Being an Open Educator is definitely a process for me. What does being open mean? Well at this point in my life it means that I am open to learning, open to discovery, open to connecting,  open to inspiration, open to reflection, open to remaining hopeful, open to collaboration and open to finding ways that will assist and impact our students now and in the future. As a school counsellor my role is different, but being open is the same. I am connecting with diverse educators and counsellors who all want the same thing … what is best for our students. They are motivated, caring people who want to impact students in a positive way, wanting them to thrive.  They choose to be in a profession to work with students because they know that students matter and so does being an Open Educator.

Alec Couros began my thinking of being open during ETMOOC. He defines Open Teaching  in the following way:

  “Open teaching is described as the facilitation of learning experiences that are open, transparent, collaborative, and social. Open teachers are advocates of a free and open knowledge society, and support their students in the critical consumption, production, connection, and synthesis of knowledge through the shared development of learning networks.”

Part of being open is helping students and myself understand and use Creative Commons .

I believe I am becoming more open all the time by involving myself in the following:

• Open Spokes: A fellowship for anyone who is interested in using video for reflecting on the practice of teaching and learning . Check out the following links:

The Fellowship of Open Spokes

Vote for Questions to ask these Vloggers

Become a member of Open Spokes

Here is what my fellow Vlogger  Jas has to say about being open.

My Vlog on being an Open Educator : 

I love what Sheri my fellow Open Spokes friend has to say about being open:

Open is Attitude Open is Hope

Other ways I am being Open …

• In the Google plus community with the  Post Etmooc Blog Community
•  In the Google plus community Alberta Educators Who Love What They Do
•  In the twitter chat:  #scchat with School Counsellors
•  In the twitter chat : #etmchat with educators post ETMOOC
•  In the twitter chat #cndedchat with Canadian Educators

I am happy to be learning along with such great Open Educators who challenge my thinking and encourage me to be better at what I do. Thanks to all of my PLN. You have helped me in the process of becoming an Open Educator and as a result I know it will positively impact students.