Profile

Maha Bali is an Associate Professor of Practice at the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo. She is an editor at Hybrid Pedagogy journal, and editorial board member of Teaching in Higher Education, Online Learning Journal, Learning, Media and Technology, International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education and Journal of Pedagogic Development. She has blogged for the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Prof Hacker, DMLCentral blogs and Al-Fanar media. She is a co-founder of virtuallyconnecting.org and co-facilitator of Equity Unbound. She is a former International Director of Digital Pedagogy Lab. 

She was the ninth person interviewed on the Leaders and Legends of Online Learning podcast and she was featured alongside 15 amazing women of the open movement in the UnCommon Women 2018 Coloring Book.

She is a learnaholic, writeaholic and passionate open and connected educator, who tweets a lot at @bali_maha and blogs a lot at http://blog.mahabali.me.

Education

PhD in Education, University of Sheffield, UK, 2013

MEd in eLearning, University of Sheffield, UK, 2006

BSc in Computer Science, American University in Cairo, Egypt, 2001

Selected Publications

Select peer-reviewed publications

Bali, M., Caines, A., Hogue, R. J., DeWaard, H. J., & Friedrich, C. (2019). Intentionally Equitable Hospitality in Hybrid Video Dialogue: The Context of Virtually Connecting. eLearning Mag (special issue). Retrieved from: https://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=3331173

Bali, M. (2019). Reimagining Digital Literacies from a Feminist Perspective in a Postcolonial Context. Media and Communication, 17 (2). (special issue). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17645/mac.v7i2.1935

Bali, M., Awwad, A., Hassib, F., Halawa, F., Khalifa, J., Serougy, F. (2019). Global Citizenship Education in a Digital Age: A Collaborative Autoethnography. In J. Dorio, E. Abdou and N. Moheyddin (eds). The Struggle for Citizenship Education in Egypt: (Re)Imagining Subjects and Citizens. Routledge: New York, NY and Oxon, UK.

Bali, M., & Caines, A. (2018). A call for promoting ownership, equity and agency in faculty development via connected learning. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0128-8

Bali, M., Awwad, A., Hassib, F., Halawa, F., Khalifa, J., Serougy, F. (2019). Global Citizenship Education in a Digital Age: A Collaborative Autoethnography. In J. Dorio, E. Abdou and N. Moheyddin (eds). The Struggle for Citizenship Education in Egypt: (Re)Imagining Subjects and Citizens. Routledge: New York, NY and Oxon, UK.

Bali, M., & Caines, A. (2018). A call for promoting ownership, equity and agency in faculty development via connected learning. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education.

Bali, M. (2018). The Unbearable Whiteness of the Digital. In D. Kim & J. Stommel (eds). Disrupting the Digital Humanities. Punctum books.

Hogue, R. J.; Keefer, J. M.; Bali, M.; Hamon, K.; Koutropoulos, A; Leunissen, R; and Singh, L. (2018) “Pioneering Alternative Forms of Collaboration,” Current Issues in Emerging eLearning: Vol. 4 : Iss. 1 , Article 8.

Bali, M., & Mostafa, H. (2018). Listen Carefully and You Will Hear: Using Creative Multimodal Assessments to Promote Student Expression. In S. Khadka & J. C. Lee (eds). Designing and Implementing Multimodal Curricula and Programs. Routledge.
Bali, M., & Sharma, S. (2017). Envisioning post-colonial MOOCs: Critiques and ways forward. In R. Bennett & M. Kent (eds). Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: What Went Right, What Went Wrong and Where to Next? Routledge: London, UK and New York, NY.

Bali, M., Caines, A., DeWaard, H., & Hogue, R. (2016, December). Ethos and Practice of a Connected Learning Movement: Interpreting Virtually Connecting Through Alignment with Theory and Survey Results. Online Learning Journal, 20(4). 

