Join us on Wednesday 29 April 2026 at 16.00-17.30BST for our 12th awesome GO-GN member research special! We’re delighted to be joined by rehshetta (University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA), Alejandra B. Lliteras (Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Argentina) and Emily Grady (Athabasca University, Canada). Find out more about their research below.
We Been Open: Diasporic Knowledge, Radical Care, and the Illusion of Innovation (rehshetta, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA)
This presentation examines how diasporic knowledge traditions shape radical care as a form of open educational praxis rooted in practices of survival, relationality, and collective responsibility. While open education is often framed through access, licensing, and technological innovation, these frameworks remain limited when they fail to account for embodied and lineage-based forms of knowledge production that have long existed across the African and Afro-Latine diaspora.
Drawing on postcolonial and decolonial scholarship, this work situates open education within broader histories of colonial knowledge systems that influence which knowledge is recognized and whose labor remains unseen. It also engages with open education scholarship to question how dominant ideas of openness continue to favor forms of knowledge that are recognizable within institutional and global North contexts. Through a conceptual and reflective approach, this presentation argues that radical care is not an emergent feature of open education, but an inherited diasporic practice of knowledge circulation. Participants will be invited to reflect and engage throughout the session to consider how these dynamics operate in their own contexts. The work will also extend beyond the presentation through a curated multimodal “mixtape” and playlist, designed as an accessible, open resource that carries the themes of diasporic knowledge, care, and resistance beyond academic spaces.
Bio:
rehshetta is a PhD student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro whose work sits at the intersection of radical care, diasporic knowledge, and open education. Her research centers Black and Latine femme faculty and the ways they carry, enact, and sustain knowledge through practices of care that are often unrecognized, yet foundational to how learning and knowledge production actually occur.
Rooted in decolonial and Black feminist thought, her work challenges dominant narratives of innovation in higher education by illustrating how practices labeled as new have long existed in diasporic traditions of care, community, and knowledge-sharing. Instead of focusing on deficits, her research emphasizes how Black and Latine femme faculty create and maintain spaces of support, possibility, and intellectual vitality through collective care, even within institutions that often overlook or co-opt their contributions.
rehshetta is a mother, a space through which she understands care as a reciprocal and generative process. Where knowledge is not merely given but exchanged because her children teach her as much as she teaches them. She is also a maker, often crafting with recycled and reclaimed objects to create, unwind, and give her mind space to wander and work things out.
Critical Data and Artificial Intelligence Literacy through the Digital Humanities: A Proposal for Open Educational Practices at Secondary Level (Alejandra Beatriz Lliteras, National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina)
This doctoral research addresses the emergence of critical data and artificial intelligence literacy in secondary education, positioning Digital Humanities as a methodological bridge to inquire into technology. Moving beyond instrumental skills, the study contributes with a three-phase methodological approach (Design, Implementation, and Evaluation) for Open Educational Practices. This is supported by the “4A Conceptual Framework” (Appreciation, Abstraction, Auditing, and Argumentation), developed to guide the design of didactic sequences.
Another key component of this contribution is “AlfaDatizando”, an open platform that transcends being a mere repository to become a Community of Practice. The platform offers concrete didactic sequences and comprehensive user guides, facilitating the adoption and scaling of the proposed framework. It enables the co-creation, adaptation, and reuse of OERs, ensuring sustainability and pedagogical innovation from a Global South perspective. By opening the “black box” of algorithmic systems, this research empowers students and teachers as active digital citizens, capable of questioning data hegemony and fostering a more inclusive and democratic digital future.
Bio:
Alejandra Beatriz Lliteras is a full-time Professor and Researcher dedicated to the convergence of technology and education. She is a PhD Candidate and holds a master’s degree in Informatic’ Technology Applied to Education from the National University of La Plata (UNLP), Argentina, with a foundational background as a bachelor’s in computer sciences. Her doctoral research is supervised by Dr. Alejandro Artopoulos (UdeSA) and Dr. Alejandro Fernández (UNLP). Since January 2026, she has been a doctoral member of GO-GN.
She works in teaching and research at UNLP, Faculty of Informatics, LIFIA, in La Plata, Argentina, and she participates as an Associate Researcher for the Scientific Research Commission of the Province of Buenos Aires (CICPBA).
Her work focuses on deconstructing technological “black boxes” through Critical Data and Artificial Intelligence Literacy and Digital Humanities. By integrating Software Engineering perspectives with Open Education and Techno-Pedagogies, she seeks to bridge the gap between technical informatics and their social impact, fostering active digital citizenship in the Global South.
Teachers as Changemakers: Analyzing OER for Grades 5 to 7 Environmental Education in British Columbia (Emily Grady, Athabasca University, Canada)
This study examined the availability of Open Educational Resources (OER) for environmental education in Grades 5 to 7 in British Columbia (BC). As environmental challenges escalate, providing young learners with the knowledge to understand and promote involvement with global issues such as climate change is essential. OER provide accessible, adaptable, and high-quality materials that align with BC’s curriculum and support UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals. Despite their potential, the extent to which existing OER meet the needs of BC educators is not well understood. This research addressed that gap through a qualitative document analysis of OER repositories. The outcomes of this analysis comprise a curated list of existing OER that teachers can integrate into their curriculum and identification of gaps in OER for environmental education. Findings will be shared with educators, policymakers, and environmental organizations to encourage OER use and to contribute to broader discussions on OER adoption in K-12.
Bio:
As of March 31, 2026, Emily Grady completed AU’s Master of Education in Open, Digital and Distance Education program, specializing in instructional design. As an avid outdoorsperson, a parent, and an environmental advocate, her personal, academic and professional interests center on open educational resources (OER), environmental and sustainability education, and systems thinking. She is based in a small mountain town in British Columbia.
