Associate Professor and Program Director for the Masters of Education in Open, Digital and Distance Education
Contact information
Email: connieb@athabascau.ca
Phone:
Constance Blomgren is an Associate Professor of Education at Athabasca University, Canada’s Open University. Her background as a K-12 teacher in rural, remote, and northern Canadian locations informs her research and interest in open educational resources and open pedagogy for K-12 teachers and learners. She curates the Blended and Online Learning and Teaching (BOLT) multi-authored website that houses videos and podcasts regarding open pedagogy and Open Educational Resources (OER) for primary and secondary teachers. Her research regarding strengthening K-12 teacher awareness and use of OER and open practices has been published in various journals and book chapters. She also contributes to open scholarship in her role as associate journal editor with the International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning an open access journal that publishes international peer-reviewed research, theory, and practice in open and distributed learning. In addition to researching OER, she studies visual and multi-literacies, participatory technologies, teacher professional learning, and open pedagogy. Contributing to the development of a culturally responsive OER teacher network, from local to global, informs her long-term commitment to high quality and equitable learning opportunities for learners of all ages.
PhD. University of Calgary, June 2007 Major: Curriculum, Teaching & Learning Dissertation: Gazing forward, Gazing Back: A hermeneutic inquiry regarding photographs A hermeneutic inquiry exploring photography, visual culture, and epistemology.Supervisor: Dr. David Jardine
M.Ed. University of Lethbridge (1999) Major: Curriculum Studies Thesis: Family Photos: An Exploration of Significant Exposures – A hermeneutic, interpretive inquiry into the role of family photographs as a form of visual life writing. Supervisor: Dr. Cynthia Chambers
CERTESL Certificate of Teaching English as a Second Language - University of Saskatchewan (1995)
B. Ed. English/Social Studies University of Calgary (1983)
Professional affiliations
Director - Open Education Global 2019 - 2023 (https://www.oeglobal.org/)
Committee member - OER Advocacy Committee, International Council of Distance Education 2021-2023
Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association (OTESSA) member and 2022 Conference Committee
ABOER adhoc faculty and student OER advocacy group
OER National Strategy Framework Working Group Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL)
Open Education Professional Learning Group
Blomgren, C. (in press). Open Pedagogy and Transdisciplinary Thinking: Making connections through a visual artefact self- study. Open/Technology in Education, Society, and Scholarship Association. 1(1). https://otessa.journals.uvic.ca/index.php/otessajournal
Blomgren, C. (2018). OER Awareness and Use: The Affinity Between Higher Education and K-12. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 19(2). http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/3431
Book chapters
Blomgren, C. (2021). Multiplying awareness of open practices and educational resources. In Ann Marcus-Quinn and Tríona Hourigan (Eds.). Handbook for Online Learning Contexts: Digital, Mobile and Open: Policy and Practice. Springer.
Roberts, V., Blomgren, C., Graham, L., & Peters, K. (2018). Open Educational Practice (OEP) in K-12 Online and Blended Learning Environments. In R. Ferdig & K. Kennedy (Eds.) Handbook of Research on K-12 Online and Blended Learning (2nd ed.). (pp. 527-544). Carnegie Mellon ETC Press.
Blomgren, C. (2016). Current Trends and Perspectives in the K-12 Canadian Blended and Online Classroom. In Cleveland-Innes, M., Howell, J., and Ostashewski, N. (Eds). In Handbook of Research on Optimizing K-12 Education through Online and Blended Learning. IGI Global
Blomgren, C. (2021, March 1). Local to Global: Values of Open Education. Keynote speaker(virtual). University of Alberta Open Education Symposium 2021. University of Alberta Centre for Learning and Teaching. Edmonton, Alberta.
Blomgren, C. (2020, October 20). Sharing is Caring: Open Education and the Case for Reusing and Remixing Resources. Panel member (virtual) with Christina Hendericks, Sandra Cowan, Darren Maltais, Ying Zheng, and Jess Nicol. University of Lethbridge. Lethbridge, Alberta.
Blomgren, C. (2019, June). Open Pedagogy: What? And Now What? Invited Speaker. Alberta OER Summit. NorQuest College. Edmonton, Alberta.
Blomgren, C. (2018, October).Open Educational Resources & Public Health: Opening Up to Knowledge. Invited speaker. 2nd International conference of Innovation in the South. Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health (LAIS). Natal, Rio de Grande Norte, Brazil.
Blomgren, C. (2018, October). Coffee and a Chat. Invited panel member. 2nd International conference of Innovation in the South. Laboratory of Technological Innovation in Health (LAIS). Natal, Rio de Grande Norte, Brazil.
Blomgren, C. (2017, October). Appealing and Augmenting: Engaging Students as part of a Digital Pedagogy. Keynote Speaker. Building student engagement in distance and blended learning conference. Saskatchewan Distance Learning Educators. #skdlearn. North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Athabasca University IDEA Lab (2021-2022) Global viewpoints on Open Educational Resources for Blended Learning. Grant of $7,000.
NSERC/CIHR/SSHRC Vaccine Confidence ( 2021-2022) Accelerating Vaccine Confidence through Youth Co-created Animated Educational Media. Co PI with Dr. Stella George (PI) and Dr. Karen Cook ( Co PI). Grant of $50,000.
Callysto Award c/o Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (May 2020 – March 2021). Form and Function(s): A Sustainable Design meets Computation OER Sprint. Co-design interdisciplinary processes culminates in an OER sprint. Teachers receive PD in STEAM and OER design and pedagogy. OER created aids high school computational thinking through three perspectives on design. Co PI with Dr. James Greenwood-Lee. Grant of $36,950.
SSHRC Partnership Engagement Grant. Annora Brown: Art, Life, and Legacy Education Project (June 2019 -2022). OER content developed with educators through the use of social networks (WhatsApp) to deepen awareness of Annora Brown’s oeuvre and efforts of the partner, ABALL (http://www.annorabrown.ca/). Grant of $24, 922.00.
AB OER Content Development Grant (June –December, 2016) OER podcasts and videos created to increase awareness, use, and capacity for OER as part of teacher training for in-service educators (K-12). Included in MDDE 622 (Openness in Education) and BOLT 676 (Systems Theory and Learning). Grant of $74,000.