Episode 58: Meet the Interns
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[00:00:00] (opening music)

Multiple Voices (English): Hello and welcome to OEG Voices, a podcast bringing to you the voices and ideas of open educators from around the world. OEG Voices is produced by Open Education Global, a member-based, non-profit organization supporting the development and use of open education globally. Learn more about us at oeglobal.org.

Multiple Voices (Spanish): Hay mucho que aprender y asimilar a nivel mundial. Esperamos con estas charlas presentar un escenario de cómo está funcionando la educación abiertaal escuchar las historias y experiencias directamente de quienes lo practican, contadas desde su propia voz. Cada episodio presenta a un educador o educadora de educación abierta global posteriormente los invitamos a conversar con ellos en nuestra comunidad OEG Connect

[00:01:01] Alan Levine: This is Alan Levine here again for OEG Voices episode 58. We're going to get a chance to meet representatives from the OE Global internship program, which actually started in 2022. This is a program where we wanted to give opportunities for students, newcomers and other new practitioners in open education from around the world to get knowledge and experience in the open education field by directly working on projects and with staff here at OE Global. 

I had thoughts or hopes to introduce the interns to you back in December, but you know, they got busy, I got busy and now it's June. Some of them are wrapping up their work, but we still wanted to give you this chance to meet this wonderful group of people. 

You'll hear from them in conversations with their mentors here at, OE Global. You'll get a chance to understand the work that they did and the impact this experience has had on them. 

We're really excited to give you this chance to meet the interns. Coming up on the show, you're going to hear first from Allan Otodi from Kampala, Uganda, who worked with Director of Technology, Jan Gondol on tech projects. And then second, we're going to hear from Hammis Juma, who's originally from Tanzania, but did this work in India as well as Justice Okai-Allotey from Acra, Ghana, both of whom worked on projects with our Director of Communications. Isla Haddow-Flood. 

Lastly we get to hear from Kristelle Gutierrez from Monterey, Mexico, and Augustina Huertas from Montevideo, Uruguay, who did some work with Marcella Morales on some OE LATAM projects. That last section appropriately is going to be a conversation en Espanol. 

So sit back and enjoy these conversations. And I hope you enjoy getting to meet the interns

Now let's meet Allan Otodi and we'll get to hear from him through his conversation with Jan Gondol. . 

[00:02:59] Jan Gondol: Hello, my name is Jan Gondol and I'm Director of Technology at OE Global. And it's my big pleasure to introduce Allan to you. Allan is our technology intern. Welcome Allan. 

[00:03:11] Allan Otodi: Thank you so much Jan. 

[00:03:13] Jan Gondol: Would introduce yourself? Where you are located or based?, What you do, at OE Global?.

What do you also do for fun? So would you tell us about yourself? 

[00:03:22] Allan Otodi: My name is Allan Otodi. I'm based in Northern Uganda. I'm here as a tech intern. What I'm doing at OE Global is to support in the area of tech. What I do for fun is I, [laughs] I really don't know if I have something that I do for fun.

But I would say is just I'm someone who wanders, like would wake up and start wandering anyhow, without a sense of purpose. Like just to explore how the neighborhood are, how things are in, and it's actually worse when I'm in a new place. So when I'm in a new place, I would definitely just move around and see what's new, where and how are things being done? Just to observe and admire and question things and reflect on them. That would summarize what I do for fun. I think it's just like I do it for fun and just think about it and leave it there. 

[00:04:19] Jan Gondol: Thank you for that. Now let's have a look back a couple of months.

Imagine it's Spring or Summer 2022, and you just learned about, the OE Global internship. First of all, how did you learn about it and when you saw it, what made it, what made you want to be an OE Global intern? 

[00:04:39] Allan Otodi: Thank you for that wonderful question, Jan. One day I was searching for some resource online, and then when I did a quick Google, I think it was from Open University.

Somehow I got into searching and searching. Then the resource linked me to Open Education Week 2022. Then I started browsing the resources that are there. But then I was like, oh, so who are these people? I looked, I went to Open Education Global, and I looked at the vision. I looked at what they're doing.

I look at what is there, what is their main purpose? And I was like, yeah, I think this is something that I should learn more about. So I went to the career page. And I think by that time they had just posted for their first internship , the cohort which I'm part of now.

I looked at different roles that were listed there. I saw tech intern. I started looking at the description, what the tech intern would be doing, what he or she will be supporting . Then I was like, no, wait a minute. I think I, I can give this a shot. But of course it's because what they were doing aligned with what I'd been doing before. I was classroom teacher, but graduated in IT, then I went to teaching.

I saw the gap that was there. Then I was like, you know what? I need to do something about the gap in their resources. Our learners can access their resources. Then I, I just started asking myself, how can I improve this? How can I make it better? And then when I looked at, okay, there's Open Education Global. I was like, yes, I think this is it and there's something that I could continue if they could take me so that I can learn few things that I can implement in future, this would actually be great. And that's how I actually learned about OE Global.