Bali, M. (2016). Bringing Out the Human in Synchronous and Asynchronous Media for Learning. In W. Kilgore (ed) Humanizing Online Teaching and Learning. Retrieved from https://humanmooc.pressbooks.com

Bali, M. (2015). A new scholar’s perspective on open peer review. Teaching in Higher Education, 20(8), pp. 857-863. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2015.1085857

Bali, M., Crawford, M., Jessen, R. L., Signorelli, P., & Zamora, M. (2015). What makes a cMOOC community endure? Multiple participant perspectives from diverse MOOCs. Educational Media International, DOI:10.1080/09523987.2015.1053290

Hamon, K., Hogue, R. J., Honeychurch, S., Johnson, S., Koutropoulos, A., Ensor, S., Sinfield, S., & Bali, M. (2015, June 4). Writing the unreadable untext: A collaborative autoethnography of #rhizo14. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/writing-the-unreadable-untext/

Bali, M. (2015, April 20). Pedagogy of Care – Gone Massive. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from:http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/pedagogy-of-care-gone-massive/

Bali, M. (2015). Critical thinking through a multicultural lens: cultural challenges of teaching critical thinking. In R. Barnett & W. M. Davies (eds). Palgrave Handbook of Critical Thinking in Higher Education.

Bali, M., & Sharma,S. (2014, April 11). Bonds of difference: participation as inclusion. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/bonds-difference-participation-inclusion/

Sharma, S., & Bali, M. (2014, April 4). Bonds of difference: illusions of inclusion. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/journal/bonds-difference-illusions-inclusion

Bali, M. (2014). Why doesn’t this feel empowering? The challenges of web-based intercultural dialogue. Teaching in Higher Education, 19(2), pp. 208-215. DOI: 10.1080/13562517.2014.867620

FORTHCOMING PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

Bali, M. (forthcoming). Inequalities in Digital Literacies. In B. Alexander, S. Becker, M. Cummis and C Hall Giesinger (eds) Digital Literacy in Higher Education, Part II: A New Media Horizon Project Strategic Brief. Volume 3.4, August 2017. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.

Bali, M., & Mostafa, H. (forthcoming). Listen Carefully and You Will Hear: Using Creative Multimodal Assessments to Promote Student Expression. In S. Khadka & J. C. Lee (eds). Designing and Implementing Multimodal Curricula and Programs. Routledge.

Bali, M., & Sharma, S. (in press). Envisioning Postcolonial MOOCs: critiques and ways forward. In M. Kent and R. J. Bennett (eds). Massive Open Online Courses and Higher Education: Where to Next?

Bali, M., & Sharma, S. (in press). The unbearable whiteness of the digital. In D. Kim and J. Stommel (eds). Disrupting the Digital Humanities.

Non-peer reviewed in an Academic Journal (selection)

Bali, M. (2015, October 21). Yearning for praxis: Writing and teaching our way out of oppression. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from: http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/columns/yearning-for-praxis/ 

Bali, M. (2015, March 31). Embracing Subjectivity [featured column]. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from:http://www.hybridpedagogy.com/columns/embracing-subjectivity/

Bali, M. (2015, February 26). Inner voice, criticality and empathy [featured column]. Hybrid Pedagogy. Retrieved from: http://hybridpedagogy.org/

Select trade journal publications & conference presentations

Bali, M. (2017, April). What is Open Pedagogy Anyway? Year of Open. https://www.yearofopen.org/april-open-perspective-what-is-open-pedagogy/

Bali, M. (2017, January 31). There is More Than One Story to Be Told About Muslims in Trump’s America. The Conversation, republished 4 times, including Huffington Post

Bali, M. (2017, January 2). Fake News: Not Your Main Problem. DML Central. Retrieved from: http://dmlcentral.net/

Bali, M. (2016, December 1). Listening to Student Voices at Academic Events. Prof Hacker. Retrieved from: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/ Bali, M. (2016, November 28). Are you on Mastodon Yet? Social Network of One’s Own. Prof Hacker. Retrieved from: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/

Bali, M. (2016. November 3). 9 Mistakes to Avoid When Designing Educational Games. DML Central. Retrieved from: http://dmlcentral.net/

Bali, M., Skallerup Bessette, L., & Caines, A. (2016, November 2). On Digital Literacies. Prof Hacker. Retrieved from: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/

Bali, M. (2016, October 25). Tips for effective online learning: Community edition. Prof Hacker. Retrieved from: Retrieved from: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/

Bali, M., Mostafa, H., & Osman, S. (2016, October 20). What we learned from co-teaching. Prof Hacker. Retrieved from: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/

