Episode #85. Saturday December 4, 2021, 11:30 am Eastern
Abstract: MOOC discourses originating from the Global North can appear potentially colonizing to educators in the Global South. Even though the initial hype around MOOCs has died down, there is still an overall belief in the liberating potential of open which ignores the shortcomings of the practice on the ground. In this session, we contextualize open from an Egyptian perspective and refer to different open educational practices we have been involved in, including the creation of Arabic content based on Western models (e.g., Edraak MOOCs, Wikipedia Arabic, and Tahrir Academy), the creation of local OERs using local models, the reuse of existing English-language Global North content (e.g., MITx with AUC/AUB, translating EdX content in Edraak, etc.), and participation in existing connectivist MOOCs as facilitators. We also discuss an open project co-founded by one of the authors, Virtually Connecting, which challenges the marginalization of Global South scholars and others in education such as contingent academics, graduate students, and others. In doing so, we highlight how openness, when contextualized to different regions, can look different and have multiple faces. More about our guests below the video
Maha Bali is Associate Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. She has a PhD in Education from the University of Sheffield, UK. She is co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org (a grassroots movement that challenges academic gatekeeping at conferences) and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound (an equity-focused, open, connected intercultural learning curriculum, which has also branched into academic community activities Continuity with Care and Socially Just Academia and a collaboration with OneHE: Community-building Resources). She writes and speaks frequently about social justice, critical pedagogy, and open and online education. She blogs regularly at http://blog.mahabali.me and tweets @bali_maha. Maha can be reached at bali@aucegypt.edu.
Nadine Aboulmagd is a Senior Instructional Designer at The Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo where she supports faculty in designing their courses (i.e., online, face-to-face, blended, and MOOCs), designs engaging learning experiences, integrates technology in their classrooms, and develops course content. Aboulmagd has a Master of Arts degree in Educational Leadership with a concentration in higher education from the Graduate School of Education (GSE) at AUC, where she is also currently an Instructor of Educational Technology, Assessment and Learning Theories. Aboulmagd’s main areas of research include massive open online courses (MOOCs), online and blended learning, learner engagement, adult learning, instructional design, educational technology, open education and faculty development. She can be reached at n.aboulmagd@aucegypt.edu.