[00:06:40] Jan Gondol: So the previous questions were about your past, your present. Let's look into the future now. So when you look ahead, after the time of this internship, what are you planning to work on and how will this experience during the OE Global internship? How will it get you there?

[00:06:57] Allan Otodi: Once again, Jan for me, in the next years to come, I'm looking at getting into EdTech field and getting myself into software development, building software that support education, that support learning. And that's what I'm, I'm looking for, for the next two to five years. 

And this is actually because that there's so much that I've learned from from the tech stack that is available at Open Education Global. I feel like this is the only way I can contribute to my community, to, to the entire world. And working with organizations that are working so hard to bridge the digital gap for learners , especially in the education field.

This is actually what I've actually been learning from OE Global, making sure that these resources, these education materials can be reused, can be remixed, can be downloaded by everyone, and making sure that it's available for use for even someone in the underserved community, to get these resources and learn through it. 

And if I'm to tell what made me actually now switch my career a bit and get back to in an EdTech Field or an education field, it's just because what I observed during my fellowship, how I see, how I was able to see that learners were not accessing the resources easily. 

There are no tablets. There were no computers. There's no electricity, there's no good network, the mobile phone network. So you feel like they were actually isolated and internet is not there. Like you can't communicate. These were the learners that were supposed to compete with the fellow counterparts in urban areas and compete in the final exams, compete for jobs, compete for any other form of social service in future. 

When I was in the fellowship, I asked myself that, okay, Allan, you here, you, you here to serve, but what can you do for this community?

And I think that's when I started looking for resources, to make sure that education can actually still happen, even if there's no internet. All we need is maybe a tablet and learners can actually access this, but then one problem comes. We actually had a problem. So we had the tablets, we had the power, but the resources were not there.

The available resources were not curriculum aligned, were actually maybe planned for a learner in maybe Switzerland, a learner in these other countries. You can't really teach these subjects area to these learners. So all you need is to tweak it and make sure it works. 

But then there's a problem that would actually come. These were not open, OER materials. You can't actually remix it. You can't edit it. And this actually leads me to OE Global. Is there something I can learn from OE Global as an intern ?

I would say .That I've actually learned a lot I'm still continue learning each and every day. And I hope that whatever I'm taking from here should be helpful to help me in my future role or contributing my little skills to the organization I will work for. And make sure that the things are reality, not a myth. 

[00:10:36] Jan Gondol: Thank you for that, Allan. And to those of you who are listening to the OE Global podcast, if you'd like to learn more about our interns, you can go to oeglobal dor org.

If you would like to connect with them, you can go to connect dot oeglobal dor org, which is our online community. 

[00:10:53] Alan Levine: Now we're going to move on from our technology interns to our communication interns. Listen in as Director of Communications, Isla Haddow-Flood introduces us to Hamis Juma and Justice Okai-Allotey to learn more about the work that they've been doing here at OE Global. 

[00:11:14] Isla Haddow-Flood: today we're very, very pleased to have finally managed to get Hamis Juma, the communications intern and researcher. What I would like is to ask you to introduce yourself. Who are you, where do you come from, where are you?

And, what are you currently doing in open education? 

[00:11:36] Hamis Juma: Thank you. Isla. , I'm Hamis Juma. I'm from Tanzania and currently residing in India. I'm a second year student at University of Nova Gorica, where I attend master of Education and Leadership in Open Education. 

For the past few years I've been learning how to work on open education enterprises. And for the past few months I've been working as a research intern whereby I've been working to explore the open education trends for the past years based on the data for the events that have been happening at Open Education Global. 

One of the key things that I've been working is to work on formulating or creating a roadmap to see where Open Education Global was 10 years ago, the events that have been happening at Open Education Global and what are the current trends. For these current trends, we've been working on research on seeing what are the members' perspectives of open education when they joined Open Educational Global and the community and how Open Educational Global has been working on making sure that their goals in open education have been achieved so far.

So this is what I've been doing for the past few months here. 

[00:12:48] Isla Haddow-Flood: All right. Well thanks for the rundown on what you are working on with us, which is quite exciting. We're loving the data that's coming out at the moment, but I wanted to ask what, what makes you get up in the morning?

What do you do in your spare time? 

[00:13:01] Hamis Juma: First of all, I'm a teacher. I did my first degree in teaching. I was teaching English language and history. I was employed by the government in Tanzania after my first degree. After teaching for a while, I saw a challenge in my community, which was access to resources.

So I asked myself, what can I do in order to make sure that my students have resources, my fellow teachers have resources. This has spiked something, may say, okay, I have to go back and see what I can do. So for the past few years I've been working in digital teaching and learning and sharing with my fellow teachers how can we use digital technologies into teaching and learning.

