It’s the day after the night before………what a great couple of days. Meeting good friends, making new ones and catching up on all the gossip. Some brilliant speakers and entertainment and a delightful meal with plenty of conversation and wonderful surroundings………..
This opening sentence wouldn’t be out of place in a blog about attending a wedding, but this is a blog entry about OER13, a conference that is becoming “the” national conference on open education. Having been to every OER conference since they started in 2010 I feel a certain affinity towards the event, and in many ways for me it’s just like attending a good wedding.
Firstly a good wedding takes endless hours of planning and organisation, and being on the organising committee this year certainly allowed me to see the inner workings of a conference organising committee. Like a wedding often is, this conference was planned by a committed group of volunteers and led by two enthusiastic & passionate co-chairs, Jackie Carter (@jackiecarter) and Chris Pegler (@chrispegler).
Beyond this though it has a celebratory atmosphere, in the sense that OER (Open Educational Resources) and the wider use of Open Practice has begun to change the learning environments in which we teach and learn, this should most certainly be celebrated.
Much like a wedding there are a range expectations and emotions, I expected to see the ‘usual’ people from the OER programme but I was also delighted to see many new faces and even more delighted to connect up real faces with twitter identities.
Like every good wedding there was a chance to have a great meal, play games and listen to speeches, all which came together to be one of the most enjoyable conference events I have attended. Feel free to use the crossword puzzles (which attendees completed between courses) and the comic strips (which attendees created as an after dinner activity).
Finally I should say that also like a wedding there is the “catching of the bouquet”. And luckily Megan Quentin-Baxter & I picked it up together. So we are co-chairs for OER 14, be sure to keep an eye out for your Open Invite!
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