Driving change with the BCcampus Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows

It is an honour to announce the three instructors who have joined the BCcampus OpenEd team to fulfill a one-year term as the 2017/18 BCcampus Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows.
The 2017/18 BCcampus Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows are Jennifer Barker, Biology Instructor at Douglas College, Ken Jeffery, Digital Arts Instructor at BCIT, and George Veletsianos, Associate Professor at Royal Roads University. This group will help raise awareness of open educational practices through advocacy to conduct, present, and publish research on open educational practices at B.C. post-secondary institutions.
As mentioned in the November post, Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani has been selected to be the Senior Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellow. Alongside the BCcampus OpenEd team, Dr. Jhangiani will lead the incoming BCcampus Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows.
Get to know the 2017/18 BCcampus Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellows:
Jennifer Barker
After completing a BSc and MSc in Zoology at Toronto, a PhD in Neuroscience at UBC, and finally a neuroscience postdoc in Belgium, three years ago I left the research stream of academia and returned to B.C. to take up a teaching position in Biology at Douglas College.  I’ve discovered that I enjoy teaching so much that I haven’t looked back since!
I hope to help raise awareness among students and colleagues of both the availability and the value of Open Textbooks and Open Educational Resources in general, and to encourage their adoption within my department, institution, and province.  I also hope to be able to participate in the collection of empirical evidence, and its presentation to colleagues as well as students, that the adoption of Open Educational Resources in our classrooms can help our students succeed by alleviating the enormous financial burden many of them experience, without compromising the quality of the education they receive.
Ken Jeffery
Ken Jeffery is an instructor in the Digital Arts Department at British Columbia Institute of Technology. He holds a Master’s Degree in Learning and Technology from Royal Roads University, where he researched strategies for effectively implementing social media in the classroom. He is co-chair of the open education working group at BCIT, and a co-author of the open textbook Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals. With over 18 years of prior experience in printed communications, and a strong background in typography and design, Ken has become a keen advocate for open educational practices in higher education.
“One of the challenges I see that still impedes the growth of open education is that of translating visibility into action. As support grows stronger, the message needs to be clear. There are so many benefits to going open, but sharing successes (and lessons learned) with a wider audience can still be difficult. Marketing the “idea” of open education seems easy, but delivering a compelling call to action is equally as important. With traditional academic publishing models being constantly challenged, it is more important than ever to expand our advocacy to as many educational avenues as possible. I hope to be able to contribute by inspiring others to take action.
Rajiv Jhangiani
Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is the University Teaching Fellow in Open Studies and a Psychology Instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, where he conducts research in open education and the scholarship of teaching and learning. A recipient of the Robert E. Knox Master Teacher Award from UBC and the Dean of Arts Teaching Excellence award at KPU, Dr. Jhangiani serves as the Senior Open Education Advocacy and Research Fellow with BCcampus, an Associate Editor of Psychology Learning and Teaching, and a faculty workshop facilitator with the Open Textbook Network. Dr. Jhangiani has revised two open textbooks—for Research Methods and Social Psychology—and advocates for the adoption of open educational and science practices. His books include A Compendium of Scales for Use in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (2015) and Open: The Philosophy and Practices that are Revolutionizing Education and Science (forthcoming, Ubiquity Press).
I am looking forward to working closely with Jennifer, Ken, and George to design and conduct rigorous and relevant research about open educational practices in British Columbia. In addition to supporting their development as open education researchers, I expect that the data we collect will yield practical insights that will prove invaluable to faculty, students, administrators, and policymakers who are interested in harnessing the benefits of open education. By the end of this year, I hope that we will have succeeded in substantially increasing awareness of and capacity for open educational practices within our disciplines and across B.C. institutions.
George Veletsianos
Dr. George Veletsianos is Canada Research Chair in Innovative Learning and Technology and an Associate Professor at Royal Roads University. His research aims to understand and improve teaching and learning in emerging digital environments. He achieves this by examining the practices and experiences of learners, educators, and scholars with/in online learning, social media, and open education.
I am hoping to make better sense of the open education landscape in B.C., and by so doing, support provincial efforts to improve teaching and learning. I am also hoping to collaborate on a variety of research endeavors with colleagues across the province and worldwide to advance our evidence-based understanding open practices.

George writes about his research on http://www.veletsianos.com and provides video summaries of his research on YouTube at ResearchShorts.