I got to work with 1 Million Teachers, which is one of the organizations based in Canada that's providing courses for the teachers. So while working with 1 Million Teachers, I got a chance as well to work with UNESCO MGIEP on a program called The Digital Teacher. They're providing a free certification for digital teachers. 

So I've been working on assisting other teachers how to use these digital technologies, how to use various technologies, and to creating more open resources that can help their learners. This came into , to more light after the Covid outbreak.

Before the covid outbreak, we were doing this and the teachers were like, yeah, we are in Africa. How can we use digital technologies? We don't have the internet, we don't have the resources, we don't have everything. But after the Covid outbreak, when the schools were closed, and organizations were shut down, the teachers now started to realize, aha, now we can use those learnings.

We can use those experiences we've been getting. And so I've been supporting them to ensure that they keep the learning happening, to ensure that they keep creating the resources and making sure that the students are learning. 

So I moved from being a teacher to helping another teachers to create more resources that are accessible and the learners and this is what I've been doing till now.

[00:14:59] Isla Haddow-Flood: Wonderful. What made you want to be part of the OE Global team? 

[00:15:03] Hamis Juma: As a student at University of Nova Gorica I have been studying various organizations and how they work championing this open education movement.

I've been observing every organization, what they're doing, how they're doing it. When this chance came up, I was like, yes, I've been working on open education, but the place that I'm from Africa has a few members in Open Educational Global. So I said, if I work with Open Education Global, I can champion this in my place because now I have the experience in working in Open Education Global.

I've been trained to be a leader. If I'm going back into Africa, what can I tell these universities? What can I say to these organizations? But because I have worked with Open Educational Global, so this is a good chance for me to understand how it works and to be an ambassador for it. 

When I go back, if I go to university, I can tell them exactly what Open Education Global is, how it works. And because I have worked on the roadmap, I have worked on the research trends, I can exactly tell them what are they missing, what others are getting from Open Education Global. 

Cause this is not just for the people outside Africa. When I look on the data, very few universities are from Africa . So it's like a personal passion in it to see my community is getting something out of it. Even if not all universities at once, universities at my home place, how are they going to attend this, these benefits?

When you're in Open Educational Global, the Open Education Week, the open education conferences, these weekly webinars, monthly webinars, all of this that I have been attending, they're changing me to be into someone that understand this open education movement in a good way. 

As a teacher, I've discovered that education is now universal. What is happening in Slovenia? What is happening in Canada? What is happening in any part of the world is relating to another part. So what are these learners getting in African universities, they're not going to be confined in one place. They're going to be out there. They're global citizens.

When I was there, I was getting something, but when I got out of my country, went to India for studies, went to Slovenia for studies, I got something. Whatever we are doing back in Africa, it is what is happening on the world. But how are we connecting these learners? How are we connecting as teachers?

In term of resources, Africa, we have created low number of resources. It's like 2% of open education resources are being consumed in Africa. So when you are going into data like this, you're like, okay, if one university in the country get into Open Education Global, we are going to get somewhere where we, okay, this is how others are creating resources.

This is how others are working on this. Not just working inside the university, but inter universities. And most importantly is how we can share these resources. Cause there are resources out there, but our students know, do our teachers know? Do admins know? Sometimes you can go to a university, they want to join a movement like this, but they do not know how. 

After my working at Open University, at Open Educational Global as an intern, now I know how it works, how the membership works. So if I go back there, I think I can be a good ambassador. Okay, I got out of classroom teaching into helping other teachers, creating resources.

Now I'm moving from helping teachers, creating other resources going into institutions. So it's like I'm creating that ladder from the classroom to the teachers now to the institution, trying to help them to reach more communities and to work better in this open education movement. 

[00:18:41] Isla Haddow-Flood: I'm so glad that there is like a master plan behind your internship. And there is absolutely a huge need. I think we're both on the same page about that in Africa for people to be connected to things that already exist. 

You've talked a lot about what we're actually doing and amazing research that you've come up with and I wondered how important that is in order to then move forward and see how we can make it more beneficial to students and teachers across disadvantaged places like, say in Africa, but also, India and other places even in the more developed world.

And I wondered if there was something that you've found in the research and the work you've done that has really surprised you, like an aha moment maybe.

, it could be like a statistic or just something that you found out or a way of working or, I don't know. You tell me. 

[00:19:35] Hamis Juma: Okay. Most important is the how Open Education Global works. In most of the organizations, the interns are being treated as intents.

But in Open Education Global interns is a part of the team. From the first get to go, I was welcomed into a team and trained how you can work in a team without putting the titles. I've been working with you as Isla but you're not the boss, you're not the the leader. You don't have a title.

We are working on different categories. We are working on different positions, but we are working as teammates. It has been this with you, with Alan, with Karen and everyone at the team. So whenever you need a team, it's there for you. You're not alone. This was something that I learned most .