Bali, M. (2016, October 12). Fostering permeability in academia. Prof Hacker. Retrieved from: http://www.chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/

Bali, M., Bowles, K., & Prinsloo, P. (2016, August 10). International something: Why you should care 

Bali, M. (2016, July 5). A postcolonial look at the future of #EdTech. Biennale of Sydney. Retrieved from: https://medium.com/not-evenly-distributed/a-postcolonial-look-at-the-future-of-edtech-4b1c6db7e12e#.wjmkiw7w2

Bali, M. (2016, Jan/Feb). Knowing the difference between digital skills and digital literacies and teaching both. Literacy Worldwide. Published hard copy, but also published on the Literacy Daily; retrieved from: http://literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-daily/2016/02/03/knowing-the-difference-between-digital-skills-and-digital-literacies-and-teaching-both

Bali, M. (2013, August 19). Critical citizenship for critical times. Al-Fanar: News and Opinion about Higher Education. Retrieved from http://www.al-fanar.org/2013/08/critical-citizenship-for-critical-times/

Bali, M. (2013, July 19). Will the latest generation of online courses help the Arab world? Al-Fanar: News and Opinion about Higher Education.  Retrieved from: http://www.al-fanarmedia.org/2013/07/will-the-latest-generation-of-online-courses-help-the-arab-world/

Keynotes and Invited Talks

• Bali, M. (2018, September). Connecting the world: intentions and realities (keynote). Indie Web Camp NY. Video recording here 
• Bali, M. (2018, July ). Challenging Academic Gatekeeping: Open Scholarship and Virtually Connecting (keynote). Festival of eLearning Conference, e/Merge Africa, Cape Town, South Africa. Slides and recording available here 
• Bali, M. (2018, June). Invited session on Remote PhD Supervision at Part-time and Distance Researchers Conference, Imperial College, London, UK. Audio recording here
• Bali, M. (2018, April 26). Flipping the Script on Intercultural Learning… and Other Stories (keynote). UniCollaborate, Krakow, Poland. Video, slides, etc. 
• Bali, M. (2017, September 11). The Promise of Open Education: What Can Open Education Do For You? (keynote) OEPScotland.
• Gilliard, C. and Bali, M. (2017, August 7). Praxis, Privacy and Care in Digital Pedagogies (keynote). Digital Pedagogy Lab Institute, University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia, USA. Video available here
• Bali, M. (2017, May 29). Closing Plenary Panel. International Communications Association Conference, ICA17, San Diego, CA, USA.
• Bali, M. (2017, April 5). Hiding in the Open (keynote). Open Educational Resources 2017 (#OER17). London, UK. Slides
• Bali, M., & Aboulmagd, N. (2017, March).  Digital Pedagogy in the Regional Context (invited workshop). Digital Humanities Beirut, March 2017.

• Bali, M. (2016, November 30). OPEN SCHOLARSHIP AND OPEN PEDAGOGY FOR THE EGYPTIAN ACADEMIC. OpenMed event. Cairo University.
• Bali, M. (2016, May 26). Virtual Collaborative Scholarship for Development (Featured Speaker Spotlight talk). eLearning Africa, Cairo, Egypt. Presentation available at: (2016, May 26). https://www.haikudeck.com/p/8df54b4270 
• Bali, M., & Groom, J. (2016, May 26). Should EdTech have an ethos? Teaching technologies in a post-Snowden age (Featured presentation). AMICAL 2016, American University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Slides and video available: http://www.amicalnet.org/sessions/should-edtech-have-an-ethos-teaching-technologies-in-a-post-snowden-age
• Bali, M. (2015, September). Problematizing educational standards. Invited presentation at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo. (slides)
• Bali, M. (2015). Why & How to Flip the Classroom. National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation for Education Conference (invited presentation), Cairo University, Cairo, May 25, 2015.
• Bali, M. (2015). How Open Education is Transforming Lifelong Learning. Faculty of Pharmacy Cairo University Scientific Meeting (invited presentation), Cairo University, Cairo. April 25, 2015.
• Invited panelist, Edraak Launch ceremony, Amman, Jordan, May 2014.
• Invited to give a seminar on Critical Citizenship for Critical Times, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, January, 2014.