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Wednesday, October 7
 

8:45am EDT

Welcome to OEGlobal 2026 Conference
Wednesday October 7, 2026 8:45am - 9:00am EDT
Daily Welcome
Start the day with a brief conference welcome featuring important announcements, highlights, and an overview of the day's program.
Wednesday October 7, 2026 8:45am - 9:00am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  General

9:00am EDT

Keynote 1
Wednesday October 7, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Plenary Session
Conference-wide plenary featuring distinguished speakers and timely conversations on the future of open education. Speaker details will be announced soon.
Wednesday October 7, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  Plenary

10:30am EDT

Keynote 2
Wednesday October 7, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
Plenary Session
Conference-wide plenary featuring distinguished speakers and timely conversations on the future of open education. Speaker details will be announced soon.
Wednesday October 7, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  Plenary

11:50am EDT

Creatón STEM+: A Methodological Model for Teacher-Led, Territory-Based OER Co-Creation in Latin America
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33734

Across open education initiatives, a persistent challenge remains: while access to Open Educational Resources (OER) has expanded, there is still a lack of contextualized, culturally relevant content, particularly in basic education contexts. At the same time, teachers are often positioned as users or adapters of resources rather than as authors of open knowledge.The Creatón STEM+ methodological model addresses this gap by providing a structured Open Educational Practice that enables teachers to collaboratively design, prototype and publish OER grounded in local realities. Developed and implemented across Colombia, Chile and Uruguay, the model responds to the need for cross-regional approaches to open education that are rooted in the Global South and in school-level educational contexts. Its implementation across these contexts enabled the model to be tested and analysed in diverse educational settings.The model integrates three key components: (1) a preparatory phase focused on principles of open education, inclusion, the STEM+ educational approach and the ethical use of technologies in OER creation; (2) an intensive co-creation Creatón based on a pedagogically adapted Design Thinking process; and (3) a post-Creatón phase that supports validation, refinement and publication of OER. Central to the model is the positioning of teachers as creators of situated pedagogical knowledge, working collaboratively on real socio-educational challenges from their territories.Findings from the analysis of the implementation process reveal key dimensions that shape the functioning of the model. The analysis highlights the centrality of collaborative work, pedagogical mediation and situated reflection in co-creation processes, as well as the need to structure learning beyond the intensive co-creation phase. At the same time, results show shifts in teachers’ understanding of STEM+, inclusion and open education, together with a significant increase in the perceived legitimacy of OER as a professional practice. Taken together, these findings suggest that the Creatón STEM+ methodological model not only has the potential to support the production of contextually relevant OER, but also contributes to repositioning open educational practices within teachers’ professional identity and everyday pedagogical work.This presentation will examine the methodological architecture of the Creatón STEM+ model, its core pedagogical principles and its implementation across diverse educational contexts in Latin America. It will also discuss how cross-regional collaboration can strengthen the development of contextualized open content and contribute to more equitable and sustainable open education ecosystems.The Creatón model offers a transferable framework for moving open education beyond access toward collective, teacher-led knowledge production in basic education, particularly in contexts where contextual relevance, inclusion and teacher agency are critical
Speakers
avatar for Nina Ibaceta Guerra

Nina Ibaceta Guerra

Researcher & Project Coordinator, CIDSTEM Institute at Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Nina Ibaceta Guerra is a biologist and science educator with a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chile. She is a researcher and project coordinator at the Center for Research in Science Education and STEM Education (CIDSTEM) at the Pontificia Universidad... Read More →
avatar for Anna Vater

Anna Vater

Senior Project Manager, Siemens Stiftung
Anna Vater holds a B.A. in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau and an M.A. in Intercultural Cooperation and Communication from Munich University of Applied Sciences. She works as a Senior Project Manager at Siemens Stiftung, focusing on international... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Empowering People with Disabilities About Open Educational Resources- Bridging the Educational Gaps with Inclusive, Accessible and Innovative Practices
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 30909

An estimated 1.3 billion people in the world experience some form of disability (WHO 2023). People with disabilities in many parts of the world face considerable institutional and attitudinal barriers to access education, health care, and employment, which means they are at a higher risk of poverty, inequalities, and discrimination (Asian Development Bank 2022; Department for International Development 2000; 2022; United Nations 2018; 2024; WHO, 2022; 2023).  Education is a fundamental right for everyone, but individuals with disabilities face significant challenges in accessing education. The crushing reality of higher expenses of learning resources, lack of availability of inclusive and accessible resources, financial barriers, educational inequality and discrimination, and above all, limited networking opportunities deters individuals with disabilities from becoming active contributors of knowledge.  The development of Open Educational Resources (OER) accelerates innovation, but not necessarily for individuals with disabilities. The available open platforms and resources are scarce and do not meet the academic needs of individuals with diverse disabilities. Furthermore, it is assumed that individuals with disabilities lack participation in developing academic and non-academic open resources due to a lack of OER awareness and limited collaborative opportunities with individuals without disabilities. Previous studies are unavailable that highlight the academic and technological challenges faced by individuals with and without disabilities and how OER can support and enhance their creativity. As a neurodivergent open education expert, I hold that unless we create opportunities for individuals with and without disabilities to collaborate, true inclusion, innovation, and equitable knowledge creation will remain unattainable.This case study on empowerment and collaboration among people with and without disabilities aims to highlight their educational and technological challenges, provide them with online training on OER, and, as an outcome, develop a collective book on OER. A total of 10 individuals with neurodivergent, sensory, and physical disabilities, mainly from Asia and Europe, were selected. These participants were either working or studying at the university level. Another group of participants included 10 professors and academics. All participants were selected via the Global Forum for Teacher Educators—a virtual forum of teachers, educators, and individuals from over 75 countries. Initially, a form was circulated and individuals who showed interest were contacted. The project started in February 2025 and ended in January 2026. In the first phase, online panel discussions were organized to identify the educational and technological challenges faced by individuals with and without disabilities. In the next phase, eight hours of accessible synchronous and asynchronous training on OER were offered, incorporating hands-on collaborative activities. As a final output, interested participants wrote chapters on diverse topics, which were then published as OER in accessible formats. Collaboration in the project was ensured through inclusive team formation, joint writing activities, peer feedback, shared online platforms, and continuous dialogue between participants with and without disabilities, enabling meaningful co-creation of knowledge. At the end of the project, a focus group discussion was organized, during which participants highlighted that OER had enhanced their creativity and enabled them to share their ideas and viewpoints with a global audience. It helped develop understanding, empathy, creativity, and awareness of each other's learning needs. It also encouraged them to continue their creative work beyond the book project by using and producing OER on topics of their interest with others. This project highlights the significance of empowering people with and without disabilities about OER and promoting inclusive knowledge creation through collaboration and shared learning. By catalyzing human connection and creativity, it demonstrates how accessible open education initiatives can bring diverse voices together to co-create knowledge and inspire innovative ideas that benefit global learning communities.
Speakers
avatar for Munir Moosa Sewani

Munir Moosa Sewani

Assistant Professor of Education and Open Education Trainer, Department of Education, Sindh Madressatul Islam University
Dr. Munir is a neurodivergent teacher, independent researcher, open education expert, disability advocate, and educational theorist. He holds a PhD in Education and currently works as an Assistant Professor of Education. He is also the volunteer Founder and Director of the Global... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Procedural Planning Decision-Making in Open Education Practices
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 31121