This has sparked something in me-- that if you want to be a leader, if you want to go far, you have to cut across everything. Work as equal teammates that you can go far. Everyone has a contribution in it. When you create a document, you put it out there. Everyone at the team, no matter how busy they are, they'll go at it.

They'll put their comment and when you follow up that comment, they have the time for you. This is how we are supposed to work as a team. And as a team we are supposed to work no matter how busy we are, no matter how many responsibilities we have on our hands. When the teammate is there, ask for help we are there for them. 

[00:21:07] Isla Haddow-Flood: Well, that's lovely. I'm glad that you focused on us, but I also want to know if there's like something in the data or something in the information that you've come across. I, I love that you picked up about, um, how well we all work together. I think of the joy of open is the collaboration and the spirits that comes with it.

If that's your aha moment, I'm really pleased with that. Do you have anything else that came through from the data or anything? 

[00:21:33] Hamis Juma: Before joining Open Global, I know a little bit about African Virtual universities and how it works from Bakary Diallo. He's also one of my teachers and the one that interviewed me while I was getting into University of Gorica.

So after finding one of the members was African Virtual University I got a little bit interested and learned more about it, what it is doing, the initiatives it has been doing. There are some laggings in Africa, but there are some people who are championing it.

I was looking on more countries from West Africa, how they are into institutional memberships. And so the question was, what is happening to sub-Saharan Africa if people from West Africa, North Africa trying to get into it? So this intro to data tried to spark me. It was my goal that after finishing my internship moment, to sit down, try to approach these people. How are they doing it in their communities? Because they have cracked a place or they have cracked something that is unusual. Because once I was going into the data you were seeing membership from Canada, from USA or more than 70% Taiwan, Korea, every country but African countries. 

[00:22:47] Isla Haddow-Flood: Yeah. Very little. 

[00:22:48] Hamis Juma: Very little. So how are these able to maintain? Because if no one else is doing it and someone is doing it consecutively, yeah, you have to ask something yourself, how are they doing it? 

[00:23:01] Isla Haddow-Flood: How are they still keeping motivated and getting the required resources and everything.

You've shared with us what your motivations are-- what have you got planned for your future? You've just shared that you want to go back to Africa and help institutions to make the right decisions in supporting their teachers and therefore the students.

I wondered what else or how that's going to play out for you? 

[00:23:25] Hamis Juma: My initial plan, as I said, is, going back, trying to see how we can work with the universities and how they can realize what they have been missing . Because I have been training for the University of Slovenia as a leader, and it is my role to go out there trying to lead others.

I have been consulting with my former classmates that I've been to universities with, trying to understand what are they currently doing and sharing with them what I have been doing. Okay. 

And the past week, I was home for the holiday. I had a meeting with them, trying to see how I can share what I have because they are already at institutions, some of them as leaders, some of them as teachers.

I tried to send this out to them as a pilot. How are they taking it? So I sat down with them trying to see how will they take it? Cause they're my close people. So they'll advise me on how the institutions are going to take it because they're now part of that leadership in the institutions.

After I get results I know where I face the challenges and how I should go for other ones. If it's a successful pilot, I know that this is the way to go and this is how I can deal with it. 

[00:24:42] Isla Haddow-Flood: That's wonderful. Well, we haven't finished yet your project, so we're very, very excited to see the end results. I'm just going to thank you now about all the hard work and the thoroughness with which you've approached everything and the work that you've done, and the open mind that you have around working with us and how to work and being spontaneous.

We're pleased to have Justice in the studio. He's been an intern with us since August of last year in the communications section. He's been invaluable to me in the social media space. Could you just introduce yourself?

[00:25:19] Justice Okai-Allotey: Sure. My name is Justice Okai-Allotey. I'm based in Accra, Ghana, born and raised in Accra.

I currently intern at the Open Education Global. I also help organize or help administer, an NGO in Ghana called the Wikimedia Ghana User Group. It's a nonprofit that is into Wikipedia trainings, workshops in Ghana and trying to organize different kinds of programs and projects in collaboration with the Wikimedia Foundation and other Ghanaian organizations as well.

If I'm not working for Open Education Global, I'll probably be a freelancer doing digital communications for early stage businesses and the nonprofits as well. One of the things that wakes me up in the morning is making sure that we are making an impact within every sector that we are doing. If it has to be my NGO work here, making sure that we are doing enough work within the Ghanaian space that is going to further the work of Wikipedia and open knowledge. If it's Open Education Global, making sure that I'm helping my line manager get all their necessary required text in place for any kind of program that we are working on. Yeah. 

[00:26:39] Isla Haddow-Flood: When you saw the opportunity to join as an intern, what made you hit the submit application button? 

[00:26:46] Justice Okai-Allotey: For me I've always wanted to learn how global nonprofits work, especially communicate some of their, their most important work.

For me, it was an opportunity to learn the faith of somebody doing amazing work that I admire. Open Education Global at the time was doing that for me. And for me, being a Wikimedian, I also have a lot of interest in seeing new ways of education happening within the African space, especially within Ghana. 

