The opening provocation/keynote for #altc 2017, this talk examines open educational practices for a time of institutional decline & pervasive corporatism & sensationalism. It challenges the idea of norms and normal in the figure - and implied objectivity - of the Bell Curve, and posits instead the figure of the cyborg as a model for openness in fraught but important digital spaces.

1. C O N F R O N T I N G W H AT O P E N
M E A N S F O R H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N
T H E N E W N O R M ( A L ) :
Bonnie Stewart
@bonstewart
University of Prince Edward Island
ALT-C 2017 #altc

2. N O R M A L . N O R M ( A L ) . N O R M .

3. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg

4. N O R M ( A L ) C A N =
FA M I L I A R

5. N O R M ( A L ) C A N
= G AT E K E E P I N G
O R …

6. E I T H E R WAY:
“ N O R M A L ”
D I D N ’ T H E L P
M E H E L P
S T U D E N T S I N
M Y F I R S T
C L A S S R O O M

7. I P R O P O S E T H AT
N O R M ( A L ) I S N ’ T H E L P I N G
U S I N H I G H E R E D , E I T H E R .

8. – H E N RY S . H A S K I N S ( 1 9 4 0 )
“Normal is the wrong name often used for average.”
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_deviation_diagram.svg

9. https://www.flickr.com/photos/7304209@N02/16515490143

10. M A N Y O F U S L A B O U R F O R F R E E
W I T H I N T H E A C A D E M I C P U B L I S H I N G
S Y S T E M , Y E T W I T H O U T S E C U R E
E M P L O Y M E N T T H AT R E WA R D S S E R V I C E

11. M A N Y O F U S A R E U N A B L E T O A C C E S S
O R B E N E F I T F R O M T H E C I R C U L AT I O N O F
O U R O W N S C H O L A R LY W O R K , D U E T O
L A C K O F I N S T I T U T I O N A L A F F I L I AT I O N
O R I N S T I T U T I O N A L L I M I TAT I O N O N
J O U R N A L P U R C H A S E .

12. https://www.flickr.com/photos/jronaldlee/4585127996
NORM(AL):
more students | fewer jobs | more bureaucracy |
increased funding pressures

13. W E ’ R E G O I N G A B O U T I T
K I N D A W R O N G .
I F O U R G O A L I S T O M A K E C H A N G E - I N P R A C T I C E S
& K N O W L E D G E C R E AT I O N & E M P O W E R M E N T…

14. I N S T E A D , O U R T R A J E C T O R I E S O F
C H A N G E S E E M T O I N C R E A S E
I N E Q U A L I T I E S , R AT H E R T H A N P R O T E C T
O R E X PA N D D E M O C R AT I C “ N O R M S . ”

15. W E L I V E I N A T I M E W H E N
I N S T I T U T I O N S A R E U N D E R T H R E AT

18. A C A D E M I A I S N O T I M M U N E

19. L E A R N I N G T E C H N O L O G I E S C A N
D I S R U P T G AT E K E E P I N G

20. B U T D I S R U P T I O N M AY N O T B E A
M O D E L T H AT C A N P R E S E R V E
I N S T I T U T I O N S

22. D I S R U P T I O N ≠ L E A R N I N G

23. W I D E N I N G PA R T I C I PAT I O N H A S
T O B E A B O U T M O R E T H A N
C H A I R S & T E C H

24. I S O P E N T H E P R O B L E M ?
I S O P E N T H E S O L U T I O N ?
http://robinderosa.net/uncategorized/open-for-the-public-using-open-education-to-build-a-case-for-public-higher-ed/
- R O B I N D E R O S A , 2 0 1 6

25. I T M AY B E N E I T H E R .
!
B U T I T I S T H E T R A J E C T O RY T H AT K E E P S H I G H E R
E D F R O M B E I N G M O N O P O L I Z E D B Y O L D F O R M S
O F G AT E K E E P I N G
& I N S T I T U T I O N S F R O M B E I N G U N D E R M I N E D B Y
N E W F O R M S .

26. – M A R T I N W E L L E R , 2 0 1 4
“Openness helps shape the identity…of higher
education in general and its relationship to
society.”