Open Educational Resources (OER) have gained widespread recognition as a strategy to reduce the financial burden of learning materials and expand access to education. Over the past decade, institutions around the world have increasingly adopted open resources to improve affordability and remove barriers to learning. As the open education movement continues to evolve, the conversation is shifting beyond the adoption of OER toward the broader implementation of Open Education Practices (OEP). While the benefits of OER are well documented—particularly in relation to cost savings and student access—less attention has been given to the institutional planning processes and leadership decisions that make these initiatives sustainable over time.This session examines how procedural planning and institutional decision-making shape the development and growth of open education initiatives. Rather than focusing solely on outcomes such as cost savings or adoption rates, the presentation highlights the strategic planning frameworks, collaborative partnerships, and implementation strategies that support long-term OEP adoption. Institutional leaders, librarians, instructional designers, and faculty members often play interconnected roles in advancing open initiatives, and their collaboration is essential to building sustainable ecosystems that support open teaching and learning.Using the experience of Kean University as a case study, this session will illustrate how institutional leadership, libraries, faculty partners, and student success teams worked together to expand open education initiatives across the institution. In 2019, only seven course sections used materials that did not require students to purchase textbooks. By Fall 2024, approximately 33% of course sections no longer required students to purchase textbooks. This significant growth was the result of intentional planning, cross-campus collaboration, faculty development programs, and the creation of institutional infrastructure such as repository systems and technological platforms that support open scholarship and knowledge sharing.The session will also discuss key implementation considerations that institutions must address when expanding OEP. These include building faculty capacity through professional development, strengthening copyright and licensing literacy, and establishing policies that address student consent and privacy when learner-generated content is shared publicly. Participants will gain practical insights into how institutions can align open education initiatives with broader strategic priorities such as affordability, student success, equity, and academic innovation.Through discussion and reflection, attendees will explore how intentional planning, institutional leadership, and collaborative partnerships can support the long-term sustainability and impact of Open Education Practices.
Speakers
avatar for Muhammad Hassan

Muhammad Hassan

Associate Vice President and Chief Librarian, Kean University
Dr. Muhammad Hassan is Associate Vice President and Chief Librarian at Kean University, where he leads the Nancy Thompson Learning Commons. A scholar-practitioner in educational leadership, his work centers on advancing equity, academic excellence, and social mobility through integrated... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

You Opened the Knowledge. The Institution Didn’t Open with It
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33478

The open education movement has pulled off something remarkable. Over the past two decades, practitioners, advocates, and policymakers have steadily chipped away at barriers to knowledge. Open courseware, open textbooks, open pedagogy, and flexible licensing have made high quality learning materials available at a scale that would have been hard to imagine a generation ago. The supply side question, how do we make knowledge available, has largely been answered.The demand side has not.Across education systems, institutions that now have access to these resources are still producing the same outcomes they were before. The materials changed. The institutions did not. In the United States, the federal government poured $190 billion into pandemic recovery between 2020 and 2024, flooding schools with resources at an unprecedented scale. The 2024 NAEP results showed no real improvement. Forty percent of fourth graders scored below basic in reading. For economically disadvantaged students, it was over fifty percent. The resources showed up. The outcomes stayed the same.This session makes a simple argument. The gap between access and impact is not mainly about resource quality, discoverability, or even adoption support, though all of those matter. It is about institutional behavior. Schools and systems are not neutral pipelines that turn inputs into outcomes. They are organizations with habits, incentives, and self-protective routines. New resources, including open ones, get absorbed into those routines long before they reach students. They get used for compliance, reporting, initiative churn, or narrative maintenance. The system consumes the resource. The student experience does not change.In my own practitioner research, I call this load bearing dysfunction. These are problems that survive every attempt to fix them because they are quietly doing something the system depends on. When a school’s inability to implement a new resource helps preserve existing roles, workflows, or power structures, that “failure” is not really a failure. It is a feature.The open education field has invested deeply in creating and spreading resources. It has invested far less in understanding the systems those resources land in. This session introduces a diagnostic framework drawn from fifteen years working inside schools and districts, along with insights from organizational theory and systems thinking. It is built around a different starting question. Not how do we get this resource into the system, but what is the system protecting that will keep this resource from ever reaching students?This is not an argument against open education. It is an argument for widening its theory of change. Opening access is necessary, but it is not enough. If the institution stays closed, access does not translate into impact. The next phase of this work is not just better content. It is learning how to see and work with the systems themselves.
Speakers
avatar for Calvin Johnson

Calvin Johnson

Leadership Consultant, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education / Statewide System of Support
Calvin Johnson has spent fifteen years building and studying the internal architecture of schools and school systems. As Head of School at a charter school in Springfield, Massachusetts, he led a turnaround that removed three state-imposed conditions, produced grade-level literacy... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

AI and the Future of Openness: Insights from the DOERS AI+OER Project
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
ID: 34021

This panel session introduces the DOERS AI+OER Case Studies Project, a collaborative, multi-institutional initiative exploring how artificial intelligence is intersecting with open educational resources (OER) and shaping the future of openness. As AI tools continue to impact teaching, learning, and knowledge production, open education faces both new opportunities and urgent questions: How do we ensure that AI-enabled practices align with the values of openness and student success? What does it mean to create, adapt, and share knowledge in an era of generative systems? And how can open education practitioners lead in defining ethical, transparent, and sustainable approaches to using AI in education?The DOERS Collaborative launched the AI+OER Case Studies Project to document and examine real-world implementations at the intersection of AI and open education. Drawing on contributions from a wide range of institutional contexts and disciplines, the project centers practice-based case studies that explore how educators, researchers, and program leaders are integrating AI into open education workflows, pedagogies, and infrastructures.This session frames AI not simply as a tool, but as an opportunity for rethinking openness itself. Author/Panelists will present selected case studies that highlight diverse applications, such as using AI to support OER creation and adaptation, enhancing accessibility through automated tools, enabling new forms of student engagement and co-creation, and leveraging AI for data-informed decision-making. At the same time, the session will critically examine tensions that emerge at this intersection, including questions of authorship, intellectual property, bias, transparency, and the environmental and labor implications of AI systems.A central focus of the session is how open education values can inform the development and use of AI in ways that prioritize public good. Panelists will discuss how openness can serve as both a framework and a set of practices for guiding AI integration—emphasizing transparency in processes, openness in licensing and sharing, and collaboration across roles and institutions. They will also explore how case study methodology enables the field to move beyond abstract debates, offering grounded, contextualized insights that can inform both local practice and broader policy conversations.Each contributor will share practical insights from their work, including how they designed their projects, navigated ethical and institutional considerations, and assessed impact. The session will highlight patterns emerging across cases, as well as areas of divergence that point to the complexity of implementing AI in open education contexts.Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of how AI is currently being used within open education, along with concrete examples and critical questions to inform their own work. The session will conclude with a facilitated discussion, inviting participants to reflect on how they can engage with AI in ways that not only extend the reach of open education, but also uphold and evolve its core principles.
Speakers
avatar for Kathy Essmiller

Kathy Essmiller

Coordinator, OpenOKState, Oklahoma State University
Kathy is an open education leader, librarian, and educator dedicated to advancing access to education and community through the adoption and creation of open educational resources (OER). As the Coordinator of OpenOKState at Oklahoma State University, Kathy collaborates with faculty... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

From Frameworks to Futures: Rethinking OER Quality as a Shared Practice
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
ID: 33068

As open educational resources (OER) continue to expand across regions, systems, and cultures, critical questions remain: Who defines quality? How do we build trust in OER without constraining openness, diversity, and innovation?Efforts to scale OER often surface tensions between the need for shared standards and the reality of local context. What does “quality” mean across disciplines, cultures, and learning environments? And how can we move beyond fragmented or implicit definitions toward a more transparent, participatory, and adaptable global vision of OER quality?This panel invites participants into that conversation through the lens of Open 4 Peer Review, a collaborative initiative across 13 partners that developed six peer-review rubrics designed to support formative, feedback-centered approaches to OER quality. Addressing areas such as accessibility, copyright, copyediting, disciplinary appropriateness, eLearning, and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), these rubrics are intentionally designed not to score, rank, or gatekeep OER. Instead, they aim to make quality more visible, discussable, and improvable through structured peer feedback.Panelists include project leads from multiple partnering institutions and one institutional representative from outside the project who is actively considering how—and whether—to adopt these tools. Together, they will explore both the promise and the complexity of shared frameworks: How can we articulate standards of quality without enforcing uniformity? How do we ensure that peer review empowers educators rather than constrains them? And what does it take to build trust in OER across systems that differ in priorities, resources, and cultural context?Rather than positioning quality as a fixed benchmark, this session reframes it as a collective, evolving practice—one that emerges through dialogue, reflection, and continuous improvement. Participants will be invited to engage with guiding questions, share perspectives from their own contexts, and consider how peer review might function as a bridge between global alignment and local autonomy.At a time when open education is both expanding and being reimagined, this session challenges us to think differently: not about how to standardize OER quality, but how to co-create it. By bringing together multiple perspectives, the panel aims to spark a broader conversation about how we can design processes, tools, and communities that support trustworthy, inclusive, and context-responsive OER ecosystems worldwide.The goal of the session is to share the rubrics with a global audience. Session participants will be invited to review and provide feedback on these rubrics.  The hope of the session is that participants will consider adopting or adapting an OER quality framework.
Speakers
avatar for Wayde Oshiro

