Facilitators as co-learners in a collaborative open course for teachers and students in higher education

This paper describes Bring Your Own Device for Learning (BYOD4L), an open learning initiative exploring the use of smart devices for learning and teaching in higher education. BYOD4L was developed by educational developers in the UK using freely available social media able to run on personal smart devices. BYOD4L was offered by the Media-Enhanced Learning Special Interest Group (MELSIG) in collaboration with volunteer facilitators. The paper focuses on the open facilitator experience as lived during the first iteration of BYOD4 in January 2014. A phenomenlogical approach has been used and data has been collected via a qualitative survey instrument which was completed by all facilitators. Findings are shared and discussed that provide an insight into the facilitator experience that might be of value for other similar open collaborative learning events and other open educational interventions.