Seeing that Open Education Global is doing something like that was for me, the main reason why I hit the button. But then also to also get a global understanding and a global way of doing work that is meaningful. 

[00:27:36] Isla Haddow-Flood: Could you share what you've been working on with us for, as part of Open Education Global and how you've, he helped and assisted with everything.

[00:27:45] Justice Okai-Allotey: Yeah, planning content for the social media channels. Also helped with running a virtual OE Week program. So planning the communications, how we were engaged, organizations that are participating. Also, looking at how we generally communicate to other open education enthusiasts and organizations that are members of OE Global.

So generally it is been helping out within the communications at the data communication space of Open Education Global. 

[00:28:20] Isla Haddow-Flood: The work that you've been doing, in OE Week, posting like, I think it was like 280 posts that we collectively did and I think that was just for Twitter.

It was just a phenomenal effort. 

Is there something that you've learned or something that has changed how you think or that you've learned over the time with us? 

Yeah, 

[00:28:38] Justice Okai-Allotey: For me, getting tools that will make your work very easy. I usually, back in the day, like to manually do stuff on my own, but then looking at how we automate some of our conversations and our work. It was easy for me to pick that up and also incorporate that into some of the works , making it easy for you to do large scale work with very great tools.

Think that's one of the main thing that I've learned. And also being very meticulous with your work that you are doing, making sure that you are double checking everything that you are doing before it goes out. And making sure that you are engaging properly or your audiences in some of the conversations that we've had.

[00:29:28] Isla Haddow-Flood: The one space that I do want to to acknowledge the impact that you've made is on LinkedIn, which I think has been a space that we haven't really explored before. And your help with that has been invaluable. 

You can start to see the space it's starting to change and evolve. We're hoping more will happen in the next few months after we activate the members space. Look out for that. 

The work that we're doing together with open education global, how is that informing your big master plan for your life? What have you got planned for the future and how is this going to help you? 

[00:30:03] Justice Okai-Allotey: I think one of the big pictures that I've had was, is working in the development sector, especially open knowledge and knowledge sharing. This for me is a training ground for me to get an opportunity to enter into a space like that. So I don't take this opportunity lightly at all. I'm very much grateful to you for your guidance and also for the learning that we've had in the previous months leading up to today. 

For me, I honestly see myself doing more work within nonprofits, more digital communications. And also general nonprofit work within Ghana and maybe Africa or the world at large. So those are like my big dreams, but then I'm taking it every day at a time. 

Cause usually, I don't want to stress too much cuz I know myself. I usually want to take every opportunity to be able to grow to a level where I can say, okay, this is a great fit for me. I've largely worked within the development and nonprofit space, and minimal within tech as well.

For me, this is a great opportunity to learn a lot more and then do the amazing work that I want to do. Seeing impact makes me happy. So regardless of what I'm doing, we need to see the impact of your work . With that, I'm grateful that I'm being able to assist in doing that here.

[00:31:32] Isla Haddow-Flood: It's one of the big things people underestimate communications because they think it's just a tag on. But there's no point in doing the work unless other people can hear about it and enjoy it. So the work that you've done has been really vital in connecting people to the things they need.

I think we are moving into a good space. 

Justice, I wanted to take the opportunity to thank you. We're not finished yet. We've still got some, quite a lot of work to do, but, I want to thank you for being part of the team and for helping us to really up our game, by having a larger communications team involved. Thank you very much and we'll see you on the flip side. 

[00:32:08] Alan Levine: This next section is in Spanish where Marcela Morales introduces us to Kristelle Gutierrez and Augustina Huertas. 

Bear with me for my Spanish version of this. 

La siguiente sección está en español donde Marcela Morales nos presenta a Kristelle Gutiérrez y Agustina Huertas. 

[00:32:28] Marcela Morales: Este bueno, pues un gustazo tenerte aquí empezaremos con la primera pregunta en la que estaremos muy agradecidos de que nos cuentes un poco de ti en dóonde estás a qué te dedicas. ¿Qué haces por trabajo y diversión?

[00:32:43] Kristelle Gutiérrez: Bueno, yo soy Daniela Gutiérrez. Soy estudiante de letras hispánicas. Estoy por graduarme. Estudio en el Tecnológico en el Monterrey. Vivo en Monterrey. Y bueno, me dedico principalmente a ser estudiante, pero también soy practicante de apoyo lingüístico en el Open Education Global. 

Y como tanto mi carrera y mis prácticas lo indican, me interesa mucho el lenguaje en particular la literatura y la posibilidad de poder crear nuevas posibilidades a través del lenguaje. Y eso tiene que ver con mi trabajo, pero también con mis pasatiempos, porque mi pasatiempo principal es leer. Y también, bueno, me interesa mucho todo tipo de arte en particular la música.

