Anna

Professional background and current role

My current work role is Senior Producer (Open Education Projects) at The Open University, I’ve been in this role since April 2014, the first 3 years of it were for the Opening Educational Practices in Scotland project. A substantial part of my role is platform manager for a Moodle OER platform called OpenLearn Create. Before then I was in the OU's Institute of Educational Technology for over 13 years in support and academic-related roles, before that 8 years in Examinations & Assignments in support roles.

I studied my undergraduate degree as a full-time OU staff member from 1994-2005 (7 modules over 11 years: I had a few breaks when my children were small) and that experience was an invaluable part of my learning journey and eventual development as an educator.

I did H880 in 2019 and was immediately using what I was learning in my OU job in Open Media and Informal Learning, as our OU team works on bespoke online courses for partnership projects which come to us either via the OU International Development Office or via OU Business Development Unit. I have also done H818 and H819 (studied during the pandemic), so H817 is the last of the modules I'm studying for the MA ODE.

Why I found the project interesting

I grew up in apartheid South Africa during the 1970s and 1980s, then moved to the UK in 1988. I was very aware as a child of social/cultural inequalities in SA (I wrote a long blog post on this last year in an act of cathartic self indulgence) though my awareness of the injustices and ethical dilemmas was a gradual awakening. I’ve done a fair bit of digital storytelling myself since 2009 when I started 2 different blogs (both still going).

How this project maps to the context I’ve described

I’m acutely aware of my privilege, even in my financially poorest days (early 20s, living on a minimal wage when a pipe organ apprentice in London) I always had shelter, loving family, food, clothing and a job. I know that many people around the world, especially during the pandemic, live in precarious circumstances. Learning to develop awareness of social, cultural or ethical issues that affect others is difficult for anyone without delving into and understanding their stories. Digital storytelling is accessible on a mobile phone, so can be carried anywhere there is electricity and internet access.

Photo attribution: 'Table Mountain and Proteas', painted by Anna Page for the facade of a small hand-turned street organ http://www.johnpage.co.uk/organs/new/32kl/32-8.htm