#OTESSA21 Call for Proposals

The Open/Technology, Education, Scholarship and Society Association (OTESSA) is excited to announce the call for proposals for the upcoming #OTESSA21 online conference, with co-chairs Michele Jacobsen (University of Calgary) and Anne-Marie Scott (Athabasca University), to be held with the Canadian Congress of the Humanities and the Social Sciences between May 31-June 3, 2021, in collaboration with the University of Alberta. OTESSA welcomes thinkers, tinkerers and designers from across disciplines and contexts who are exploring the role of open and digital technologies in education, society, and scholarship to be part of this conference gathering.

Congress 2021 Theme: Northern Relations: Connecting Open/Technology, Education, Society, and Scholarship. 

As part of Congress 2021, OTESSA encourages researchers and practitioners to share their scholarship on the complexities that technology and open educational practice raise for education, society, and scholarship, as well as come together to build connections, collaborations, and critical conversations at this year’s conference. Scholars, practitioners, graduate and undergraduate students, librarians, designers, makers, educators from K12 or post-secondary, administrators, and policy-makers are all welcome! Whatever your current role and wherever you are located in the world, we invite you to join us and contribute your experience, expertise and insights to timely discussions about openness and technology in education, society and scholarship.

The Northern Relations theme speaks to the diverse possibilities that can open up with new connections between peoples, communities, cultures, and ways of knowing. The Congress theme encourages delegates to examine the most pressing global matters of relation in the North (to the land, to each other, to new ideas), such as climate change, governance, social justice, reconciliation, reciprocity, education, and more.

The OTESSA Association invites a particular focus on the complexities that technology and open education practice raise for education, society, and scholarship and matters of relation.

This year’s four key subthemes for inviting submissions and discussions are:

• Online learning and teaching
  What can we learn from our rich history of distance and open education as we navigate our way forward in the context of the pandemic? In what ways can we build and extend upon existing research and education with technology to increase ethical, inclusive and diverse policies and practices?
• Inclusive networks and ethical spaces
  Who is advantaged or disadvantaged by the human and technological infrastructures and processes we design? In what ways do we confront issues such as surveillance, privacy and security? What innovations and changes in assessment, OER, participatory pedagogies, collective and co-design of knowledge, inform, serve to enhance or limit the democratization of knowledge?
• Knowledge Engagement and Relationality
  In what ways do we represent and provide access to diverse ways of knowing, different forms of expression, and broad concepts of authorship, credibility, and trustworthiness in our research and practice? In what ways do we create the conditions for meaningful, authentic and respectful learning relationships and engagements with technology?
• Wildcard
  OTESSA also offers a wildcard category for innovative and inventive ideas that go beyond the three broad subthemes, as long as a relevant connection is made to Open/Technology.

Session Formats

There will be multiple modes of presentation and participation available at OTESSA. Please review the call for details on which format works best for the research and practice you will be sharing:

• Presentation
• Panel Sessions
• Workshop Sessions
• Alt-Format
• Showcase Gallery – Asynchronous
• OpenTable – Synchronous

Options for Short & Full Papers To Be Published

Our primary focus in 2021 is on building connected and lively conversations and open sharing of scholarship and practice in Open/Technology, Education, Scholarship and Society. All presenters will be invited to contribute to a pre-conference blog series showcase.

In addition to the submission proposal, presenters will also be able to add/upload an optional short or full paper to your submission. This may be done at the same time as your session submission or it may be added anytime up until July 1, 2021. These papers will undergo a separate review process. Full papers that are accepted will be published as part of the OTESSA Journal. Short papers that are accepted will be published as part of the OTESSA 2021 proceedings.

Timeline

January 11, 2020 – Submission Deadline (11:59pm, Pacific Time)

January-February 2021 – Decisions

February 2021 – Program Published

April 2021 – Asynchronous Content Deadline

May 31-June 3, 2021 – #OTESSA21 Conference

July 1, 2021 – Short and Full Paper Deadline

Please visit our #OTESSA21 website for more information about the conference. Once you have reviewed the information and guidelines, you may submit your proposal(s) to our OTESSA 2021 submission portal.

Thank you for the work you all do to advance Open/Technology education, scholarship and practice. We are excited to gather with you to recognize your contributions to the field: please join us for OTESSA (online) at Congress with the University of Alberta in Canada.

Fondly, from the OTESSA community, as we open and grow!