[00:33:35] Marcela Morales: Que interesante, no, había escuchado que tuvieras interés por la música. ¿Tocas algún instrumento Kritstelle? ¿o nada más, eh escuchas la música? 

[00:33:41] Kristelle Gutiérrez: Toco el piano, la guitarra y he querido aprender a tocar el bajo. Tengo una amiga que toca muy bien, pero o sea, ha sido un poco complicado coordinarnos, pero sí me gusta mucho tocar música también.

[00:33:58] Marcela Morales: Mira qué bien, entonces, a lo mejor es posible que, aparte de todo el apoyo que has estado brindando al Open Education Global como pasante, puedas contribuir algo de música en alguno de nuestros eventos. Ya veremos. 

Lo que me interesa saber es qué fue lo que te motivó para participar como pasante de Open Education Global. ¿Qué fue lo que te a trajo a esta pasantía? 

[00:34:17] Kristelle Gutiérrez: Algo que en particular el semestre antepasado, o sea hace un año, bueno, al final de ese semestre en junio o julio eh, me había interesado en general por la educación abierta por el acceso abierto , de información particular, es decir, por , el Creative Commons que es una herramienta con la que he trabajado prácticamente toda mi carrera como estudiante y que siempre me ha parecido muy, muy valiosa como herramienta y que valoró bastante. Entonces, eh, creo que desde ese punto de vista, siempre he estado de alguna forma o desde los últimos cinco años, estado de alguna forma interesada, sin embargo, fue hasta que vi la posición como practicante de apoyo lingüístico y en general, las demás posiciones que me di cuenta de que era una posibilidad y que existían organizaciones como OE Global que promovían directamente estas iniciativas y me entusiasmó mucho porque si bien era como ya mencioné, un interés que siempre había estado como en conjunción con mi carrera como estudiante. Fue hasta ese momento que se presentó de forma tan concreta y tan específica. Entonces fue ese entusiasmo concreto en esa posición que me me entusiasmó, creo. 

[00:35:47] Marcela Morales: ¡Muy interesante! Bueno, yo te tengo que decir que estamos encantados de tenerte. Ahora quisiera que nos compartas un poquito sobre cuál es el proyecto en el que estás trabajando como pasante de Open Education Global. ¿Qué has logrado y qué has aprendido hasta el momento? 

[00:35:59] Kristelle Gutiérrez: Pues como pasante, como practicante, de apoyo lingüístico, me he dedicado principalmente a ver cómo se puede traducir y no solo traducir en el sentido más literal de traducción, digamos traducción lingüística del inglés al español, ya que es en el inglés, que pues, en el que to casi todos los recursos de OE Global están disponibles originalmente, sino también como traducir el contexto lingüístico y extralingüísticob de los recursos de OE Global para un público y para público latinoamericano que suena bastante amplio porque, bueno, Latinoamérica está compuesta por, no sé cuántos países, pero muchísimos países entonces, eh, suena muy complejo, lo es. Y creo que el equipo de OE Global, por ejemplo, personas como Agustina también es muy valioso, es valiosísimo para para esa tarea. 

Entonces si bien mi posición es principalmente traducción apoyo lingüístico también es investigar un poco sobre la situación de la educación abierta en América latina como las situaciones en países particulares afecta la recepción o el desarrollo de ciertos proyectos de educación abierta en América Latina, en ese país en particular y prácticamente es poder adaptar y saber adaptar lo mejor posible un recurso a estos países en América Latina. 

Porque como ya mencioné, la mayoría de los recursos están en inglés originalmente pero sabemos por años de investigación que la organización ha llevado a cabo, pues sabemos que hay un público muy importante y muy deseoso de también tener esa información y transmitirla en este continente en América Latina así que ese es tanto mi labor, pero también es como mi pasión y mi deseo en esta en esta posición como practicante. 

[00:38:13] Marcela Morales: Me parece muy interesante lo que dices, porque no es nada más como muy bien lo explicaste no es nada más la traducción, sino la interpretación que tenemos a través de los lenguajes. O sea, no es nada más tener una traducción literal de los contenidos sino entender cómo en las diferentes regiones interpretan los textos que compartimos con ellos. Entonces también quisiera yo agregar que uno de los trabajos que has hecho muy lindos es justo eso, hacer la interpretación de los textos que tenemos en inglés y digerirlos de alguna manera para que la comunidad latinoamericana los pueda entender mejor. Este entonces, bueno, estamos una vez los reitero que estamos encantados de tenerte como parte del grupo de la primera generación de pasantes del Open Education Global. Y hasta ahorital Kristelle, ¿qué quieres hacer en el futuro? ¿Y cómo ves que esta experiencia te puede ayudar a llegar ahí? 

[00:39:03] Kristelle Gutiérrez: Pues, desde hace algunos años, he sabido que probablemente me dedicaré a la investigación y suena como algo que siempre ha estado ahí, como final del túnel, pero es algo que me apasiona verdaderamente y sobre todo en el último año.

