Towards a new social contract in ODeL

Research

Dr Martha Fields Cleveland-Innes, Professor of Open, Digital and Distance Education, Athabasca University, and Visiting Professor of Pedagogy, Mid-Sweden University, Canada

Bringing together speakers, delegates and enquiring minds from all over the world to set a research agenda in the open distance and eLearning (ODeL) context, Unisa’s second Open Distance and eLearning Conference will create a platform for established and upcoming researchers to generate ideas that will help shape people’s futures for the better.

Dr Martha Cleveland-Innes, a Professor of Open, Digital and Distance Education at Athabasca University and a visiting Professor of Pedagogy at Mid-Sweden University, both in Canada, will share a keynote address on "Researching Community of Inquiry Design in Open, Digital, and Distance Education" at Unisa’s 2022 ODeL Conference.

The conference aims to bring together speakers, delegates and enquiring minds from all over the world to set a research agenda in ODeL and generate findings that can help shape people’s futures for the better.

Already the talk of the town in the higher education context, the conference will, among other opportunities, provide Unisans with a platform to network with eminent distance education experts across the globe. Prof Thenjiwe Meyiwa, Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation and Commercialisation, says: "Whether you will attend the conference as a delegate or a speaker, you will find it stimulating and thought-provoking, and it will leave you excited and invigorated about the myriad possibilities in the fast-growing field of ODeL research."

Asked to explain her keynote address topic, Cleveland-Innes says: "An educational community of inquiry is a group of individuals who collaboratively engage in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and confirm mutual understanding." She adds: "This is a valuable and effective approach to teaching and learning, online and in-person." She stresses that this collaborative and purposeful engagement approach may also support transformative educational leadership as we create a new social contract for open and digital education in society.

Cleveland-Innes brings a list of commendable experience and a CV that speaks for itself; highlights of her achievements include awards for her work on the student experience in online environments; she is a multiple research grant recipient and a grant adjudicator with the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. In addition, she is also the Editor-in-Chief of the bilingual Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology. Moreover, Cleveland-Innes is the author of The Guide to Blended Learning and an instructor, co-designer and researcher for the open online course Blended Learning Practice. She also co-edited the second edition of Introduction to Distance Education: Teaching and Learning in a New Era, which was released by Taylor & Francis in 2021.

As a centre of research excellence, Unisa has invited global ODeL role-players and change agents like Cleveland-Innes to share ideas on current and intended research. Through the conference, the university continues with its vision to contribute to the knowledge and information society.

Research

Towards a new social contract in ODeL

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