Wayde Oshiro

Head Librarian, Leeward Community College
Wayde Oshiro is a professor and library director at Leeward Community College, Hawaiʻi, with over two decades of experience in academic librarianship. Since 2015, he has co-led the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges System's OER initiative across seven campuses. He co-chairs... Read More →
avatar for Andrea Scott

Andrea Scott

Open Educational Resources Office of Learning Advancement, Salt Lake Community College
Andrea Scott is Director of Open Educational Resources in the Office of Learning Advancement and Co‑Chair of the Open SLCC Advisory Committee at Salt Lake Community College. Active in Open Education since 2013, she helped establish Open SLCC and now oversees program development... Read More →
avatar for Danielle Leek

Danielle Leek

Project Director, Scottsdale Community College
Danielle Leek, PhD, is an instructor at Johns Hopkins University. She is also Project Director for the federally funded Open 4Peer Review initiative at Maricopa Community Colleges and Founder and Principal at Danielle Leek Consulting.
avatar for Gracie McDonough

Gracie McDonough

Reference/Instruction/OER Librarian, College of Southern Nevada
Gracie McDonough serves as an Instruction and Reference Librarian at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Since joining CSN, she has been a dedicated advocate for Open Educational Resources (OER), contributing to a significant increase in institutional OER adoption from less... Read More →
DB

Debbie Baker

OER Coordinator, Instructional designer, Maricopa Community College District
Dr. Debbie Baker serves as the open educational resources coordinator and an instructional designer for the Maricopa Community Colleges (MCCCD), and has been an educator for almost 30 years. Her work has centered on reshaping traditional classroom dynamics by involving students in... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

12:55pm EDT

Lunch
Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:55pm - 1:40pm EDT
Lunch Break
Take a break to enjoy lunch, connect with colleagues, and continue conversations with fellow conference participants before the afternoon sessions begin.
Wednesday October 7, 2026 12:55pm - 1:40pm EDT
9 7th Floor Lobby MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  General

1:40pm EDT

Charting the Course: A National Research Agenda for Open Education
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33577

The open education field has grown significantly over the past two decades, yet critical gaps in evidence remain and the research landscape is fragmented. Studies are often siloed, datasets go untapped, and parallel efforts rarely connect. Without a coordinated national research strategy, the field risks repeating itself rather than building the cumulative, scalable knowledge base that policymakers, funders, and practitioners urgently need.   In 2025, the National Consortium for Open Educational Resources (NCOER), a collaboration among the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE), supported by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, launched a national initiative to address this challenge. The result is a comprehensive Open Education and OER Research Agenda, developed through an extensive mixed-methods consultation process involving a national survey of 126 participants and in-depth interviews with 15 researchers, faculty, librarians, system leaders, and policy stakeholders across the United States and Canada.   This session will present the agenda's findings and invite the global open education community to engage with its six national research priorities:   •       Student Outcomes and Experiences — moving beyond affordability metrics toward deeper understanding of how students learn, engage, and persist in open environments; •       Long-Term Sustainability and Institutional Support — understanding how OER programs evolve, persist, and adapt over time, including funding models, governance, and recognition systems; •       Intersection of Open Education and Artificial Intelligence — examining how AI reshapes OER creation, pedagogy, student behavior, and the broader knowledge ecosystem; •       Evolution of Cost-Savings and Affordability Research — updating cost analyses and expanding research on student decision-making and the long-term academic impacts of affordability; •       Discipline-Specific Approaches, Needs, and Practices — identifying how disciplinary cultures and curricular structures influence OER adoption and open pedagogy; and •       Research Collaboration and Shared Infrastructure — addressing fragmentation by building coordinated research systems, aligning priorities across regions, and supporting shared data and cross-institutional inquiry.   Presenters will highlight key research gaps, share findings from the national consultation process, and discuss how the agenda can inform policy, practice, and investment in open education. Presenters will prioritize audience connections to broader themes of research in their context, with an emphasis on global research connections to the above themes. Participants will have the opportunity to identify priority research questions, consider how the agenda can shape their own work and partnerships, and reflect on how a shared research infrastructure might advance the global open education movement. 
Speakers
avatar for Kate Baca

Kate Baca

Policy Analyst, Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education
Kate Baca is a Policy Analyst with The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Her work spans research and supporting Open Educational Resources and student success in post-secondary across the WICHE region. In her work at WICHE, she collaborates with a community of OER... Read More →
avatar for Amanda Coolidge

Amanda Coolidge

VP, Strategic Engagement and Growth, Pressbooks
Amanda Coolidge is VP of Strategic Engagement and Growth at Pressbooks, where she leads marketing, sales, and customer success and serves as product manager for the company's microcredential platform. She is the founder of Coolidge Collaborative and former Executive Director of BCcampus... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Congratulations Open Education! So What Will You Do After Graduation?
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33754

Imagine open education as a wonderful being that we’ve brought into the world, guided and worried about and celebrated as it’s grown up. What might be possible if open education graduates from school and now makes its way into the wider world? How does it carry forward and build upon the lessons learned, inspirations gained, relationships grown through its nurturing time in school?Through many years of innovations, explorations, and collaborative commitments, the open education movement has established a solid footing in school-based learning, especially as a means to increase educational equity through student cost savings and more inclusive pedagogies. It’s clearly earned a spot on the Honor Roll.Alongside this foundation in academic settings, we can glimpse at dramatically expanded impact for open education in the more fluid and expansive realms of lifelong learning. What we’ve learned about creating, adapting, and using open educational resources can be enabling values for more effective, engaging and inclusive lifelong learning that reaches beyond the traditional confines of schools.In this session, we’ll look across the threshold beyond academic settings, into where open education is already meeting people where they are in informal knowledge spaces. We’ll consider how lifelong learning is evolving in social media and YouTube, Wikipedia, journalism, and community organizations.  We’ll highlight some of the promising ways that open education is already showing up here through the experiences of MIT OpenCourseWare and other open knowledge programs, and take a comparative look at the methods and metrics for operating in academic vs non-academic learning settings. A concluding generative discussion will invite participants to explore together how the open education community might engage more broadly in informal lifelong learning with curiosity and intention.
Speakers
avatar for Curt Newton

Curt Newton

Director, MIT OpenCourseWare, MIT Open Learning
Curt Newton leads MIT OpenCourseWare in supporting millions of global learners and educators every year with freely shared materials from over 2,500 MIT courses. He joined OpenCourseWare in 2004, shortly after its launch, captivated by the promise of open education, and worked as... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Global South Knowledge in Northern Systems: Rethinking Teacher Integration Through Open Educational Practices
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 31224

Across many education systems in the Global North, internationally trained teachers are increasingly recruited to address persistent teacher shortages and respond to growing linguistic and cultural diversity in classrooms. However, the professional integration of these educators often unfolds within institutional frameworks that implicitly privilege Northern epistemologies, pedagogical traditions, and professional norms. As a result, the knowledge and pedagogical expertise developed in the Global South frequently remain undervalued or invisible within host education systems.This presentation examines how open educational practices (OEP) can provide a transformative framework for rethinking the integration of internationally trained teachers while promoting knowledge as a global public good. Drawing on doctoral research conducted in Ontario’s French-language and French immersion school systems in Canada, this study focuses particularly on educators trained in Cameroon who are navigating professional entry and adaptation within Canadian schools.Using a blended ethnographic and critical autoethnographic methodology, the research explores how internationally trained teachers negotiate professional identity, knowledge legitimacy, and pedagogical adaptation as they transition between educational systems. The findings highlight persistent epistemic asymmetries that shape teacher integration processes, where internationally trained educators are frequently expected to adapt to dominant institutional models while their own professional knowledge remains under-recognized.The presentation argues that open educational practices—including open educational resources (OER), collaborative knowledge-sharing networks, and transnational professional learning communities—can help challenge these asymmetries by enabling more equitable forms of knowledge circulation between the Global South and Global North. Through open platforms and collaborative knowledge ecosystems, internationally trained educators can participate not only as recipients of professional development but also as contributors to global pedagogical knowledge.By situating teacher integration within broader open knowledge ecosystems, this session proposes a shift away from assimilation-based models toward a model of reciprocal epistemic exchange, in which diverse pedagogical traditions are recognized as valuable sources of educational innovation.Ultimately, the presentation highlights how open educational practices can support migrant educators, democratize knowledge production, and foster more inclusive and globally connected education systems.
Speakers
EK

