Open Learning Ireland

Open Learning Ireland Background

We are a volunteer run group dedicated to creating a permanent, open access learning space in Dublin city. This would be a volunteer run, free to access space, offering everyone the opportunity to teach and learn anything that took their fancy; emphasising non-coercive, peer learning and hands on workshops and labs.

We have already run three ‘Pop-up Unskool’ weekends, at festivals like Dublin Contemporary 2011 and Gluaiseacht Skill Share Festival 2012. Now we’re planning a bigger event – a ‘Learn Something; Share Something; Do Something’ week of talks, workshops and hacklabs.

Lots more information about our work, past and future, is online here –
https://openlearningireland.com/what-is-open-learning-ireland/

The Festival

Learn Something; Share Something; Do Something is a week long festival of learning, held with support from AONTAS and Seomra Spraoi. The festival will take place Monday 25th February – Saturday 2nd March at Seomra Spraoi 10 Belvedere Court, Dublin 1 (Near Mountjoy Square), from about 10AM – 8 / 9PM daily.

The aims of the festival are 1) for all participants to learn and have fun, 2) to promote non-coercive learning as a means of promoting autonomy, competence and relatedness in participants, 3) to demonstrate a demand for non-coercive autonomous shared learning environments in Dublin.

The Venue

Seomra Spraoi are kindly allowing us to use their space for the Learn Something; Share Something; Do Something festival. Open Learning Ireland are not a part of Seomra Spraoi, though we share many of their goals and ideals. Please be polite and courteous at all times to Seomra users and staff. Please read their safe space policy – on display in the main space on the ground floor. Some mix ups and confusion with regular space users is inevitable. To minimise this, please be as friendly as possible. As we have several rooms available, we can probably adjust things at the last minute to facilitate everyone’s needs. Our schedule includes several classes and activities at Seomra (in purple) that are run by the Seomra Collective, not Open Learning Ireland. In particular the vegan cafe (Tuesday and Wednesday evening), will attract large numbers. Please be polite to these visitors, answer their questions but don’t pester them, as they may not be interested in the learning festival. Seomra’s website is  – http://seomraspraoi.org/

Getting There

Seomra Spraoi is ten minutes walk from O’Connell St. Google maps can guide you, but approximate directions are –
a) Walk North up O’Connell St
b) At the top of the street turn right onto Parnell St
c) Half way up Parnell St, turn left and walk up North Great Georges St
d) At the top of North Great Georges St, turn right again and walk along Great Denmark St until you reach Mountjoy Square Park / Gardener Street.
e) Now turn left and Belvedere Court is a laneway on your right.
f) We should have a sign up pointing towards the venue. Seomra’s entrance is on the right at the end of the lane.

Parking

There is no parking at the venue, although bicycles may be parked out front or back. Nearest off street parking is Interpark Carkparks, 29 Fitzgibbon St. Open Monday – Sunday 7AM – 7PM
More info – http://www.parkopedia.ie/parking/dublin/

Rooms

The festival is happening over several rooms at Seomra Spraoi. We’ve coded the rooms (you can see the codes next to the workshops in the festival schedule below). Here’s what the codes stand for…

Downstairs

– Cinema Room [R1]
– Main Space [R2]

Upstairs

– Meeting Room / Blue room [R3]
– Yellow Room (small room) [R4]
– WSM / Kindergarten Room [R5]
(we are not currently using this room)
– Open Space / Perfect for Workshops [R6]

Bike Workshop [R7]
– Out the back of Seomra

See below for a rough map of the venue.

Festival Schedule

* Some items may be changed (removed, added, or amended) prior to or during the festival
– check online for up to the minute accurate schedule – http://OpenLearningIreland.com/schedule/

Donations

Open Learning Ireland is not currently in receipt of any state or third party funding. Like our venue, Seomra Spraoi, we are funded entirely through donations. We’ll be collecting donations throughout the event at our registration table (at the entrance to Seomra) and after talks. Donations are absolutely non-compulsory, but please do mention our donations policy to folks in a friendly non-directive manner. All donations go towards the administration, advertising and management of future events. All staff are volunteers, and no one personally benefits from donations.

Volunteer Duties

We want you as volunteers to have a great time at the learning festival. To participate is as many talks and activities as you like, and to benefit from the opportunities available. We ask that you self direct towards tasks that need doing during the week. These include minding the front desk / welcoming people to the festival, general ‘gofer’ duties, moving furniture between talks and workshops and helping people facilitate their talks and lectures (by helping them with powerpoint etc). Our volunteer coordinator, Naomi has designed a rota, so we’ll know when everyones available. If your availability changes, please let Noami know ASAP. During the week Sebastian Dooris and Gareth Stack will be co-ordinating volunteers. Please direct all your questions to them.

Volunteer Rota

A volunteer rota is available from rota@openlearningireland.com

Booking Enquiries

We can add people to the schedule at the last minute. But the only way to keep track is if they fill in the ‘Propose a workshop form at our website’.
– https://openlearningireland.com/propose-a-workshop/

Schedule Enquiries

A live digital schedule of the event (read from the web), will be on display at front desk during the festival. You can also direct people to our online schedule
– https://openlearningireland.com/schedule/

Emergency Contact

In a (minor) emergency please contact Gareth Stack on 085 185 8151.
In a (real) emergency contact 999 first.