OEGlobal 2026: Full Schedule

All sessions are available online except round tables, special activities, and workshops.

arrow_back View All Dates

12:25pm EDT

Silences in the Literature: Reimagining Qualitative Methods in Open Education Research to Disrupt Epistemic Hierarchies

Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT

ID: 31007

Open education research has expanded rapidly alongside the global growth of open educational resources (OER), open pedagogy, and open knowledge practices. While the field has made intentional movement towards foregrounding its research in social justice, the methods used to collect and examine data in open education often continue to reproduce dominant epistemological frameworks that privilege Western, institutional, and positivist approaches to knowledge production. Making assumptions that “there must be gaps in the literature” when certain knowledge is not published in a peer-reviewed journal is just one example of epistemological hierarchies we’ll identify as an opportunity to dismantle with new qualitative approaches. Our session will engage the audience in exploring the idea that open education research would benefit from moving beyond inherited traditional methodological “norms” and instead consider the role that critical frameworks (e.g. Black Feminist, Critical Race Theory, Queer Theory, Poststructuralism, Postcolonial Theory, etc.) and concepts like reflexivity, positionality, and relationality could play in democratizing the research process to intentionally uplift historically marginalized ways of knowing. This session proposes a critical reimagining of qualitative research protocols in open education in order to better align research practices with transformative values like equity, student agency, power distribution, and the democratization of knowledge that the open movement champions.Attendees will be invited to critically examine how traditional qualitative protocols like the literature review, interview design, consent processes, data ownership, and authorship conventions have a tendency to reinforce epistemic hierarchies. The session will present practical strategies for researchers seeking to shift toward more inclusive and ethically grounded approaches, but it will also create space for participants to come together and brainstorm what it might look like, for example, to center open and participant-controlled data practices as well as reflexive transparency concerning positionality and power in the research process.

Speakers

Jasmine Roberts-Crews

Lecturer, Ohio State University

Dr. Jasmine Roberts-Crews is an educator, speaker, writer, and scholar advocate.She earned her bachelor's degree in communication studies and Spanish at the University of Michigan, her master's degree in communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and doctorate... Read More →

Lindsey Gwozdz

Assistant Dean of Libraries, Community College of Rhode Island

Lindsey Gwozdz joined CCRI in 2024 as the Assistant Dean of the Library, having spent 11 years prior as an Associate Professor and the Scholarly Communications Librarian at Roger Williams University. She also serves as the Fellow for Open Education at the New England Board of Higher... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

12:25pm EDT

The Impact of Open Textbooks in Taiwan: A Personal and Institutional Journey

Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT

4 Room T

ID: 31961

The increasing cost of commercial textbooks, combined with rapidly changing student learning behaviors and widespread access to unauthorized digital materials, has created an urgent need to rethink how learning resources are developed and delivered in higher education. In Taiwan, these challenges have driven a national and institutional shift toward Open Textbooks (OTB) as a more equitable, flexible, and sustainable solution. This session will present a comprehensive overview of how Taiwan has advanced Open Textbook adoption through a combination of policy support and grassroots engagement. The movement was influenced by international open education advocacy, notably the 2018 lecture tour in Taiwan by James Glapa-Grossklag, which introduced practical models from the California Community Colleges system. Building on this foundation, the Taiwan Open Course and Education Consortium launched national initiatives (2019–2021; 2022–2024), further supported by the Ministry of Education’s Second Phase of the e-Learning Movement Project (2022–2025), involving 37 universities in promoting OTB adoption. At the institutional level, this session will highlight the implementation of Open Textbook initiatives at National Taipei University of Technology since 2021. These include structured programs for course adoption and collaborative OTB co-creation. To date, 46 faculty members have adopted 64 open textbooks across their courses, and 51 book reviews have been published to support wider dissemination and faculty engagement. In addition, two active communities are currently co-developing new open textbooks tailored to local educational contexts. Beyond presenting these initiatives, this session will offer a multi-perspective reflection on OTB adoption, incorporating insights from students, faculty, and administrators. It will explore how open textbooks enhance accessibility, support real-time content updates, and enable innovative teaching practices. The session will also address common challenges, including faculty readiness, sustainability, and quality assurance. Participants will gain practical strategies for initiating or scaling Open Textbook initiatives within their own institutions. The session is particularly relevant for educators, administrators, and policymakers interested in open education, digital learning, and equitable access to knowledge. By combining evidence-based outcomes with lived experiences, this session aims to provide transferable insights that support the global movement to democratize education through open content.