Eric Keunne

PhD Candidate & School Principal (K-12), York University (Glendon Campus), Toronto, Canada
Eric Keunne is a PhD candidate in French Studies at York University whose research examines the professional integration of internationally trained teachers in Ontario’s French-language and French immersion school systems. His work focuses particularly on educators trained in Cameroon... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

OER and Knowledge Without a Market Share
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 30932

In the limited funding available for the creation of open access materials, both at institutional levels and through other means, the focus has been on return on investment, on courses with high enrollment or on general education courses that would be useful for multiple institutions. This approach has made sense as it speaks very clearly to the goal of OER to lower textbook costs on a significant scale for students. However, it does not take into consideration courses with topics that contribute rather to access of materials that students would not normally receive, rather than an aggregate amount of savings.  This session will consider this concept from the perspective of a medievalist. Those in my field have had an increasing problem with general medieval literature textbooks is that they are often unable – or unwilling – to keep up with the current issues in medieval studies, particularly those related to diversity, such as the relatively new approach to the global Middle Ages, and marginalized communities, such as people with disabilities. Yet, textbooks with the goal of rectifying this oversight tend to be singularly focused and do not necessarily include a broad range of sources, which makes them difficult to use as the primary book in especially a survey course. OER is particularly well-situated to remedy these issues because it does not rely on publishers who are concerned with market shares in terms of what they decide to produce, and it is flexible for multiple uses in a variety of pedagogical situations, even brief lessons. As an example, we will discuss the funding, creation, and publication of an open access textbook that serves as an introduction to medieval disability studies for undergraduates, in particular. There are very few resources for teaching medieval disability to undergraduate students because it is only now becoming a topic of consideration even at the graduate level. Thus, there is a dearth of organized textbooks that include everything needed. There is a Medieval Disability Sourcebook: Western Europe, but its aim is to provide primary sources, not serve as a textbook to the subject. This open access textbook on Medieval Disability introduces students both to the topic of disability in the Middle Ages as well as to the broader study of disability. There are introductions to the different types of sources that we can analyze, including literature, archaeology, material culture, art, etc. It focuses on physical as well as invisible disabilities, language and translation issues, social integration, treatments, and technologies, among other topics. In particular, it focuses on addressing popular misconceptions about historical disability. This open access textbook provides the missing resource that many in the field have been requesting. But yet it is a resource that is difficult to “sell” to traditional publishers because the field is itself small. This example allows us to consider the democratization of knowledge beyond the market share.
Speakers
avatar for Kisha Tracy

Kisha Tracy

Professor, English Studies, Fitchburg State University
Dr. Kisha G. Tracy is a Professor and Chair of English Studies and Chair of the General Education Program at Fitchburg State University. She received her Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Connecticut. In addition to several articles, her first book was published by... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Design, Build, Share: A Panel Workshop on Open Microcredential Content and Credential Metadata
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:45pm EDT
ID: 33581

As the shift toward skills-based learning accelerates, educators and institutions are increasingly called to design learning experiences that are not only aligned to workforce needs but also open, adaptable, and transparent. While open educational resources (OER) have expanded access to content, there is a growing need to support the development of open, skills-based microcredential content that can be reused, adapted, and recognized across learning and employment contexts. This interactive panel and workshop session invites participants to “come invent with us” by engaging directly in the process of authoring open microcredential content.Grounded in emerging practices at the intersection of open education, microcredentials, and Learning and Employment Records (LERs), this session will move beyond conceptual discussion into hands-on application. Participants will be introduced to key considerations in designing open, skills-based content, including alignment to validated skills, structuring for modularity and stackability, and embedding metadata to support transparency, interoperability, and credential portability (Credential Engine, 2024). Building on principles of OER-enabled pedagogy (Wiley & Hilton, 2018), the session emphasizes not only access to content, but the ability for educators and institutions to actively create, adapt, and share skills-aligned learning resources.A central component of the session will be guided, experiential engagement with the Pressbooks Microcredential Authoring platform. Participants will work within a templated microcredential structure designed to support consistent, high-quality development of skills-based content. Through facilitated activities, attendees will explore how to translate skills into learning outcomes, develop aligned content and assessments, and incorporate content-level metadata that connects learning experiences to verifiable credentials. The workshop will also surface key design decisions, such as how to balance openness with institutional or industry requirements, and how to support multiple models of content sharing (open, closed, and hybrid).Panelists will provide brief framing perspectives from institutional, international, and ecosystem viewpoints, but the majority of the session will focus on participant engagement. Attendees will have the opportunity to workshop their own ideas, collaborate with peers, and receive feedback from facilitators with expertise in open education, microcredentials, and skills-based design.By the end of the session, participants will have a practical understanding of how to design and author open microcredential content, experience a platform-enabled approach to scalable content development, and gain actionable strategies for implementing open, skills-based learning initiatives within their own contexts. This session directly supports the conference track by advancing innovative approaches to open content that democratize knowledge and expand opportunities for learners across educational and workforce systems.
Speakers
avatar for Başak Büyükçelen

Başak Büyükçelen

Chief Executive Officer, Pressbooks
Başak Büyükçelen is the CEO of Pressbooks, where she has spent the last seven years helping shape the company's direction and culture. With a background spanning consulting, manufacturing, banking, finance, film, and video games, she brings a cross-industry lens to the challenges... Read More →
avatar for Kevin Corcoran

Kevin Corcoran

Assistant Vice Provost, University of Central Florida
Kevin Corcoran is the Assistant Vice Provost of the Center for Distributed Learning. Kevin has over 25 years of experience in the development and support of strategies for the effective use of digital learning tools and content that focuses on quality standards and practices, student... Read More →
avatar for Amanda Coolidge

Amanda Coolidge

VP, Strategic Engagement and Growth, Pressbooks
Amanda Coolidge is VP of Strategic Engagement and Growth at Pressbooks, where she leads marketing, sales, and customer success and serves as product manager for the company's microcredential platform. She is the founder of Coolidge Collaborative and former Executive Director of BCcampus... Read More →
avatar for Lisa Young

Lisa Young

Founder & Principal, EduEssentials Consulting
Dr. Lisa Young is a longtime advocate for open education and learner centered innovation in higher education. She recently retired after more than 30 years with the Maricopa County Community College District, where she served in several leadership roles, including Faculty Administrator... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 1:40pm - 2:45pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

2:15pm EDT

The California ZTC Degree Grant Program: Preliminary Outcomes and What We’re Learning
Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
ID: 33763

In 2021, California made a historic commitment to college affordability by authorizing the largest public investment to date in Open Educational Resources (OER) and Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) pathways. This landmark initiative aims to reduce the financial burden of course materials and improve equitable access to higher education. Beginning in 2022, all California Community Colleges received dedicated funding to support the development, implementation, and scaling of ZTC pathways across disciplines. By 2026, colleges across the system are actively developing more than one thousand ZTC pathways, representing a transformative shift in how instructional materials are selected, delivered, and experienced by students. As the largest system of higher education in the United States, the California Community Colleges provide a unique opportunity to examine the large-scale impact of OER and ZTC adoption on student success, retention, and overall educational experience.This session will explore early findings from the ZTC grant program while also highlighting emerging research directions and unanswered questions. Participants will gain insight into how colleges are approaching ZTC implementation, including the strategies they have found most effective as well as the challenges they continue to navigate. The session will also examine how researchers are estimating cost savings across more than 100 institutions, offering a closer look at methodologies used to quantify financial impact at scale. In addition, attendees will hear student feedback from ZTC courses, providing valuable perspective on how these initiatives influence learning, engagement, and access.The session will further highlight a complementary study conducted by researchers at UC Irvine’s School of Education, supported by the Arnold Ventures Foundation, which seeks to evaluate the effectiveness of both statewide and institutional policies aimed at reducing student cost burdens. Finally, participants will receive access to instruments used for institutional and student surveys, enabling them to apply similar assessment approaches within their own contexts. Together, these insights will provide a comprehensive view of the promise and complexity of scaling ZTC pathways across a large and diverse higher education system.
Speakers
avatar for James Glapa-Grossklag