O sea desde el año pasado que gracias a ciertas clases que he tenido en en mi carrera he sido capaz de afinar mi interés de investigación, mis intereses de investigación, y estoy contenta. Estoy contenta de poder tener, como futura letróloga estoy contenta de tener muchas oportunidades en mi universidad y con mis profesores y profesoras realmente mi experiencia en OE Global ha contribuido también a eso porque no solo tengo intereses académicos particulares a las letras, sino también, como ya lo mencioné, al lenguaje y no estoy cerrada, por ejemplo, a la posibilidad de trabajar en organizaciones como OE Global en un futuro decir, no solo como prácticamente, sino como trabajadora que faciliten este tipo de herramientas tan valiosas para precisamente, promover la investigación a todos los niveles, o sea en el nivel medio superior, el superior, posterior a superior como el nivel de posgrado porque es algo que, bueno, a mí me apasiona y se que a muchísimas personas en el continente también les apasiona y creo que entre más iniciativas como esta se puedan desarrollar, pues será más sencillo que más investigadores e investigadoras jóvenes puedan desarrollar también sus pasiones. 

Entonces sí, OE Global definitivamente al descubrir los proyectos de OE Global, pues creo que me han abierto los ojos a todas estas posibilidades y y pues, estoy agradecida por ello, por supuesto. 

[00:41:02] Marcela Morales: Pues es un placer tenerte y saber que nos acompañas en este camino. Las contribuciones que has hecho para la comunidad latinoamericana 

en los esfuerzos de Open Education Global ya son muy significativos y seguramente vendrán mucho más en el futuro. Entonces, bueno, este es solo una breve conversación de inicio. Seguramente tendremos más como estos para poder reportar un poquito más de tu trabajo en Open Education Global en los próximos meses.

Muchas gracias, Kristelle.

[00:41:27] Kristelle Gutiérrez: Gracias. Gracias a ti.

[00:41:30] Marcela Morales: Hola Agustina. ¿Cómo estás? Es un gusto platicar contigo el día de hoy. También agradecerte que seas una de nuestras nuestras pasantes apoyándonos a amplificar todos los esfuerzos latinoamericanos. Entonces, en esta breve conversación, te quería hacer unas preguntas de cómo hemos estaba hasta el momento con este primer ejercicio de pasantías del Open Education Global.

Primero que nada, quería ver si nos puedes contar un poco de ti. ¿Dónde estás? ¿A qué te dedicas? ¿Qué haces por trabajo y por diversión? 

[00:41:59] Agustina Huertas: Mi nombre es Agustina, soy de Uruguay. Soy comunicadora e investigadora, y me especialicé en análisis del discurso, pero actualmente trabajo en un programa de educación digital dentro de la Universidad Pública de mi país de Uruguay, y participo en varios proyectos interdisciplinarios de investigación cómo analista del discurso, pero en torno a diferentes temas desde redes sociales, género, memoria, religión, incluso política. Y también estudio literatura porque leer y escribir es lo que más disfrutó en mi tiempo libre. 

[00:42:35] Marcela Morales: Y ahora cuéntame ¿qué fue lo que te motivó para participar como pasante del Open Education Global?

[00:42:40] Agustina Huertas: Algo que me motivó y que me hizo querer ser parte de Open Education Global es la oportunidad de investigar sobre todo algo que me interesa y que he aprendido a lo largo de estos años, que es la educación digital y la educación abierta y conocer así otras iniciativas que se están desarrollando en la región para poder revalorizarlas y poder aportar a la posibilidad de de mostrarlas al mundo, ¿no? y conocerlas y y exponer y darlas a conocer. Y, además, porque es una oportunidad para compartir con con especialistas en este tema de otras regiones y poder aprender también de sus experiencias. 

[00:43:18] Marcela Morales: Me parece muy interesante que esto que es algo que te interesa tanto esté alineado con el proyecto en el que estás trabajando dentro de la pasantía del Open Education Global. ¿Nos quieres contar un poquito sobre cuál es el proyecto específicamente en el que has estado trabajando en estos primeros tres meses? ¿Y qué sientes que has logrado y aprendido hasta el momento? 

[00:43:37] Agustina Huertas: Dentro de la organización, desde agosto estoy trabajando como pasante en el proyecto de estado del arte de experiencias educativas digitales y abiertas en América Latina y el objetivo de este es poder rastrear todos los programas e iniciativas que se estaban desarrollando en diferentes partes del continente latinoamericano para poder luego darlas a conocer. Y al momento me ha impulsado a querer seguir aprendiendo sobre estas diferentes formas de hacer educación abierta, digital y sobretodo accesible y todo lo que se puede hacer con estos recursos digitales disponibles ya, sobre todo para poder intentar solventar las desigualdades de acceso a la educación.

