conference was designed in such away to accommodate people from around the world, and as Alan Levine had created an online community for delegates to connect before, during, and after the conference.
All the hard work and strategy that the team from Taipei Medical University, OE Global, eCampus Ontario, and TU Delft put into organizing the conference paid off. Just look at the stats below.
It seems I was not alone in the question of affordability and accessibility opening up the conference. “75% of the people were first time attendees. Doing this conference in an online fashion enabled a lot more people to participate, who perhaps wouldn’t have been able to if we’ve done it in-person.” ~ Paul Stacey of Open Education Global
One of the exciting things moving forward, post the conference is that OE Global has made all of the recorded talks open and accessible on YouTube, and will be opening up OEG Connect for others to join in the discussion and begin working together on open educational initiatives.
As you begin exploring OE Global 2020, below are the talks and workshop that I gave with others here on StoryToGo, including Lori Jones, Danielle Dubien, Lori Yearwood, and Kevin Ribble:
- Drawing Eyes and Building Awareness Around OERs
- StoryToGo : Building Global Connections, Opportunities and Sustainability in the Middle of a Pandemic
- Are You Asking? Accessibility of Open Educational Resources in Online Learning
These are all projects and initiatives that we’d love to invite others to participate in. Join in the conversation, brainstorming, and planning on OEG Connect:
- Drawing Eyes and Building Awareness Around OERs
- StoryToGo : Building Global Connections, Opportunities and Sustainability in the Middle of a Pandemic
- Are You Asking? Accessibility of Open Educational Resources in Online Learning
Hope to see you in the mix on OEG Connect!