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 →
RA

Richard Arum

Professor of Sociology and Education and former dean of the School of Education at University of California, Irvine., University of California, Irvine.
Richard Arum is Professor of Sociology and Education and former dean of the School of Education at University of California, Irvine. He served as senior fellow at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and director of Education Research Programs at the Social Science Research Council... Read More →
SS

Sabrina Solanki

Research & Program Director for the Postsecondary Education Research & Implementation Institute at the University of California, Irvine., University of California, Irvine.
Sabrina Solanki is Research & Program Director for the Postsecondary Education Research & Implementation Institute at the University of California, Irvine. Her research focuses on higher education policy, STEM education, and the evaluation of education interventions. In her current... Read More →
avatar for Alyssa Nguyen

Alyssa Nguyen

Senior Director of Research and Innovation, The RP Group
Alyssa Nguyen is the Senior Director of Research and Innovation for The RP Group and brings over 15 years of experience in the California Community Colleges. Her work is dedicated to uncovering and implementing student-centered practices that close equity gaps and promote student... Read More →
LC

Larry Cooperman

Consultant, University of California, Irvine
Larry Cooperman retired from the University of California, Irvine in 2020, where he directed open education from 2007-2018. Since his retirement, he has consulted the Technical Assistance Provider for the California Community Colleges Zero-Textbook-Cost (ZTC) program. Currently, he... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

OER Beyond Gen Ed: Lessons from Washington’s Professional-Technical Programs
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 31247

Open Educational Resources (OER) initiatives have largely focused on general education courses such as math, English, and introductory sciences. However, professional-technical (ProfTech) programs face a different set of challenges when it comes to course materials. These fields often rely on expensive, commercial textbooks, rapidly evolving industry content, certification-aligned materials, and highly visual or technical resources.Washington State’s Open ProfTech initiative explores how open textbooks can be developed in professional-technical programs across community and technical colleges. Through statewide collaboration, faculty authors worked with instructional designers, editors, illustrators, migration specialists, copyright and OER experts, and accessibility specialists, coordinated by SBCTC, the state agency serving Washington’s community and technical colleges, to create openly licensed textbooks aligned with industry expectations.This session shares practical lessons from this initiative, including the unique challenges of developing OER in professional technical education disciplines, strategies that helped faculty authors succeed, and what other institutions or systems should consider when launching similar efforts. Rather than focusing on project details alone, the presentation highlights key insights about supporting proftech faculty, managing rapidly changing content, and building sustainable infrastructure for open publishing in technical fields.Participants will leave with practical ideas for expanding OER beyond general education into workforce and career programs.
Speakers
avatar for Boyoung Chae

Boyoung Chae

Policy Associate, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Boyoung Chae is a Policy Associate of Educational Technology and Open Education with the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC). She completed a master’s in Instructional Systems from Pennsylvania State University and a PhD in Instructional Technology... Read More →
avatar for Monique Belair

Monique Belair

Program Administrator, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Monique Belair is a Program Administrator for Educational Technology and Open Education with the Washington State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC). She is currently managing her second U.S. Department of Education grant for the Washington Open ProfTech Project. Monique... Read More →
avatar for Ashley Montenegro Ramirez

Ashley Montenegro Ramirez

Program Administrator, Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges
Ashley Montenegro Ramirez is a project manager in open education and workforce development. She manages and supports the development of open textbooks for Washington’s community and technical colleges, with a focus on accessibility, quality assurance, and collaborative project management... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Open All the Way Down: A Freely Reusable Toolkit for Scaling OER, Access, and Equity
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 33595

Open educational resources promise to democratize access to knowledge, but the organizational capacity to implement OER sustainably is rarely open itself. Colleges and institutions that want to launch or scale OER and Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) initiatives must typically build their infrastructure, workflows, faculty support systems, and assessment frameworks from scratch. This is its own barrier to the public good that open education aspires to serve.This session argues that opening up institutional knowledge, not just course content, is the next frontier for the open education movement. It introduces the CRC OER/ZTC Toolkit, developed at Cosumnes River College (CRC) in Sacramento, California, as a case study in what it looks like to treat implementation infrastructure as a public good.CRC serves a diverse student population in which many learners come from low-income households and communities historically underserved by higher education. Textbook costs were a documented barrier: students were delaying purchases, attempting courses without required materials, and in some cases dropping classes they could not afford. Beginning in 2021, a faculty librarian and OER coordinator began building the systems needed to address this - supporting faculty in adopting, remixing, and creating OER; developing workflows for identifying and advertising ZTC courses; and using student success data to make the case for continued institutional investment. By fall 2025, 78% of CRC course sections were designated Zero Textbook Cost, with documented gains in enrollment, course success rates, and degree completion.The CRC OER/ZTC Toolkit packages the lessons from this work into an openly licensed, freely reusable website. It includes implementation guides, faculty adoption workflows, open pedagogy resources, student focus group templates, and a data dashboard framework for tracking equity outcomes. Every element carries an open license, meaning any institution, anywhere, can copy, adapt, and redistribute the toolkit without asking permission and without starting from zero.This is the session's central contribution to the OEGlobal community: a concrete example of open licensing applied to the institutional infrastructure of OER work, not just the content.When colleges share their implementation knowledge openly, they extend the democratizing potential of open education beyond individual courses to the systems that make open education sustainable and scalable. This approach is especially significant for under-resourced institutions that lack the grant funding or staffing to build these systems independently.Attendees will have the opportunity to explore the toolkit directly and will leave with a clear understanding of its components, the equity impact data behind it, and practical strategies for adapting it to their own institutional or regional context. The session welcomes practitioners at any stage of OER work. Though it was designed for community colleges, the lessons learned could be applicable to any institution.
Speakers
avatar for Andi Adkins Pogue

Andi Adkins Pogue

Librarian, OER/ZTC Coordinator, Cosumnes River College
Andi Adkins Pogue is a faculty librarian and the OER/ZTC Coordinator at Cosumnes River College who has spent 16 years supporting equitable access to learning. She has been instrumental in building one of California's most active ZTC programs. She has authored OER, earned a Creative... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

The Work at the Hinge: Mini Structures and Human-Centered Open Education
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 31087

Open education often assumes a shared threshold, as if practitioners are all standing before the same door with the same key, the same confidence, and the same amount of time to turn the handle. They are not. For some, the door opens easily into spacious possibility. For others, it sticks, locked by uncertainty, time scarcity, inaccessible information, perfectionism, policy confusion, or the quiet fear of getting it wrong in public.This session argues that if Open Education is serious about access, it cannot reserve its gentleness for students alone. It must meet practitioners at the threshold too, attending to the tiny details where entry is either made possible or made impossible. Drawing from two semesters of program design and implementation at a Hispanic-Serving Institution, I share a practical model of “mini structures” as threshold design: an inquiry-based OER exploration mini-grant that pays faculty for rigorous search and decision-ready documentation (rather than requiring premature adoption), paired with a scaffolded sequence of mini-lessons that translate complex Open Educational Practices into bounded steps with clear outcomes, examples, and time expectations.The core claim is simple: a door is only open if someone can actually get through it. In many institutional contexts, the primary barriers are not ideological resistance. They are practical and quietly determinative: not knowing where to start, and starting alone. I highlight the hinge details that repeatedly change follow-through without lowering rigor: bounded time containers (30–45 minute work sessions with a concrete deliverable), “what counts” guidance that reduces ambiguity, risk reduction through private drafts and optional publicness, and documentation-as-scaffolding (trackers, evaluation lenses, landscape briefs) that makes decisions visible, retrievable, and shareable.Grounded in care ethics, I frame these choices as infrastructure rather than tone: care operationalized through systems that assume human variance as normal. Participants will leave with a replicable set of design patterns and a lightweight blueprint for building mini infrastructure in their own programs.
Speakers
avatar for Megan Brittany-Fruia Zara

Megan Brittany-Fruia Zara

Open Education Librarian, The University of Texas at Arlington
Megan Zara is an Open Education librarian and program designer at the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries. Her work sits at the intersection of Open Education, access, and care ethics, with a focus on building scaffolded systems (mini-grants, mini-lessons, and decision-ready... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Students as Knowledge Creators and the Lasting Impact of OER: Sharing Examples of Extraordinary Student Work
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 31395

