Dr. Siobhán McPhee has been named an Open Education Resource Champion for the Faculty of Arts.
Open education champions make significant contributions to the use of open educational resources at UBC Vancouver; lowering access barriers and reducing the cost of learning materials.
Dr. McPhee was nominated by her students for her use of open and emerging technologies to expand the boundaries of education.
Her recent work has included creating augmented reality apps for her courses and engaging her students in creating open resources.
”I see education as the ultimate equalizer,” she says. “Open is about that ability to take education as it was in the past – a very elitist idea – and making it available to anyone who wants it.”
Journey With Me, an AR experience developed in 2018 by McPhee and others at UBC, uses video, sound and motion to supplement the testimonies of refugees from the Syrian Civil War. “I want students to be immersed in an experience, which will create connections and empathy,” she explains.
She is currently working on another AR experience that will allow students to explore the multi-layered history of Vancouver’s Chinatown.