Speakers

Ta-Wei Li

Assistant Professor, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Ta-Wei Li is an Assistant Professor of Applied Chemistry at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and served as Director of the Open Education Office from 2014 to 2021. From 2017 to 2021, he led the Taiwan Open Courseware and Educational Consortium (TOCEC) as President, helping... Read More →

Yu-Lun Huang

Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Yu-Lun Huang received the B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Information Engineering from National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan, in 1995 and 2001, respectively. She has been a member of Phi Tau Phi Society since 1995. She is now an associate professor in the Department... Read More →

Jicheng Sun

Project Manager, National Taipei University of Technology

Mr. Jicheng Sun is a Project Manager in the Office of Academic Affairs at National Taipei University of Technology (NTUT), Taiwan. His work focuses on promoting innovative teaching and digital learning initiatives across the university. He oversees multiple institutional projects... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

1:40pm EDT

The Leading Edge of Open Education: Meet the 2026 Awardees of the OE Awards for Excellence

Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:45pm EDT

7 DR5

ID: 33277

By the start of this conference, Open Education Global will have announced the winners of the 2026 Open Education Awards for Excellence, the fifteenth year of this community driven program to recognize the people, projects, and practices that exemplify open education in action. We bring together representatives of this years awardees from both ones present at the conference and others who will join is online. Each will share conversational style an overview of the work for which they were recognized, but also to share what motivates them. This is an opportunity for those attending the conference to extend congratulations, for the awardees to express appreciation, and most importantly to build stronger interconnections within the open education community.Since 2011, the OEAwards have recognized over 300 individuals, projects, and practices. Over the past few years, we have been sifting the awards from a "competition" like focus on the "winners" to a celebration and making visible all-- the details of hundreds of nominees are shared. Furthermore, the program is extending itself into an ongoing encouragement all year long of "micro-recognition" as expressions of gratitude for the often invisible work that makes open education possible.Join us for a conversation with the people identified through the program who are modeling in action what Open Education does around the world.

Speakers

Marcela Morales

Executive Co-Director, Open Education Global

Marcela is an avid promotor of access to knowledge and a true believer in the power of education to transform lives and societies all around the world. She believes that education is an essential, shared, and collaborative social good for which we are all responsible.As Co-Executive... Read More →

Alan Levine

Director of Community Engagement, Open Education Global

Alan Levine explores the potential of new technologies for education. In 1993 he set up a web server on a Mac SE/30 at the Maricopa Community Colleges and has not left since. His current role is Director of Community Engagement at Open Education Global. Before that he provided consulting... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:45pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Panel

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Catalyzing Human Connection Creativity and Curiosity to Thrive

2:15pm EDT

Empowering Secondary Education via Open Higher Education Modules: The UHCOOL Framework

Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT

4 Room T

ID: 31964

The rapid evolution of global education standards has placed unprecedented pressure on secondary schools to deliver specialized, high-quality elective curricula. While universities possess an abundance of digital expertise, translating this knowledge into accessible K-12 formats remains a significant hurdle. Traditional digital initiatives, such as standard MOOCs, often fail to achieve meaningful impact in high school settings because they lack integration with local teachers and pedagogical adaptability. This results in a structural discrepancy where rural and under-resourced schools remain isolated from higher education’s intellectual wealth.To address this, we present the "University/High-school Collaboration On Online Learning" (UHCOOL) framework, spearheaded by the "ewant" open education platform. UHCOOL moves beyond simple content sharing to establish a sustainable governance model for digital knowledge transfer. Its primary goal is to democratize access to advanced subjects by transforming complex university-level curricula into modular, flexible Open Educational Resources (OER) specifically tailored for secondary education.The operational core of UHCOOL is a collaborative nexus involving universities, secondary schools, and industry partners. Rather than delivering a "one-size-fits-all" curriculum, the project utilizes a sophisticated dual-layered digital architecture. By providing each high school with a localized Open Learning Environment (OLE) based on the Moodle platform, the system empowers local educators to act as curators rather than just facilitators. Teachers can access high-level university "benchmark courses"—including videos, assessments, and slide decks—and then adapt or merge these modules with their own localized teaching strategies. This ensures that university faculty's expertise is supported by high school teachers' classroom management skills.The effectiveness of this decentralized OER model is evidenced by its rapid adoption. A flagship course on semiconductor technology, for instance, bridged the gap for nearly 2,000 students across 51 schools in its first year, with participation expected to nearly double by 2025. Feedback indicates that providing a robust "pedagogical skeleton" allows teachers to focus on student engagement and critical thinking rather than starting curriculum design from scratch.In conclusion, the UHCOOL initiative illustrates that the true democratization of education lies in the balance between openness to resources and local pedagogical autonomy. By reframing university content as adaptable modules within a cross-institutional framework, we provide a scalable solution for educational equity. This model serves as a vital blueprint for leveraging OER to ensure specialized knowledge is a public good accessible to all learners, regardless of location.

