It’s been five years since my original CMALT portfolio was submitted and approved and in that time my career, my role as a learning technologist and an open education practitioner has changed and evolved significantly. From 2015 – 2017 I worked as OER Liaison in the Learning Teaching and Web division of Information Services Group at the University of Edinburgh. In Autumn 2017, I was appointed to a new role within this division as Learning Technology Team Manager in Education Design and Engagement (EDE), with responsibility for managing the University’s OER Service. In this role I am responsible for the day to day running of the service and management of the OER Service Advisor. I also line-manage the University’s Learning Technology Policy officer, contribute to the management and running of EDE, and participate in supporting various other learning technology services, initiatives and projects. Although I have worked in the domain of education technology for 25 years, for a significant portion of this time as Assistant Director of the Jisc CETIS service, this is the first time for many years that I have worked primarily in an institution-facing role. Although outreach is no longer the main focus of my job, I am still invited to present frequent talks and webinars about the affordances of open education and the University of Edinburgh’s strategic support for OER and open knowledge, at a wide range of local, national and international conferences and events. Together with my colleagues at the University, we’ve received a number of national and international awards for our open education initiatives.
In addition to my role at the University of Edinburgh, I have continued to develop my own open practice. Increasingly, I have focused on knowledge equity, digital labour, equality, diversity and social justice, and I use my blog, Open World, to reflect on these and other issues. I’m grateful to be able to collaborate with many inspiring colleagues in the open education community who have all helped me to develop my open practice, and I’m privileged to have been invited to present a number of high profile keynotes on these themes.
At the time I wrote my first portfolio, I had just been appointed to the Board of Trustees of both ALT and Wikimedia UK. Since then, I have served two terms as a Trustee for both organisations, and in 2019 I was appointed as Vice-Chair of Board for Wikimedia UK. Working with both these organisations at a senior level has enabled me to participate in a range of strategic initiatives and has given me a welcome opportunity to operate in a leadership capacity above and beyond my role at the University of Edinburgh. I have learned a great deal from engaging with the ALT and Wikimedia communities, and I am grateful to have the opportunity to give something back to the organisations that support them. I have been a member of the ALT Scotland SIG committee for many years, and in 2020 I also became one of the officers of the newly formed Copyright and Online Learning SIG. I have also contributed to several other initiatives supported by other organisations including the Creative Commons Ethics of Open Sharing working group and NUI Galway’s OER Project Advisory Group.
Presenting at ALTC 2019. Picture by Chris Bull for Association for Learning Technology, CC BY 2.0.
Another community that has been important to me over the last four years is the femedtech network. I have been instrumental in supporting the development of femedtech since its inception, and in 2019 I created the femedtechOpen Space, femedtech.net. Originally developed as a space to host diverse voices in the open domain, to coincide with the OER19 Conference, femedtech.net continues to support various projects and initiatives undertaken by members of the network.
Although the Open Scotland initiative, which I established in 2014, is less active than it once was, I remain committed to the principles of the Scottish Open Education Declaration, and I continue to work with colleagues across Scottish education sectors to lobby the Scottish Government to commit to the principles of the Declaration.
I had originally intended to upgrade my portfolio to Senior CMALT when it was due for review in 2020. However with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, other issues took priority. As five years have passed since I wrote my original portfolio, I have decided to create a completely new portfolio for my application to Senior CMALT. This has given me a valuable opportunity to reflect on my career as a learning technologist, my growth as an open practitioner, and my leadership in the domains of open education and open knowledge.
~ Lorna M. Campbell, 28 May 2022