The remarkable imprint OER has on public higher education is well documented. One indicator of this success is seen in the high-quality student work generated through OER usage. In this round table, designed for educators, creators, and anyone else curious about OER, participants will discuss open pedagogy and the value of the contributions by students to the Open field. Participants are encouraged to share examples of exceptional student-generated Open scholarship and creativity.Facilitated by long-time OER creator/collaborators, Robin Miller (CUNY), Paul Ricciardi (CUNY), and Michelle Turnbull (Bergen Community College), this session invites participants to:Discuss student-centered Open pedagogy;Experience and share examples of student work from the Open community;Share OER they've created that has been used in a class room that inspires students to contribute to the Open community;Share any other links, images and samples of student work that was born out of the Open movement.Participants may simply listen, or come to the session equipped with a link to anything they wish to share in this lively OER show and tell. Come and be inspired!
Speakers
avatar for Paul Ricciardi

Paul Ricciardi

Professor of Theatre Arts, Kingsborough Community College - City University of New York
Paul Ricciardi is Professor of Theatre Arts at Kingsborough Community College/City University of New York, where he teaches all levels of Acting and Voice for the Stage. Paul is also a Course Coordinator for two College Now courses, Humanities and Foundations in Theatre. Paul is... Read More →
avatar for Robin Miller

Robin Miller

Open Educational Technologist, Graduate Center - City University of New York
I am a former OER librarian and currently work as an Open Educational Technology Specialist and the main point of contact at the City University of New York (CUNY) for the digital publishing platform Manifold https://cuny.manifoldapp.org/.
avatar for Michelle Turnbull

Michelle Turnbull

Professor of English, Bergen Community College
Michelle Turnbull began teaching English and the Humanities in 2005. Michelle taught high school English for 14 years in Brooklyn, NY. Currently, she teaches English as a Full Time Professor at Bergen County Community College in New Jersey. Michelle is passionate about OER and has... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:35pm EDT

Data in Your Neighborhood: Exploring the Potential of Secondary Data Analysis in Open Education Research
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
ID: 31579

Secondary data analysis is the process of using existing data, collected by others for different purposes, to answer new research questions or examine trends. This method enables researchers to leverage an existing, rigorously collected dataset without requiring new data collection. It provides a cost-effective, time-saving way to analyze large datasets (e.g., surveys), provide deeper insights, and explore trends in data over years or decades. In this roundtable session, we discuss the purpose and value of using secondary data analysis in open education research. We ground the discussion in our experience of analyzing secondary data from a freely available dataset derived from the Ithaka S+R Instructor Survey (2024). The secondary analysis produced a more nuanced picture of faculty engagement with Open Educational Resources (OER) by correlating instructor characteristics with OER activity.  The use of secondary data from a well-established national survey provides a robust foundation for exploring the OER landscape. While the field has accumulated substantial data on faculty adoption, use, satisfaction, and creation of OER, findings are often reported in aggregate, treating the faculty population as a single undifferentiated group. The breadth of the dataset, combined with the ability to examine subgroup variations, makes it possible to identify structural patterns that shape how OER is understood and adopted across higher education. This methodological approach aligns with the broader goal of advancing insight into faculty engagement with OER.  Secondary data analysis expanded the potential of the Ithaka S+R Instructor survey by addressing questions that were not highlighted in their original analysis, but are of use to OER advocates. Using secondary data also allows for efficient use of resources, as the sampling, recruitment, and data cleaning processes have already been completed by the original research team. The publicly available codebooks and documentation provided by Ithaka S+R support transparency and replicability, ensuring that variable definitions and coding schemes are clearly understood.  The data set we used was published and made freely available by Ithaka S+R in the database of social science datasets from Inter-University Consortium of Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Their data focused on instructor responses on a number of issues facing higher education; however, our interest was particular to OER. The depositing of data makes a more granular analysis possible. Participants will brainstorm potential sources of datasets for data analysis, such as government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and previous academic studies, and generate ideas for utilizing the data in study design. 
Speakers
avatar for Stacy Katz

Stacy Katz

Associate Professor, Open Resources Librarian, Lehman College, CUNY
Stacy Katz is an Associate Professor and Open Resources Librarian-STEM Liaison at Lehman College, CUNY. She initiated, developed, and continues to manage the Open Educational Resources (OER) initiative for the college. Stacy’s research to date has focused on OER, particularly how... Read More →
JV

Jennifer Van Allen

Associate Professor of Literacy Education, Lehman College, City University of New York
Jennifer Van Allen, Ed.D., is an Associate Professor of Literacy Education at Lehman College in the City University of New York.  Her research focuses on effective and equitable practices for integrating technology into literacy teaching and learning, with a special interest in online... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Oak’s Open Knowledge Graph: The Missing Foundation for Curriculum-Aligned AI in Education
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 33911

Artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming educational technology, yet most AI tools in education lack a critical foundation: they have no formal understanding of how curriculum knowledge actually fits together. AI tools can discuss topics fluently, but cannot reliably sequence learning, identify what a student needs to know before tackling a new concept, or verify that a lesson genuinely addresses the standards or objectives it claims to. They guess because, typically, national curricula have existed only as documents written for humans, not in any form that digital tools can meaningfully interrogate.This is a solvable problem. At Oak National Academy, a UK government-backed provider of free teaching resources used in three in four schools in England [1], we are building an answer. With over 100,000 open-licence resources spanning 17 national curriculum subjects, including more than 13,000 lessons, we hold a distinctive position: a large-scale, publicly trusted body of curriculum-aligned content, all freely available [2]. This session presents our work to build a knowledge graph that encodes curriculum structure in a form that AI tools can read, query, and reason about, along with the lessons we have learned so far from releasing it openly to the sector.Our knowledge graph is a structured map of how curriculum knowledge connects, specifying which concepts must come before others, how topics in one subject relate to another, and what a sequence of learning actually looks like from a pupil’s perspective. When that map is machine-readable and openly available, it transforms what AI tools can do. Rather than guessing at curriculum relationships, AI tools can query structured data. The result is AI tools that genuinely support learning progression, plan well-sequenced, coherent curriculum materials, and identify gaps in available resources. This provides the solid foundations for safe and effective AI in education in any national context. We have begun sharing our early knowledge graph capability [3] with a range of external organisations, including AI developers and edtech companies, to develop and stress-test this shared foundation.England's forthcoming curriculum refresh offers a concrete illustration of why this matters. As the curriculum changes, AI tools trained on old frameworks risk undermining rather than supporting learning. We have been supporting the Department for Education in creating a digitised curriculum, designed with structured, machine-readable capabilities, such as knowledge graphs, in mind. When available, this will significantly increase the depth and richness of our knowledge graph, enabling even more reliable and sophisticated AI applications across the sector.Open education principles are at the heart of this work: every organisation rebuilding curriculum structure from scratch is duplicating effort. A common, openly licensed foundation redirects that energy toward the applications and innovations that actually benefit learners. In this session, we will share our experience and learnings, including the architectural decisions made, the standards chosen, and our licensing strategy, to enable any institution seeking to make its domain knowledge machine-readable to build upon this work.
Speakers
avatar for John Roberts

John Roberts

Interim CEO, Oak National Academy
John Roberts is the interim CEO of Oak National Academy, the UK government-backed provider of free, open-licence teaching resources used in three in four schools in England. A co-founder of the organisation, he previously led the product and engineering team behind Aila, the UK's... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Offline AI, Open Knowledge: Delivering OER to Schools Without Internet
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 31657