Speakers

Ken-Zen Chen

Associate Professor and Associate Director of HERO Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Ken-Zen Chen serves as an Associate Professor at the Institute of Education, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan. His scholarly work focuses on digital learning ecosystems, institutional collaboration, and the practical application of Open Educational Resources... Read More →

Yun-Chia Jasmine Chang

Professor and Director of HERO Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Professor Yung-Chia Chang is a faculty member in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and a key contributor to the HERO Center’s work on open higher education resources. She received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Industrial... Read More →

Wei-I Lee

Research Fellow of HERO Center, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University

Wei-I Lee is a professor in the Department of Electrophysics at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University and has served as the director of the Research Center of Higher Educational Resources for Openness (HERO Center). He obtained his B.S. in Electrophysics from National Chiao Tung... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

2:15pm EDT

Listening to Teachers: A U.S.–Finland Collaboration to Develop Open AI Literacy Resources

Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT

2 Room M

ID: 31135

An Erasmus-supported collaboration between Mount St. Joseph University (United States) and Laurea University of Applied Sciences (Finland) brings multidisciplinary students together to explore artificial intelligence and digital innovation through international, project-based learning. In shared courses offered across both institutions, students work in global teams during the semester to design and prototype AI-related projects that address real-world problems. Through this project-based learning model, students engage in iterative design, collaborative problem solving, and reflective discussion about the social and ethical implications of artificial intelligence. These collaborations culminate in intensive project weeks in which students travel between campuses, refine their ideas through collaborative workshops, and present their work to international audiences. The partnership emphasizes experiential learning, cross-cultural collaboration, and the development of practical solutions to emerging technology challenges. Through these experiences, students gain exposure to different educational systems, technological perspectives, and cultural approaches to innovation while developing skills in teamwork, communication, and applied AI literacy.This session foregrounds the role of international academic exchange in shaping these learning experiences. The Erasmus partnership allows students to move beyond virtual collaboration and participate in short-term study-abroad exchanges where they work together in person during intensive project weeks. These exchanges provide opportunities for students to experience different educational cultures, develop intercultural communication skills, and engage directly with peers from other national contexts. For institutions seeking to integrate emerging technologies into global learning initiatives, the project offers a model for combining study-abroad programming, collaborative coursework, and interdisciplinary innovation.As part of this collaboration, students also contribute to the development of open educational resources (OER) designed to support educators navigating generative artificial intelligence in teaching and learning. Working alongside faculty mentors, students translate their project experiences into openly licensed teaching materials that provide practical guidance on ethical AI use, assignment design, and responsible integration of AI tools. Because these materials are openly licensed, they can be freely shared, adapted, and improved by educators around the world. In this way, OER not only disseminates the outcomes of the project but also creates opportunities for ongoing global collaboration, enabling educators in different countries to build upon shared materials and contribute new perspectives and practices.These student-generated resources are informed by a qualitative study examining how K–12 teachers are currently navigating generative artificial intelligence in their classrooms. Interviews with teachers across subject areas and school contexts reveal how educators are redesigning assignments, establishing boundaries for acceptable AI assistance, and negotiating new expectations for academic integrity as student AI use expands. These insights help ensure that the resulting OER materials address real classroom needs rather than abstract policy debates.This presentation will be of particular interest to educators and program leaders interested in global exchanges, short-term study abroad, and international collaborative learning. By connecting student mobility, project-based learning, and open educational resource development, the project demonstrates how global partnerships can create meaningful learning experiences while contributing openly licensed teaching materials that support educators navigating generative AI in classrooms worldwide.

Speakers

Rebecca J. Allen

Chair of Department of Computer Science and Mathematics, Mount St. Joseph University

Rebecca J. Allen, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Chair of Computer Science and Mathematics at Mount St. Joseph University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on artificial intelligence in education, participatory research, and open educational resources that support equitable... Read More →

Brook Batch

Asst. Professor, Mount St. Joseph University

Dr. Brook Batch is an Assistant Professor of Social Computing at Mount St. Joseph University. Her research explores the intersection of technology and education, with a focus on computing education, students’ development of research and writing practices, and the use of generative... Read More →

Tero Uusitalo

Senior Lecturer, Laurea University of Applied Sciences

MSc Tero Uusitalo is a Senior Lecturer in the Business Management Department at Laurea University of Applied Sciences. His research focuses on working life connected pedagogy, international research, development and innovation as well as the development and application of artificial... Read More →

Taru Tallgren

Senior Lecturer in Degree Programme in Business Management, Laurea University of Applied Sciences

Taru Tallgren is a Senior Lecturer in the Business Management Department at Laurea University of Applied Sciences. Her research focuses on working‑life‑connected and coaching‑based pedagogy, as well as pedagogical innovations that support flexible open learning models and equitable... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track (Re)Inventing our Shared Global Vision Together

3:00pm EDT

How Open Should Open Be? The AI Question for Archives, Repositories, and Open Scholarship