[00:44:19] Marcela Morales: Y qué crees que sea lo que vas a encontrar en este trabajo que estás haciendo ahorita ya nos queda claso lo que has aprendido, me parce muy interesante que a través de esta búsqueda te sientas motivada para seguir buscando más recursos y apertura al conocimiento en general ¿ pero qué crees que vaya a ser el reto mayor que encuentres en esta búsqueda que estás haciendo?

[00:44:40] Agustina Huertas: Primero, poder poder conocerlos. Es difícil hoy por hoy conocer estas iniciativas en América Latina, que es algo que motiva a este proyecto. Entonces, primero es conocerlos escarbar, rebuscar en todos los lugares posibles. Segundo, creo que poder conocer antes de los recursos, las iniciativas, los proyectos, conocer cómo es la dinámica de la vocación en cada país para poder comprender hacia dónde apuntan estas iniciativas. Eso es un gran desafío porque siendo de Uruguay, tengo que empezar a buscar y comprender cómo funciona la educación en otros países y luego buscar la forma de todo esa gran masa, información, darla a conocer de la mejor forma posible para que también sea accesible a todos y todas.

[00:45:33] Marcela Morales: Totalmente de acuerdo con lo que dices, se me hace que al estar acompañando en este proceso, coincido exactamente con lo que estás diciendo particularmente buscando las iniciativas de diferentes países. Nos damos cuenta que hay muchos ejes paralelos entre los países de estos desafíos y estos retos buscamos en cada uno de ellos entonces, estoy fascinada de poder trabajar contigo en esta iniciativa de ir buscando qué es lo que se está haciendo en la región latinoamericana? ¿Y también quisiera saber ¿qué quieres hacer en el futuro? Cuáles son tus planes y cómo ves que esta experiencia te pueda ayudar a llegar ahí? 

[00:46:06] Agustina Huertas: Bueno, yo me formé como comunicadora y terminé trabajando en educación algo que no esperaba pero que me terminó captando. Entonces, creo que esta es una gran oportunidad para seguir aprendiendo sobre el campo de la educación en general. No solo en lo digital y lo sino también para poder aprender y seguir desarrollándome, yo como profesional, pero también seguir trabajando en pos de generar un acceso equitativo voluntario a la educación de calidad en toda la región, no solo en cada país. Y es una oportunidad también para conocer otras experiencias para poder nutrirnos de ellas y hacer como trabajo colaborativo. Entonces, para mí personalmente es como una forma de seguir experimentandoy buscando mi camino como profesional y también seguir debatiendo sobre reflexionando sobre estos temas sobre sobre el acceso y sobre las diferentes formas de generar acceso a la educación de calidad tanto dentro de la organización como fuera.

Y bueno dentro de la organización, sobre todo seguir aprendiendo de las experiencias y de la gran experiencia que tienen todos los participantes de OE Global nutrirme de ellas. 

[00:47:22] Marcela Morales: Pues yo lo que te puede decir es que por parte del OE Global, nos sentimos muy afortunados de poder tenerte como parte del equipo estos primeros tres meses de estar trabajando contigo, verlo organizada que eres y lo dedicada que estas al esfuerzo que se está haciendo para esta búsqueda de iniciativas educación abierta en Latinoamérica. Es un placer. No nos queda más que esperar ganancia los siguientes meses y el trabajo que vamos a estar haciendo juntas todavía. Y confío en que estas será la primera conversación de muchas. Pronto podremos dar una actualización de cuáles serían los próximos esfuerzos que estaremos haciendo en esta pasantía.

Entonces nos sentimos muy afortunados de que seas parte de nuestro equipo. Muchas gracias, Agustina. 

[00:48:01] Agustina Huertas: Por favor. El placer es mío.

[00:48:03] Alan Levine: Thank you everyone for listening to this episode of OEG Voices. This is another podcast that we produce here at Open Education Global. We really hope you enjoy hearing from our first wave of OE Global interns. I should let you know that these were recorded at various times, going back a couple months. 

Some of the interns were just beginning, some were in the middle of their projects, some were still wrapping up-- it's an ongoing process. 

But look ahead for news, maybe coming into September when we might open up a new call for interns. We really look forward to having more people work with us on projects and have the same experience that these interns expressed.

Each episode of OEG Voices features a different musical intro track selected from the Free Music Archive. For this episode, the track I found called "Working Toward My Dreams" by Kirk Osamayo is licensed attribution CC BY and really seemed appropriate for this episode. We hope you enjoy it.

We hope you make use of Free Music Archive music in your projects too. 

You can find this episode at our site voices dot oeglobal dot org. We hope you engage in follow up conversations with the interns, Kristelle Augustina, Justice Hammis, and Allan in our OEG Connect community. That's connect dot oe global.org 

We're looking for more interesting people, projects to feature here on OEG Voices. Let us know. You can find us on the website. You can find us in OEG Connect. Well,, you know where to find us, I hope. Anyhow, please let us know. The more voices here, the better.