Description:Across Africa, and some parts of Asia millions of learners sit in classrooms that are rich in curiosity but poor in connectivity. For these students, the promise of open education , freely accessible, world-class knowledge for anyone, anywhere, remains largely theoretical. The internet is the assumed delivery mechanism for most OER platforms, and where the internet is absent or unreliable, so too is access to open content.AXAM is an offline AI-powered learning platform built to close that gap. Developed through the NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program, AXAM packages high-quality open educational resources, beginning with MIT OpenCourseWare transcripts and expanding to broader OER collections, into a locally deployable system that runs entirely without an internet connection. Students interact with AXAM through a conversational AI interface powered by a lightweight large language model, asking questions, exploring concepts, and receiving contextualized responses drawn from curated OER content. No cloud. No bandwidth. No barriers.This session presents the AXAM model as both a technical case study and a provocation for the open education community. The presenter will walk through the architecture of the system: how OER content is processed, embedded, and stored in a vector database; how a quantized language model runs efficiently on low-cost hardware; and how multilingual retrieval supports learners across English, French, Swahili, and Kinyarwanda and others. Crucially, the session will move beyond the technical to examine what deployment actually looks like in contexts where infrastructure, teacher capacity, and institutional trust are all variables that no algorithm can fully anticipate.The lessons from building and testing AXAM are honest ones. Multilingual performance is uneven; Kinyarwanda retrieval lags significantly behind English, raising important questions about whose languages open AI systems are truly built for. Hardware constraints shape every design decision. Community trust must be earned before any technology is adopted. These are not edge cases; they are the core design conditions for open education in much of the world.What this session ultimately offers is a replicable framework, a set of architectural principles, deployment considerations, and community engagement strategies that any institution, NGO, or open education practitioner can adapt for their own low-connectivity context. The goal is not to present AXAM as a finished solution, but to share what has been learned in the process of building it, and to invite the global open education community into the next phase of that work.Because openness without accessibility is just a promise. And a promise that only reaches those with a stable internet connection is not yet open enough.
Speakers
avatar for Emmanuel Olimi Kasigazi

Emmanuel Olimi Kasigazi

Entrepreneurial Lead, Axam AI
Emmanuel Olimi is a data and LLM engineer, open education advocate, and founder of AXAM,  an offline AI-powered learning platform designed to deliver MIT OpenCourseWare and other open education content to students in low-connectivity schools across the world. Born in Uganda and now... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Resilience and Responsiveness: Lessons of Open Practices in Emergencies
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 33611

We are living through a period of significant global instability, marked by political uncertainty, challenges to multilateralism, and increasing risks of conflict and disruption. These dynamics place pressure on education systems worldwide, raising urgent questions about how to ensure continuity, accessibility, and relevance. In this context, Open Educational Resources (OER) and broader open education practices offer a promising foundation for more resilient and adaptable systems, as they combine the affordances of digital technologies with relational, learner-centred approaches, an integration that proved essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper examines what lessons from open education in emergency contexts can inform the development of more robust open ecosystems globally.This study argues that effective open education systems must demonstrate two key characteristics: responsiveness to user needs and resilience to external pressures. While these qualities are widely discussed, they remain under-examined in terms of how they are enacted across different contexts. In particular, emergency settings such as conflict, displacement, or systemic disruption offer a unique lens through which to observe how open practices adapt under pressure.To investigate this, the presentation reports on findings from a qualitative comparative study of open education initiatives in both emergency and non-emergency contexts. The analysis draws on semi-structured interviews conducted with two groups: (1) learners engaging with open educational platforms, and (2) stakeholders involved in governance and decision-making processes. This dual perspective enables an examination of both user experience and systemic organisation. The findings, derived through thematic analysis, highlight patterns across contexts, with particular attention to how responsiveness to user needs and resilience to external pressures are operationalised in practice. The study is guided by two research questions:1. How do user needs in open educational platforms differ between emergency and non-emergency contexts? 2. How do governance structures and processes differ across these contexts? This research contributes to the emerging field of Open Education in Emergencies by extending its focus beyond short-term crises to include longer-term and systemic disruptions. By examining practices at the margins of education systems, it seeks to surface insights that are often overlooked in more stable contexts and to amplify perspectives that are less visible in dominant policy and research narratives. In doing so, it also aims to shift the framing of educational provision from a logic of institutional interest toward a logic of user need and long-term resilience.The expected outcome is a conceptual framework that organises effective practices into four dimensions: Relevance, Openness, Independence, and Pluralism. This framework will synthesise findings from across contexts to identify transferable strategies for designing open education systems that are adaptable, scalable, and equity-oriented. Ultimately, the research aims to demonstrate how insights from emergency contexts can inform more robust and inclusive open education ecosystems globally.
Speakers
avatar for Adriana D’Amico

Adriana D’Amico

Education Policy Student - Intern Researcher @ Monash Virtual School, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Adriana D’Amico is a postgraduate student currently enrolled in an Erasmus Mundus Master program on education policies from global development. During her bachelor in Economics and social sciences she took part in both advocacy activities, working with a team to promote pluralism... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Can K-12 Teachers and Students Build Open Source AI Tools for Education?
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 33728

There is growing consensus that creation of AI tools built specifically responsive to educational needs and pedagogically grounded are more pertinent, relevant and efficient than generative AI general-purpose tools, like ChatGPT. Even more, AI general-purpose tools also augment the possibility for AI risks to flourish in educational settings.For the creation of AI for Education tools, its also highly recommended to co-design and co-develop those tools with the end-users, teachers and students. This participatory approach looks to open the “black box” of AI and let end-users develop a critical oversight and public scrutiny on these tools, measuring expectations and recognizing the different trade-offs in place.In that context, Open Source AI is better suited for education-specific tailored tools because it enables alignment, control, and sustainability at the system level, not just performance at the model level. Open AI models can be “fine-tuned” on local curriculum and national standards, adapted to specific pedagogical frameworks or enforce desired teaching practices, integrated to existing school systems (grading, reports, LMS), it can be inspected, tested and audited due to its transparency.Opting for Open Source AI comes along with difficult challenges: to exploit its opportunities and unleash participatory “open practices” (fine tuning, distilling, RAG) to build AI for education tools requires demanding technical expertise, for example in K-12 teachers and students.This session looks to discuss about what should be the readiness standard for K-12 teachers and students to participate in the co-design, co-development and testing of Open Source AI tools for K-12 schools. So how can you offer a simplistic, easy to learn framework and a guided-through pipeline for K-12 teachers and students.Alongside end-users, how to protect student privacy with an Open Data schema, in full compliance with data protection laws and without dependency on external APIs, its to be discussed. Lastly, sustainability challenges are also to be discussed as key infrastructure is needed, because custom-built systems are harder to sustain, they can fail without permanent investment due to hidden costs (hardware like GPUs or servers, technical teams, ongoing maintenance).In sum, the session looks to identify the key aspects to consider and catch a glimpse of the context of end user readiness and technical-legal infrastructure to hold the promise that Open Source AI is the option for local educational relevance.
Speakers
avatar for Werner Westermann

Werner Westermann

Can K-12 teachers and students build Open Source AI tools for education?, International Research Center on Artificial Intelligence IRCAI
Werner Westermann Juárez works at the Civic Education Program, at the Library of National Congress of Chile since 2015. He is a History, Geography and Social Sciences Teacher and Bachelor Graduate in History (Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile) and a Master’s on Open Education... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Sparking Connection, Creativity, and Curiosity with the Open Education Network
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 6:00pm EDT
ID: 31480

Engage in creative conversation with other open practitioners as you experience unique open spaces and centers around the MIT campus and nearby Cambridge. A chance to unwind, interact, and pursue ideas while stepping outside of the confines of the traditional conference setting. Convened by the staff of the Open Education Network, who are also always happy to chat about their work and offering of support resources!
Speakers
avatar for Open Education Network

Open Education Network

Staff, Open Education Network
The OEN is a global collective of more than 1,700 higher education institutions and consortia that partner together to make higher education more affordable and equitable through engagement with open education. We are not a vendor, a business, or even a non-profit; we are part of... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:20pm - 6:00pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:55pm EDT

The Seven-Year Evolution of a Z-Course Boot Camp
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
ID: 33944