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 4:05pm EDT

3 Room I

ID: 34865

Libraries, archives, and mission-driven publishers have been key players in the global movement to increase open and equitable access to scholarship and to primary source materials. One key question that stewards of archival and general collections, and publishers of scholarly content, must wrestle with today is whether the principles behind making content open for individual readers and users can be applied to LLMs and generative AI tools. Concerns over loss of provenance, control, and lack of attribution bump up against a conviction that the high quality content stewarded by research libraries, archives, and scholarly publishers would enhance the quality of output produced by AI tools. As AI systems seek access to scholarly content for training data, long-standing assumptions and values about openness, stewardship, control and provenance are being challenged and reexamined. In this panel discussion, we bring together different perspectives on the core question of whether and how scholarly content should be open for AI use.Panelists:Dave Hansen, Executive Director of Authors Alliance, argues that control and gatekeeping are the wrong approach for libraries and archives, and instead asserts that “building the infrastructure that supports open, accountable research of every kind.” will be the most values-aligned and productive role for the library community.Alison Muddit, Chief Executive Officer of the Public Library of Science (PLOS), asserts that AI and open access are not naturally in tension; but/and that a mission-driven publisher like PLOS must take seriously the fact that AI intensifies the need for rigor, transparency, and signals of trustworthiness. She emphasizes the responsibility to ensure that the scholarly record functions as trustworthy infrastructure for both human and machine reasoning.Chris Bourg, Director of Libraries at MIT, is a global leader in open scholarship and an advocate for the public mission of knowledge institutions. At MIT, she is co-chair of the MIT Working Group on Scholarly Content and Generative AI, and a member of the MIT Committee on AI in Teaching, Learning, and Research Training. Panel facilitator: Mike Furlough, Executive Director of HathiTrust, works with dozens of member libraries to steward over 19 million digitized items from their collections, recognizing that memory institutions have a responsibility to make collections broadly accessible for all modes of research. However, emergent modes of research have brought new, more urgent demands for access to those collections, which in turn pose new questions regarding sustainable stewardship.

Speakers

Chris Bourg

Director of Libraries, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Chris Bourg is the Director of Libraries at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where she is also the founding director of the Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship (CREOS). Prior to assuming her role at MIT, Chris worked for 12 years in the Stanford University... Read More →

Mike Furlough

Executive Director, HathiTrust

Furlough leads an organization that includes over 90 academic and research institutions working to transform scholarship and research in the 21st century. The partnering institutions currently own and maintain a trusted digital repository of more than 11 million volumes, digitized... Read More →

Dave Hansen

Executive Director, Authors Alliance

David Hansen is the Executive Director of Authors Alliance, a nonprofit that aims to support authors who want to see their works widely distributed for the benefit of the public. Authors Alliance has led efforts to secure copyright exemptions for text data mining researchers and has... Read More →

Alison Muddit

Chief Executive Officer, Public Library of Science

Since June 2017 Alison has been Chief Executive Officer of the Public Library of Science (PLOS), an organization on a mission to drive open science forward with measurable, meaningful change in research publishing, policy, and practice. Prior to PLOS, Alison served as Executive Director... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 4:05pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Panel

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

3:35pm EDT

From Classrooms to Careers: Equipping Today’s Students with the Workforce Skills of Tomorrow Through OER

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT

2 Room M

ID: 33396

Across disciplines and institutions, instructors face growing challenges related to student engagement and academic integrity. These challenges are compounded by the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and rapidly shifting workforce demands. AI enables students to produce work that is not their own in seconds. Meanwhile, our workforce requires students to develop an ever-increasing set of skills and knowledge in order to obtain entry-level jobs. Traditional print textbooks and resources cannot keep up. Rather, these rapidly evolving technologies and workforce needs require students to learn from the most engaging, up-to-date, and relevant resources possible — like OER!Drawing on global data from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, this session highlights the skills and competencies increasingly valued by employers worldwide. We’ll share practical strategies for customizing OER to support skill development, respond to emerging technologies, and meet local and industry-specific needs, all while maintaining academic rigor and relevance.Attendees will move beyond theory to practical application. This session progresses from a high-level overview of workforce skill trends to the creation of customized, ready-to-use, openly licensed classroom materials. Participants will receive a template they can plug into the generative AI of their choosing (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) to create five ready-to-implement, skill-building activities rooted in the emerging skills and competencies noted in the Future of Jobs Report 2025. These activities are also designed to meet course objectives, incorporate OER content, and drive meaningful student engagement.This session showcases how AI can serve as a co-pilot in OER creation rather than a threat to academic integrity, offering a proactive stance on emerging technology. Ultimately, this gives instructors hands-on experience with the skills the labor market requires of their students (i.e., AI literacy). Additionally, by focusing on universal workforce skills, this session is accessible to educators at various stages of OER adoption and inclusive of diverse global disciplines, from agriculture to nursing to finance.Participants will leave this session being able to:Identify the key challenges college educators are facing, including maintaining student engagement, managing the impact of AI, and equipping students with ever-changing, in-demand career skills.Analyze emerging workforce skills and trends from the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report 2025 and apply them to specific academic disciplines.Explain how OER can be customized to support skill development while maintaining academic rigor.Apply a structured AI prompt template to generate 1) skills-based learning activities aligned with course objectives, open content, and industry-specific needs, and 2) aligned instructional support materials (e.g., grading rubrics, scaffolding for struggling students).Refine AI-generated activities to ensure they support individual course contexts, follow accessibility best practices, and meet activity design preferences.

