Follow the journey of our intrepid authors who aim to create an open textbook in just 12 months! Keith Heggart, Mais Fatayer, Shaun Bell and Rhiannon Hall share it all - the planning, strategies, collaboration and support models needed from multiple institutions to pull this off. You’ll also enjoy a sample chapter of this forthcoming textbook Designing Learning Experiences for Inclusivity and Diversity: Advice for Learning Designers. This project was a successful 2023 grant recipient of the CAUL OER Collective.

Speakers

Dr Keith Heggart

Dr Keith Heggart is an early career researcher with a focus on learning and instructional design, educational technology and civics and citizenship education. He is currently exploring the way that online learning platforms can assist in the formation of active citizenship amongst Australian youth. Keith is a former high school teacher, having worked as a school leader in Australia and overseas, in government and non-government sectors. In addition, he has worked as an Organiser for the Independent Education Union of Australia and as an independent Learning Designer for various organisations.

Dr Mais Fatayer

Dr Mais Fatayer is the Learning Experience Design Manager at the University of Technology Sydney. Her research interests focus on using technologies in learning and teaching, open education, learning design, and design-based research. Her Ph.D. thesis is titled “Towards a sustainable OER module: Tapping into the cognitive surplus of student-generated content” which presents the design principles of adopting OER in learning and teaching. Following her doctoral work, Mais has utilised her experience in teaching and research to enhance the adoption of technology in learning and teaching practices in tertiary education.

Dr Shaun Bell

Dr Shaun Bell is a learning designer at UTS’ Postgraduate Learning Design unit, working in partnership with experts to co-design innovative digital learning. They hold a PhD in Literature from UNSW and have published reviews and award-winning essays on literary culture and the teaching of English in JASAL, Southerly and TESOL Quarterly. Shaun has taught in the English Program at UNSW and has several years of experience designing learning materials for eLearning and distance education.

Rhiannon Hall

Rhiannon Hall writes and edits content for LX at UTS, the digital home of the University of Technology Sydney’s LX.lab. Rhiannon works across content on all aspects of learning and teaching and has a particular interest in accessibility, social equity and collaborating with students. She is passionate about educating the learning and teaching community on accessible practices and has co-facilitated several projects working with students as partners. Rhiannon has a Bachelor of Communication from the University of Newcastle and a Master of Cultural Studies from the University of Sydney.