In this post I reflect on my first time attendance at OER24, the annual Open Education, Research, Practice and Policy conference hosted this week by Munster Technological University, Cork, Ireland. I also had the opportunity to present my current work, a video recording of a practice run is available through this link: https://learningdigitaltogether.com/our-pilot/
In 2019 I was fortunate to be able to attend three educational conferences, in September the annual conference of the Association of Learning Technologists (ALT) in Edinburgh, followed by the World Conference on Online Learning (WCOL) in Dublin in November, and finally I presented research from a module paper at the Irish Conference on Engaging Pedagogy (ICEP) in Limerick in December. For an educational conference newbie it was a busy few months! Each conference was different in its own way. I immensely enjoyed the ALT experience that was a whole new world, and a welcoming one at that. I consider myself a social introvert but it was easy to get chatting to delegates between sessions and during breaktimes. I followed up with making connections with people I had met on Twitter (as it was then) since this seemed to be the place where this academic community stayed in touch. I was only able to spend one day at WCOL and found engagement with fellow delegates to be more challenging. I don’t know why this was other than the introvert in me coming to the fore on the day. At ICEP, I was on home (University of Limerick) territory and while terrified at the prospect of my presentation, was put at ease by the session chair and my fellow session presenters.
In the years that followed I attended a few conferences online and presented at one or two. Making social connections was possible, but different from an in-person experience. When OER24 was announced I felt I had to make a submission since it was to be hosted a short 10-minute drive from my home, thus I would only have to pay the conference registration fee, no travel, no accommodation necessary. In due course my submission was accepted and off I went with my presentation for the theme Equity and Inclusion in OER.
As a lifelong learner, I am interested in the different types of social capital that support my learning and am regularly drawn back to the work of John Field in this area. Reflecting on OER24 I consider which of the three types of social capital have most effect on my lifelong learning as described in the table below (Field, 2005, p. 34):
| Type of social capital | Possible effects on lifelong learning |
| Bonding – dense but bounded networks, homogeneity of membership, high levels of reciprocity and trust, exclusion of outsiders | Free exchange of ideas, information and skills within group; strong influence on identity formation among children; high trust placed in information received, limited access to new and varied knowledge from outside group, and low trust of knowledge from outside group; relationship to education system likely to be highly traditionalist in orientation |
| Bridging – loose and open-ended networks, heterogeneity of membership, shared norms and common goals, levels of trust and reciprocity may be more limited | Relatively free exchange of a variety of ideas, information, skills and knowledge within group and between own and other groups; potential resources for identity maintenance and renewal among adults; high trust in information and knowledge from within group (and possibly from others with shared values); relationship with formal education system highly context-dependent |
| Linking – loose and open-ended networks, variety of membership, shared norms and common goals, levels of trust and reciprocity may be circumscribed by competing demands | Relatively free exchange of a variety of ideas, information, skills and knowledge within group and between own and other groups; some trust in information and knowledge from within group (and possibly from others with shared values); open resources to support identity change among adults; relationship with formal education system highly conditional |
Source: Field, 2005, p. 34
I believe linking social capital ties to be central to conference participation, certainly related to my 2019 conference experiences. While trust and reciprocity may not yet have been developed there was certainly plenty of knowledge and resources exchanged. Meeting some of the delegates in-person at OER24 with whom I was loosely acquainted since 2019, I wondered if there had been a shift towards more bridging social capital. As an open education conference there was an abundance of sharing of resources including slide presentations, many with creative commons licences, amongst this network of delegates espousing the shared value of openness. To me, the heterogeneity of this membership network was apparent at OER24 along with high trust and reciprocity, and thus, a subtle shift from linking to bridging social capital ties.
In the end, the question for me is about maintaining and developing these ties with other open researchers and practitioners with whom I share similar values. There was incredible opportunity for learning at OER24 and I have a browser window of many tabs with slides and resources shared on the communications backchannel to go through. And, while I have no plans to join new social platforms that have replaced the one predominantly used by 2019 delegates, I can still connect with many through existing social platforms, emails, blogs and websites. There is no reason to lose these new and reacquainted social ties and I will strive not to neglect any!
Until next time or OER25!
Sandra
Reference:
Field, J. (2005). Social capital and lifelong learning. Policy Press. https://doi.org/10.46692/9781847421265
Sandra Flynn 