Speakers

Lindsay Josephs

Marketing and Communications Lead, OpenStax, Rice University

Lindsay Josephs (she/her) is the higher education marketing and communications lead at OpenStax, the world’s largest publisher of OER textbooks. Lindsay creates and manages marketing campaigns for OpenStax's 60+ college textbooks and reading engagement tool, Assignable. She’s... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge

3:35pm EDT

From Vision to Impact: A Change Approach Toward Accessible Digital Educational Resources

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT

6 DR4

ID: 32293

At HAN University of Applied Sciences, we aim to create an ecosystem where students and educators have effortless access to high‑quality learning resources, open, semi‑open, and commercial, so they can assemble the optimal blend for their teaching and learning needs. At HAN, we believe that education should be accessible to everyone. In a time when it can sometimes be difficult to determine what is true and what is false, it is up to us to provide students with reliable information. Preferably through learning materials in various formats, so that students can choose the materials that suit them and enrich their studies. It’s also about using public resources wisely. Why keep reinventing the wheel? If we openly share and reuse the best materials, we gain in both quality and efficiency.Rather than positioning openness as a standalone objective, HAN has developed a institution‑wide approach that embeds Open Educational Resources (OER) into everyday practice. This approach is grounded in five pillars: support, professional development, recognition & rewards, change management, and technical infrastructure.1. Support. We provide hands‑on guidance to educators and teams as they search for, select, create, and share educational resources. We are setting up a Content Support Team (CST) to assist instructors and teams. This support covers educational, legal, aesthetic, and technical questions, allowing instructors to focus on the content itself. 2. Professional development. To strengthen OER literacy, we invest in targeted training programmes that help educators navigate copyright, Creative Commons licensing, accessibility requirements, and open pedagogical practices. To underpin this approach, we developed a competency profile for OER, grounded in existing frameworks and literature, as the foundation for our professionalisation programme. Modular workshops, e-learning, coaching trajectories, and learning communities build confidence and enable sustainable adoption. 3. Recognition and rewards. OER creation and sharing often remain invisible forms of academic labor. At HAN, we address this by recognizing contributions to open knowledge within workload models, team goals, and performance dialogues. Faculty who develop openly licensed materials, improve existing resources, or experiment with open pedagogy receive acknowledgment consistent with the broader recognition and rewards movement in higher education.4. Change management. To achieve openness on a larger scale, cultural, structural, and behavioral changes are necessary. That is why we are adopting a structured approach to change management to align leadership, foster faculty engagement, dispel misconceptions about open licenses, and establish a clear governance framework. Managers are coached in this process as part of the change initiative. The faculties develop their own implementation plans, ensuring that their chosen approach fits within the existing challenges within the faculty. 5. Technical infrastructure. Finally, a sustainable OER ecosystem depends on robust, architecture-aware technology. HAN strives to create an integrated environment in which faculty and students can discover, combine, and reuse materials from various repositories and platforms. We prioritize a single HAN learning materials repository where all learning materials are stored, from which quality checks can be performed, and from which they can then be easily shared openly.

Speakers

Marijn Post

Policy Advisor Learning with Technology, HAN University of Applied Sciences

Marijn Post is a leading expert in OER with extensive experience in digital learning and open education policy. In 2022 she won the national (SURF) Award for her work in the field of OER. She developed strategies for recognizing and rewarding OER contributions, but also developed... Read More →

Marja Versantvoort

Projectmanager HAN approach Digital Educational Resources, HAN University of Applied Sciences

Master’s in EducationIn 2016, Marja led a five-year national flagship project. This was a collaboration among 17 Dutch bachelor’s programs in Nursing, aimed at creating a community centered on the open sharing and collaborative development of educational resources. Following that... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Hacking the Open Ecosystem and Praxis for the Public Good

4:20pm EDT

Practicing Rebellion: Strategies to Sustain Open Education Leadership

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 5:25pm EDT

3 Room I

ID: 33975

The Rebus Luminary Fellowship for Education Leaders brought together fifteen postsecondary leaders across Canada and the United States for a three-month program dedicated to collective learning and renewal. Together in the winter and spring of 2026, we witnessed transformation in one another and ourselves through three online synchronous sessions and a three-day in-person summit. Our inquiry focused on individual and collective liberation. We developed an honest assessment of disparity in higher education, drawing on real-time pressures in our workplaces to track and examine the distribution of power at the systems-level. Rebus Luminary Fellows serve in multiple leadership roles within education institutions and organizations, ranging from directors to program leads to design specialists. Our community offers valuable perspectives rooted in our own leadership needs and educational contexts. We also dedicated time for inner work, personal reflection, and discussion, fueling visions of possible futures.In this hybrid panel, Rebus Luminary Fellows speak candidly about the challenges of leading open education initiatives, including isolation, burnout, and overwork. We also detail the newly acquired liberatory strategies that continue to make a difference for us in our daily work. In particular, the panel invites participants to consider the miracle of shifting perspective, deep values alignment, and moving from extractive to generative practices. Panelists will examine how these new practices, which started out as suggestions and flashes of curiosity, contribute to restorative, playful, and inventive leadership. Panelists will also discuss realistic methods for sustaining a cross-regional community of practice following the formal completion of a program. Fellows remain committed to nurturing our relationships and continued shared growth, but navigate active schedules and lead multiple projects. To this end, we share innovative ways to nourish and protect meaningful connection across the distance. We invite participants to replicate and experiment with examples of our asynchronous and synchronous engagement for ongoing interaction in your own communities. This session offers both solidarity and strategy. Methods for inclusive hybrid interaction include: open-ended Menti questions and polls to gauge participant priorities and special interests in leadership and collective transformation; a shared online document for real-time note-taking to ensure participation is open and equitable for online participants; and voicing the Meeting Chat comments aloud at regular intervals to ensure multiple means of access to the contributions of online participants. Come away with concrete practices for sustaining yourself and your communities, as well as affirmation that we are not alone in this work.

