Catherine Cronin is an open educator, open researcher, and strategic education developer at the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education in Ireland. Cronin’s work focuses on digital and open education, critical approaches to openness, digital identity practices, and the relationships between formal and informal learning. She researched the use of open educational practices (OEP) in higher education. Cronin is a member of the advisory boards of the Open Education Working Group and Virtually Connecting, and co-chair of the OER19 Conference. Involved in teaching, research, and advocacy in higher education and in the community for over 25 years, Cronin is a regular contributor to conversations and collaborative projects in the area of open education, within Ireland and globally.
Catherine Cronin
Keynote - Teaching in an Age of Complexity: Considering Open, Participatory and Equitable Pedagogies
[I got] ideas to try open pedagogy in my class, ideas for multimedia assignments in my classes, and resources for fact-checking - Anonymous faculty member
We and our students, as networked individuals, teach and learn and love and live in an increasingly open, networked, and participatory culture. Boundaries are blurring between physical and digital learning environments, formal and informal learning, and educators and learners. We also live in a world of increasing inequality. This is the context within which higher education operates. A key question for us as educators is surely this: How can we equip ourselves and also prepare our students to address these challenges, while at the same time seeking to ensure our own and our students wellbeing in both physical and digital spaces. Digital education is not the explicit focus of this keynote because ‘the digital world’ can no longer be considered a separate realm; it is integrated in our students' lives and learning practices, formal and informal, whether we as individuals teach online or not. Cronin explores how open, participatory and equitable pedagogies can be used and adapted in online, blended and face-to-face learning environments to foster active, equitable and agentic learning, and to support the wellbeing of both learners and teachers.
6