Annual Report 2017, Copenhagen

During ECER 2017 the members of Network 6 "Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures" were discussing a wide scope of topics in relation to education, learning and cultures and their transformations through mediatisation, media or digital technologies. 38 submissions from 94 colleagues working in 19 different countries had been accepted for the final program. The first day of the conference started with a focus on theoretical and historical discourses on media environments, media practices and media habitus. It was followed up by theoretical discussions on Open Education and Open Learning on the next day. On the second and third day research was presented on media education, participation, on children’s practices, on students’ perspectives in digital environments, and on the transformation of schools and other institutions of education and culture. Open Educational Resources (OER), a topic the network discussed intensely the last six years, was subject of one joined symposium with Network 12. On the final day of ECER, the network discussed research on specialized topics like robotics, self-tracking, and media the lifeworld of young refugees. The research presentations were organised in one roundtable, one joined symposium, eleven paper sessions, usually including three occasionally two paper presentations, and one poster session.

Beyond numbers, ECER is for all our members a great opportunity to meet and openly discuss theoretical and empirical research projects and challenging research questions, that sometimes do not fit into regular patterns. Network 6's aim is to host researchers who see the need for a pedagogical fundament for theoretical and empirical research in the area of media education, open learning and cultural contexts for learning with media. Once again in 2017 we managed to attract and address with our conference program our long-time network members and also to win new, emerging and also well established researchers from Europe and beyond, willing to participate in our theoretically and empirically based discussions.