Speakers

Christina Hendricks

Professor of Teaching and Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology., University of British Columbia Vancouver

Christina Hendricks is a Professor of Teaching in philosophy at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, where she also serves as the Academic Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology. She has been an open education practitioner, advocate, and researchers... Read More →

Christine Rickabaugh

Open Education Librarian, University of Arkansas Libraries

Christine Rickabaugh is a former early childhood educator who traded crayons and glitter for Pressbooks and Creative Commons licenses — and hasn't looked back. Now the Open Education Librarian at the University of Arkansas Libraries, she leads the university's OER program, chairs... Read More →

Joan Giovannini

Manager of Faculty Development with Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS), University of Massachusetts Amherst

Joan Giovannini is Manager of Faculty Development with Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS) at University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she leads institution‑wide initiatives that support evidence‑based, and technology-enhanced teaching and learning. Joan designs... Read More →

Allison Buckley

Program Specialist, Southern Regional Education Board

Allison Buckley manages and supports the work of open educational resources and the Education Technology Cooperative, where she aids in increasing open educational resources awareness at the local and national levels. She joined SREB’s postsecondary education team in 2024 as a... Read More →

Ginelle Baskin

Assistant Professor and Open Education Librarian, Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU)

Ginelle Baskin is the Open Education Librarian at Middle Tennessee State University, where she leads campus initiatives to advance textbook affordability and the adoption of open educational resources (OER). She works closely with faculty, departments, and campus partners to support... Read More →

Veronica Vold

Education Consultant, Equinox Learning Design, LLC

Veronica Vold, PhD, created Equinox Learning Design, LLC to champion equity in higher education. With Open Oregon Educational Resources, she led an instructional design team and created statewide initiatives for accessibility and design justice. As an education consultant, she provides... Read More →

Brandon Carson

Sessional Instructor and Research Associate, Ontario Tech University

Brandon Carson is an open education scholar-practitioner whose work sits at the intersection of teaching and learning, educational technology, and higher education change. With more than 17 years of experience in the post-secondary sector, Brandon has supported initiatives related... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 5:25pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Panel

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track Catalyzing Human Connection Creativity and Curiosity to Thrive

4:55pm EDT

How Open Is a University? A Framework for Comparison

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT

5 DR3

ID: 34812

In 2024, the State Distance University of Costa Rica added the word “open” to its institutional description, a change that carries numerous implications that are not always clear to those both inside and outside the institution.At the end of that year, we have the incredible opportunity to be part of a publication called the Handbook of Open Universities Around the World—the only university in Central America to participate—and this experience allows us to analyze just how open the UNED of Costa Rica really is.Furthermore, this Handbook “provides rich analytical perspectives on the status and challenges of single-mode distance learning universities as an educational phenomenon while unpacking the premise of ‘openness’ itself.” (Mishra, Sanjaya & Panda, Santosh, 2025).Analyzing how openness manifests itself across 47 universities worldwide from various fields and perspectives provides us with numerous experiences, best practices, methodologies, and procedures that will ultimately allow us to improve our open practices in areas as diverse as: “business models and finances, operations, instructional systems, enrollment patterns, learner support, quality assurance, professional development, and others.” (Mishra, Sanjaya & Panda, Santosh, 2025).This is why we wish to share UNED’s experience in analyzing its openness within the framework proposed by the editors.

Speakers

Diana Hernández Montoya

Coordinator of the Fabrication Laboratory and OER Hub, Universidad Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica

Diana is a teacher focused on human talent, innovation, and technology. Currently works doing research and is the coordinator of the Fabrication Laboratory (Fab Lab) of the Universidad Estatal a Distancia. She has degrees in preschool and primary education, educational technology... Read More →

Ana María Sandoval Poveda

Member of the Fabrication Laboratory and OER Hub, Universidad Estatal a Distancia de Costa Rica

Mathematician, educator, editor, and makerAna María is an academic producer and researcher at the Kä Träre Fabrication Laboratory. She received her professional training at the University of Costa Rica (UCR), in the School of Teacher Education (Faculty of Education) and the School... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track (Re)Inventing our Shared Global Vision Together

