Inge de Waard
Researcher and Explorer, The Open University, UK
My professional journey (Institute of Tropical Medicine - Belgium, Athabasca University - Canada, The Open University – UK, and Women's gender equality movement - Belgium) immersed me in online and mobile learning from 1999 onward. I have set-up, coordinated and developed several online and mobile learning projects, always with a focus on participation and durability. These projects involved partners and individuals from both the Northern (Canada, United States, Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, UK) and Southern regions (South-Africa, India, Peru, Morocco). As an avid enthusiast of open science, I am an active international speaker giving keynotes and guest lectures, as well as providing knowledge input (and consequently receiving lots of input) at seminars, SIGs and workshops.
Enlightened by the first connectivist MOOCs, I have set up one of the first MOOCs on mobile learning, called MobiMOOC (2011 & 2012), enabling learners to realize their own project. In 2013 I decided to investigate FutureLearn MOOCs and specifically how individual learners with online learning experience self-direct their learning, which resulted in obtaining a PhD at the Open University in UK.
I have come to realize that there is no single solution for all. The diversity which is at the core of nature’s success, seems to be replicated by the diversity in learning preferences and ways to achieve learning success in humans. But above all, I am a social learner, so feel free to talk to me.