EdConteXts –short for Educators Across Contexts–is a network and community for teachers, scholars, and others to share ideas and experiences about education in and across contexts around the world.
We seek to bring out the voice of local educators from across the world, amplifying them in order to enrich the discourse about education with local and contextual perspectives shared by those living the experience. Our objective is to make our conversations a professionally useful resource for educators and a productive counterpoint to the mainstream one-way (North-to-South, West-to-East, and center-to-peripheries) traffic of ideas about higher education.
We recognise that core/periphery divides exist within countries and contexts as well as across them, but what this community shares is a commitment to the mediating power of contexts.
FACILITATORS
Clarissa Bezerra (Brazil)
I teach English as a foreign language and work as Course Supervisor at Casa Thomas Jefferson, a binational center in Brasília, Brazil. I believe that educators from around the globe need to be empowered to find their voices and share their stories and experiences in order to contribute to a more colorful and diverse global view of education. I can also be found blogging at clarissabezerra.com and on tweeting at @Clarissamfb.
Laura Czerniewicz (South Africa)
I am an associate professor at the University of Cape Town. I have worked in education in South Africa and in Zimbabwe for many years, in information and communication (ICTS) in education broadly, starting in educational publishing and now in open education and open scholarship (see http://openuct.uct.ac.za). My concerns about the importance of context are probably best summed up here. I blog from time to time at http://lauraczerniewicz.uct.ac.za and tweet as @czernie.
Lenandlar Singh (Guyana)
I am a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Guyana. I teach undergraduate level computer science courses and one MBA level course on Management Information Systems. I started as an assistant lecturer in 2000. I am currently the head of my department. I am everywhere online but can be found on twitter @lenandlar. I have a range of interests. But nowadays I am fascinated by the potential for pushing the boundaries of learning through communities and networks. In particular, i am very excited about this initiative. I believe we can bring voices from the wilderness into a larger discourse and of course learn a lot along the way as well.
Maha Bali (Egypt)
I’ma faculty developer and teacher educator in Egypt. I am currently Associate Professor of 
Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. I’ve been involved with and conducted research about cross-cultural learning. I am also a columnist and editor at Hybrid Pedagogy, and co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org. I blog at http://blog.mahabali.me and tweet at @bali_maha – my timezone is Egypt (usually GMT+2 but we have our own weirdo daylight savings schedules)
Roopika Risam (US, UK)
I am an Assistant Professor of World Literature and English Education at Salem State University, just outside Boston in the United States. I teach in both the School of Education and the College of Arts and Science. I received my PhD in English, with a focus in postcolonial, African American, and US ethnic literatures, from Emory University in 2013. Before I began graduate school, I taught high school in Washington, DC, which is why I’m excited that my job allows me to combine my interests in literary and cultural studies with my dedication to preparing teachers for careers in secondary education. I am also the co-founder of Postcolonial Digital Humanities (#dhpoco) and have broader interests in digital humanities. Without being utopian about what technology can do, I think technology and the connections and networks forged through it have an important role in decolonizing classroom spaces and pedagogy.
Shyam Sharma (US, Nepal)
I teach writing and rhetoric at Stony Brook University (SUNY). My interest in helping to build the EdConteXts community comes partly from my personal experiences of learning and teaching in different contexts/countries and partly from a previous initiative that I started along with other teachers from Nepal. I am also found blogging at www.shyamsharma.net and tweeting at @SharmaShyam. Time Zone: New York, EST -5GMT
Tanya Lau (Australia)
I’m an eLearning specialist at a State Government agency in Sydney, Australia. A practitioner in corporate/workplace learning, I have a keen interest in higher ed and am intrigued by how ideas and practices across these contexts might cross pollinate. I am undertaking Masters research in Personal Learning Networks and like Len, fascinated by the potential of networks and community for fostering new ways of teaching and learning. I blog at http://explorationsinlearning.wordpress.com/ and tweet at @tanyalau.
Here’s an inspiring 40-second video about the EdConteXts community created by Tanya Lau, one of the facilitators. Enjoy!