4:55pm EDT

OER: The Twelfth High Impact Practice

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT

7 DR5

ID: 33896

At the culmination of a two-year, multi-institutional study that included almost 700,000 student records for analysis, AAC&U has added OER to its list of High Impact Practices (HIPs). HIPs are well-established practices that lead to positive student outcomes, namely for students historically underserved in higher education. It is our hope that in naming OER as a HIP, institutional leaders will pay attention to the positive impacts OER can bring to their campuses and organize to institutionalize OER in new and exciting ways. We seek to advance movement on UN Sustainability Goal 4: Quality Education to ensure all learners have access to quality learning materials.In this presentation, we will summarize the key findings of our study, focusing on course withdrawal rates, course grades, and time to completion. We found that context matters very much in predicting the rate of withdrawal in courses with OER, but in most cases, withdrawal rates were lower in courses that used OER, especially at doctoral institutions, and we note key differences in withdrawal rates when OER are merely adopted versus revised, remixed, or created. Most notably, in regards to course grades, the number of A’s increased in every context where OER were used versus not. We also noted decreases in the time to credential, especially at community colleges for students that took more than four years to finish their credential–for students that took 6 or more OER courses during their course of study, they finished their credentials on average almost a year faster than those that took zero OER courses. Additionally we will highlight findings from our instructor survey, representing the voices of over 200 individual instructors that transitioned to OER over the course of the study period. The survey captured their motivations and experiences in implementation, as well as their perceptions on how well their OER implementation went based on those motivations and support structures. We also examined how teaching practices changed after using OER.We will also provide recommendations for leveraging OER as a HIP on your campuses to advance OER initiatives and programs as an equity strategy to help all students, but especially those that have been historically underserved by higher education. AAC&U as an organization advocates to democratize higher education as a public good, and the addition of OER to the current list of HIPs is a strategic choice to support OER in higher education as not only an affordability strategy for students, but to help students persist and succeed in their education.

Speakers

C. Edward Watson

Vice President for Digital Innovation, American Association of Colleges & Universities

Dr. C. Edward Watson is the Vice President for Digital Innovation. He provides leadership for the association’s national and state-level advocacy to advance quality in undergraduate student learning. This includes programming and a scholarly agenda that focuses on general education... Read More →

Jessica Chittum

Assistant Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation and Director of VALUE Operations, American Association of Colleges & Universities

Jessica Chittum, PhD, is the Assistant Vice President for Curricular and Pedagogical Innovation and Director of VALUE Operations in the Office of Curricular, Pedagogical, and Digital Innovation (OCPDI) at AAC&U. In this role, Jessica engages in project management, research, professional... Read More →

Heather Miceli

Postdoctoral Research Fellow, American Association of Colleges & Universities

Heather Miceli is the Assistant Director of the Institute on Open Educational Resources and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at AAC&U in the Office of Curricular, Pedagogical, and Digital Innovation. Her current work at AAC&U is focused on OER adoption as an equity strategy for student... Read More →

Beth Perkins

Assistant Director for Research and Assessment, American Association of Colleges & Universities

Beth Perkins, PhD, is the Assistant Director for Research and Assessment in the Office of Curricular, Pedagogical, and Digital Innovation at AAC&U. She provides methodological, analytical, logistical, and implementation support to the AAC&U VALUE Scoring Collaborative. In addition... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Presentation

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track (Re)Inventing our Shared Global Vision Together

5:30pm EDT

California to the World: Co-Creating an Open Educational Equity Toolkit for Global Use

Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT

3 Room I

ID: 33124

In 2024, OEG recognized the Open for Antiracism Program as an outstanding program for inclusive excellence. In moving OFAR beyond its base in California, what does it look like when open education for equity moves to other US and global contexts? This panel presents the Open for Antiracism (OFAR) Toolkit—a collaborative, openly licensed resource rooted in five years of program data from the California Community College system—as a living prototype for how the open education community can collectively advance UNESCO Sustainable Development Goal 4: inclusive and equitable quality education for all.OFAR began as professional development to help educators examine the relationship between OER, open pedagogy, and educational equity. The OFAR Toolkit extends that work into a freely adaptable Canvas Commons course to assist educators, institutions, and administrators in adapting our research-backed model for their own communities and contexts. The Toolkit is designed to resist one-size-fits-all definitions of equity—because equity looks different depending on the place, institution, and individual. This session features an OFAR coach who has guided educators through the program's community-of-practice model; two adapters localizing OFAR for distinct contexts; and the project's leadership team. Together, panelists will share what OFAR has accomplished, what it cannot accomplish alone, and how open collaboration is reinventing its possibilities via the Toolkit.Session StructureThe panel has four segments: (1) the project leadership introduces OFAR's five-year research base, outcomes data, and core design principles; (2) Our lead coach discusses the community-of-learners model at the program's core: how cohort structures, mentorship, and sustained professional relationships create conditions for genuine pedagogical transformation—and what requires local roots to replicate; (3) Two adapters share how they are localizing the Toolkit for their own educational communities: what they changed, what they kept, and what tensions arose between the Toolkit's assumptions and their own contexts. They speak directly to the SDG 4 challenge of building equity frameworks across borders without imposing them; and (4) The session closes with structured audience dialogue. Attendees are invited to reflect: What terms, practices, or structures would you change? What does equity-centered open pedagogy look like where you are? What can we build together that none of us can build alone? This segment draws on the Toolkit's "Room to Grow" framework, modeling the reflective and collaborative spirit the resource is designed to cultivate.

