Promoting OER through sewing in a collective quilt: The Femedtech Quilt of Care and Justice in Open Education

Dr Veronica Mitchell

The Association for Learning Technology, also known as ALT, hosted their 2022 conference in Manchester during the second week of September. It was the first time bringing people together in that space since it was abruptly cancelled in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. One contribution that waited over this period was a beautifully crafted four piece quilt that had been expertly sewn together by Farnces Bell and her team of helpers connected to the FemEdTech group. Their story is available here.

The finished artefact being hung over a balcony at ALT 2022.

Among the contributors to this beautiful sewn artefact are several members of UCT’s CILT team led by Laura Czerniewicz. They created a number of innovative squares that showcased different language interpretations for the word open by using threads, buttons, sequins and other accessories. Together with these OER promoters, I added my square featuring a star in the centre with various different shapes and symbols surrounding it including fabric with images of  animals. I tried to bring a strong African perspective with a message pertinent to our work promoting OER in the Health Sciences Faculty. Here is a video composed by Stephen Marquard that explains all our contributions from UCT.

Below is an image of my square. I feel proud to have been a contributor and bring a focus to our institution.

My Contribution

The story of all the contributions

 

For more see https://quilt.femedtech.net/, and the full OER UCT team in this YouTube video.