27. • WAIT.
Open as…anything goes?!?

29. O P E N A S … L E S S E M P H A S I S
O N G AT E K E E P I N G .
!
O P E N A S … W I T H F E W E R
B A R R I E R S .

30. O P E N A S … L E A R N I N G T O
E N G A G E B E Y O N D O U R S I L O S
https://www.flickr.com/photos/docsearls/5500714140

31. A B U N D A N C E
"For the first time in human history, two related propositions are
true. One, it no longer is possible to store within the human
brain all of the information that a human needs.
Second, it no longer is necessary to store within the human brain
all of the information that humans need.
Education needs to be geared toward the handling of data
rather than the accumulation of data.”
– D AV I D B E R L O , 1 9 7 5

32. O P E N A S PA R T I C I PAT O RY,
N E T W O R K E D E N G A G E M E N T
https://plus.google.com/+DaveGray/posts/CQRVeKEsUvF?pid=5751686447270321954&oid=117373186752666867801

33. O P E N A S
B R E A K I N G
D O W N B I N A R I E S
& B O U N D A R I E S

34. • …While confronting
the decline of pet prestige economies.

35. … A N D
C O N F R O N T I N G
T H E
C O R P O R AT E
P L AT F O R M S
O P E N R E L I E S
U P O N .

37. O P E N A S A D A P T I V E C H A N G E

38. S O . H O W D O W E C O N F R O N T
T H E WAT E R W E S W I M I N ?

39. H O W D O W E C O N F R O N T
W H AT O P E N M E A N S F O R
H I G H E R E D U C AT I O N ?

40. W E N E E D A M O D E L .

41. – J O H N N Y A P P L E S E E D
photo credit: Dawn Detweiler

42. photo credit: Dawn Detweiler

43. H O W W E S E E D E P E N D S
O N W H E R E W E S TA N D .

44. A N E W ( O L D ) M O D E L F O R O P E N P R A C T I C E - HARAWAY’S
CYBORG
(1985)

45. – D O N N A H A R A WAY, 1 9 8 8
“The view from a body…a complex, contradictory,
structuring, and structured body…situated
knowledges allow us to become answerable for
what we learn how to see.”
photo credit: Neil Kramer

46. T H E C Y B O R G , C O N F R O N T E D

47. T H E C Y B O R G I S A F I G U R E
O F S U B V E R S I O N

48. “The main trouble with cyborgs, of course, is that they
are the illegitimate offspring of militarism and patriarchal
capitalism, not to mention state socialism. But
illegitimate offspring are often exceedingly unfaithful to
their origins. Their fathers, after all, are inessential.”
– D O N N A H A R A WAY, 1 9 9 1

49. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Unknown_engraver_-_Humani_Victus_Instrumenta_-_Ars_Coquinaria_-_WGA23954.jpg
!
• ironic & faithful, “as
blasphemy is faithful”
!
• always hybrid
!
• not born of purity or
innocence
!
• ties of affinity rather
than identity

50. W H AT I S T H E C Y B O R G O F O U R
E D - T E C H E R A B O R N F R O M ?

51. “””Those within the academy
become very skilled at judging
the stuff of reputations.
!
Where has the person’s work
been published, what claims
of priority in discovery have
they established, how often
have they been cited, how
and where reviewed, what
prizes won, what institutional
ties earned, what
organizations led?”
W
– J O H N W I L L I N S K Y, 2 0 1 0

52. – M I K E C A U L F I E L D , 2 0 1 7
“As the financial model of the web formed around
the twin pillars of advertising and monetization of
personal data, things went awry.”
Big data & big surveillance

53. FA I T H F U L T O …

54. W H AT W O U L D T H E
C Y B O R G D O F R O M
H E R E ?
( W W T C D ? )

55. http://www.longviewoneducation.org/social-media-isnt-for-learning/
– B E N J A M I N D O X D AT O R , 2 0 1 7

56. #antigonish2

57. N O T H I N G G O E S B A C K I N
PA N D O R A’ S B O X

58. O P E N M E A N S B E L I E V I N G W E C A N D O
S O M E T H I N G G O O D F R O M T H AT.
!
!
T H A N K Y O U .
@bonstewart