Speakers

James Glapa-Grossklag

Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources and Distance Learning; and Technical Assistance Provider, College of the Canyons; and ZTC Grant Program California Community College Chancellor’s Office

James Glapa-Grossklag is Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources, and Distance Learning at College of the Canyons (USA). He serves as Technical Assistance Provider for the California Community Colleges' Zero Textbook Cost Degree Program, the largest-ever public investment... Read More →

Cindy Domaika

Academic Engagement Partner, Nicolet College, WI

Cindy Domaika is a long-time higher-education professional at Nicolet College who specializes in open educational resources (OER), socially-just academics, and service-learning. Her work centers on expanding affordable and equitable access to education through zero-textbook-cost initiatives... Read More →

Joy Shoemate

Director of Online Education, College of Canyons

Joy Shoemate is the Director of Online Education at College of the Canyons where she supports instructors’ successful integration of technology into teaching and learning to promote student success, persistence and completion in distance education courses. She also oversees the... Read More →

Laura Dunn

Director, Open for Antiracism

aura Malia Dunn, Ph.D. is a scholar of Pacific-Asian religions, contemplative practice, and educational equity. She is the Co-Director of the Open for Antiracism Program (OFAR), a statewide professional development initiative for California Community Colleges, and faculty at the University... Read More →

Jamie Thomas

Lead Coach and Course Facilitator, Open for Antiracism

Dr. Jamie Thomas is OFAR Lead Coach and a Lecturer in Linguistics and TESOL at CSU Dominguez Hills. She holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics, with a focus on African languages, and she has been proud to support OFAR as a coach since 2021. In 2022, Jamie was recognized with the Distance... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Panel

Speaker Modality Hybrid
Track (Re)Inventing our Shared Global Vision Together

5:30pm EDT

EdTech, Open Values: Preparing Open Educators for AI, and the Next Big Thing

Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT

7 DR5

ID: 33918

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into education, educators face significant challenges in understanding how to effectively and ethically incorporate these tools into their teaching practices. Issues such as privacy, surveillance, intellectual property, plagiarism and policy gaps create uncertainty around AI use in the classroom. Additionally, educators lack structured guidance on how to align new integrations with the principles of open pedagogy, which emphasize student-centered learning, access to education, and public engagement. Without support, educators risk implementing emerging technologies in ways that may compromise educational equity, student autonomy, and ethical standards. But these are not new issues, and considering AI as if it were a unique challenge risks us thinking there must be a uniquely AI-focused solution. Instead, libraries and educators need a framework for understanding new and emerging educational technologies in a way that centers our values. Today it’s AI, but education has always been and will continue to be impacted by new and emerging technologies. Some (like with Wikipedia and the World Wide Web) will be empowering and useful, others (like Second Life or NFTs) will be distracting and disruptive. Many new technologies will be a mix of all of these pressures. In order to prepare librarians to understand the opportunities and challenges created by new technologies, and guide educators as they develop new practices and pedagogies, we have adapted our Open Pedagogy Incubator program to use AI as a case study to introduce a framework for evaluating new technologies. This framework equips librarians and educators with the tools needed to a) understand and evaluate the technical affordances and legal implications of these technologies, b) explore the new pedagogical opportunities created or foreclosed by these technologies, and c) build a plan for engaging with (or putting aside) new technologies in a way that centers open values of inclusion and student-centered impact in the classroom and for lifelong learning. With support from the IMLS and our state library we supported our first online cohort in the spring of 2026 and led a series of workshops across our state in the summer. These cohorts brought together educators from across the state, including academic librarians, community college educators, and public librarians. Together we developed and expanded a framework for open values in edtech and explored strategies for incorporating that framework into our communities of practice. This panel brings together participants to discuss their experiences, introduce the framework, and share lessons learned from this program.

Speakers

William Cross

Director, Open Knowledge Center, North Carolina State University

Will Cross is a medium-sized pile of diplomas in a trench coat. He serves as the Director of the Open Knowledge Center at N.C. State University, an instructor at UNC Chapel Hill, and a Senior Policy Fellow at American University's Washington College of Law. Will holds a law degree... Read More →

David Tully

Principal Librarian for Student Affordability, North Carolina State University Libraries

David is the Principal Librarian for Student Affordability at NC State University Libraries, focused on advancing student success by reducing the financial barriers to higher education. Through leadership in open education and strategic fundraising, he works to expand access to affordable... Read More →

Katya Mueller

Libraries Fellow, North Carolina State University Libraries

Katya Mueller (pronounced KA-tee-uh MAW-luhr) is a Libraries Fellow (2024-2027) at North Carolina State University Libraries. She works on the Libraries’ open education initiatives in supporting the use of OERs in coursework and designing programs that empower faculty to meaningfully... Read More →

Campbell Barnes

Graduate Research Assistant, North Carolina State University Libraries

Campbell Barnes is the Graduate Research Assistant for the Open Knowledge Center at NC State University Libraries, where she supports faculty and student success through open educational initiatives. She is a facilitator on the Open Pedagogy Pit Stop and Open Pedagogy Incubator programs... Read More →

Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

Panel