Since 2019, the Open Educational Resources Committee at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) has offered an annual Z-Course Boot Camp event to teach faculty interested in converting to zero-cost course materials about reasons to consider switching, project management, copyright and licensing, OER authoring tools, accessibility, (more recently) generative artificial intelligence, and publishing and sharing. The boot camp is taught by a combination of librarians and instructional designers and is aimed primarily at faculty who have received a Z-Course Grant to convert their course to use zero-cost course materials, although it is open to all faculty.  This session discusses the evolution of the boot camp through several formats, from a two-day in-person event, to a synchronous Zoom event, to a one-day event, to its current form as an asynchronous course offered in Blackboard Ultra, FHSU’s LMS. The boot camp has always had a strong emphasis on feedback and revision.  In its asynchronous form, the camp begins with a welcome module that introduces participants to resources available to support OER work at the institutional and state level and provides a syllabus and list of relevant terminology. Each module contains readings and/or videos, a discussion requiring participants to apply and share new knowledge and skills, and a brief survey to capture participants’ feedback and suggestions for how the module could be improved. The camp ends with a final survey and a certificate for participants who complete it. We are currently on the second iteration of the asynchronous boot camp and expect to continue to update it iteratively every year.  The current iteration contains the following modules:Why Open, which contains testimonial videos from faculty and readings about student needs and behaviors around course material costsProject Management, which contains a worksheet walking participants through searching for existing OERs, readings and videos about textbook structure and elements and textbook mapping for revision projects, and an exercise in which students review an existing textbookAccessibility, which talks about current regulations and best practices and includes a reflection and persona exerciseAI and OER, which is currently fairly minimal, with a single reading and a discussion about concerns and opportunitiesCopyright and Licensing, which contains readings about evaluating copyright, requesting permission to use student work, and finding free-to-use mediaAuthoring Tools, which contains a comparison between Pressbooks and Libretexts (the two OER authoring platforms for which FHSU provides support) and instructional videos on how to use bothPublishing and Sharing, which discusses how to implement peer review, add metadata, publish, print on demand, and promote new open resources within the OER and scholarly communities
Speakers
avatar for Claire Nickerson

Claire Nickerson

Associate Professor and Open Initiatives Librarian, Fort Hays State University
 Claire Nickerson is an associate professor and the Open Initiatives Librarian at Fort Hays State University (FHSU) in Kansas. She also sits on Open Up Learning Kansas, the statewide OER steering committee for the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR). At FHSU, she chairs the institutional... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:55pm EDT

From Adoption to Co-Creation: Rethinking Open Educational Practices in Latin America Through the Creatón
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
ID: 33886

In Latin America, the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) has been uneven and, in many cases, under-researched. This is compounded by a strong reliance on conceptual frameworks from the Global North that do not always align with local educational realities.The issue is not only one of access or production, but of meaning: many resources fail to integrate meaningfully into classroom practices. Repositories remain unused, materials are not perceived as relevant, and experiences remain isolated. This fragmentation reveals a persistent gap between the creation of resources and their pedagogical appropriation, as well as a lack of articulation and visibility of local experiences.In this context, this round table proposes to open a discussion on how to reconfigure Open Educational Practices (OEP) in the region, shifting the focus from adoption to situated co-creation. Within this framework, the experience of Creatón STEM+ is presented as a pedagogical device based on intensive collaborative workshops to design, prototype, and publish OER, aiming to reposition teachers as knowledge producers and sustain collective knowledge-building in networks.In its current regional projection, Creatón takes shape in 2024 through a pilot experience in which teachers from seven Latin American countries co-created resources focused on comprehensive sexuality education. However, this development builds on a prior trajectory: since 2018, through Ceibal (Uruguay), Creatón has been implemented as an Open Educational Practice (OEP) in diverse contexts, exploring collaborative creation, openness, and the circulation of resources within the Uruguayan education system.This accumulation of experiences has enabled the consolidation of methodological and pedagogical insights that now support its regional expansion. From this turning point, Creatón has evolved into an adaptive methodological model, implemented in diverse contexts—urban, rural, and initial teacher education—that challenge and enrich its development.More than a methodology, Creatón STEM+ is configured as an intensive collaborative pedagogical device that fosters open educational practices. Its strength lies in three key dimensions: teacher agency and co-authorship, which shift teachers from implementers of content to designers of situated knowledge and legitimate producers of pedagogical knowledge; the legitimization of practice, whereby the use and creation of OER move from isolated individual initiatives to recognized and expected professional practices within communities; and resilience and networking, where professional learning communities help overcome teacher isolation and sustain collective innovation processes beyond individual efforts.Based on this experience, the round table will collectively explore several key questions:How can we overcome the disconnect between OER production and classroom practice?What conditions enable open practices to become shared professional norms rather than isolated initiatives?How can transferable models be designed without losing contextual relevance?What does it mean to build openness from the territory, rather than solely from global frameworks?The round table will be structured as a horizontal exchange among participants, fostering dialogue across experiences, contexts, and perspectives. Rather than presenting a closed model, the aim is to open up a practice in development, inviting participants to collectively reflect on the future of open education in Latin America and other Global South contexts.
Speakers
avatar for Juan Dimuro

Juan Dimuro

Content Analyst and Developer for Learning Communities, Ceibal
Juan José Dimuro is a specialist in Instructional and Academic Design in Historical Sciences (teaching track) from the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences in Montevideo. He is a designer of digital, open, and accessible educational content, with over ten years of experience... Read More →
avatar for Nina Ibaceta Guerra

Nina Ibaceta Guerra

Researcher & Project Coordinator, CIDSTEM Institute at Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Nina Ibaceta Guerra is a biologist and science educator with a PhD in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Chile. She is a researcher and project coordinator at the Center for Research in Science Education and STEM Education (CIDSTEM) at the Pontificia Universidad... Read More →
avatar for Anna Vater

Anna Vater

Senior Project Manager, Siemens Stiftung
Anna Vater holds a B.A. in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau and an M.A. in Intercultural Cooperation and Communication from Munich University of Applied Sciences. She works as a Senior Project Manager at Siemens Stiftung, focusing on international... Read More →
avatar for Jennifer Venegas Espinoza

Jennifer Venegas Espinoza

Researcher & Teacher, CIDSTEM Institute at Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Biology and Natural Sciences teacher trained at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV). Holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Alberto Hurtado University and a diploma in Gender Studies from the University of Chile. PhD candidate in the Interuniversity Program... Read More →
avatar for Lorena Santos

Lorena Santos

Researcher & Teacher, CIDSTEM Institute at Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Special Education teacher trained at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV). Holds a Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Higher Education Pedagogy. Her professional experience focuses on educational support aimed at fostering inclusive conditions... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

5:30pm EDT

Measuring Student Perceptions of Open Educational Practices in a Co-Created Course
Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
ID: 33803

This session shares findings from a mixed-methods research study examining how students’ awareness, attitudes, and engagement with Open Educational Practices (OEP) shift over the course of a semester in a higher education setting. The study is grounded in an undergraduate course on Open Educational Practices at a Canadian university, where students engaged with key concepts such as Open Educational Resources (OER), open pedagogy, Creative Commons licensing, remixing, co-creation, learner agency, accessibility, and social justice. The course itself was intentionally designed as a co-created learning environment, inviting students to contribute to shared knowledge building and reflect on the role of openness in their emerging professional practice.This session addresses how students experience and interpret openness when they are not only introduced to open concepts, but also invited to participate in open practices. The research asks how student awareness of OEP changes across a semester, what benefits and challenges students identify, how willing they are to engage in open practices in the future, and what factors appear to shape positive or negative shifts in their perceptions.The study uses a pre- and post-course design that includes surveys, reflective writing, and optional follow-up interviews. Survey items explore familiarity with OEP and OER, perceived quality and usefulness, confidence, willingness to share or co-create materials openly, and views on accessibility, equity, and institutional support. Reflection and interview data add depth by highlighting how students make meaning of openness in relation to their lived experiences, academic identities, and future educational or professional contexts.In this session, attendees will be introduced to the course and research design, invited to consider key themes emerging from the data, and encouraged to reflect on what these findings suggest for open course design and student engagement. Attention will be given to the pedagogical and ethical implications of asking students to move from consumers of knowledge to contributors within open learning environments.Attendees will leave with practical insights for designing or revising courses that introduce OEP in meaningful, learner-centred ways. This session will be especially relevant for educators, educational developers, researchers, and open education advocates interested in understanding how students perceive openness, what supports deeper engagement, and how open education can be enacted in ways that are participatory, reflective, and socially responsive.
Speakers
avatar for Brandon Carson

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 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

5:30pm EDT

Creating and Aligning Individual-Level Incentives for Open Science Practices
Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
ID: 33963

The open science movement has advanced a set of reforms aimed at making research more transparent, reliable, and trustworthy. This movement has developed a range of practices –  such as open-access publishing – which promotes transparency; data sharing – which promotes reliability, preregistration – which promotes honest communication of uncertainty and error. As well as a range of other practices intended to strengthen the availability, accessibility, transparency, reliability, reusability, impacts, and trustworthiness of scientific claims, education, publications, and outputs.While the general benefits of open science to the scientific community are often lauded, the career benefits and risks of engaging in open science for individual researchers are not well understood.  The aim of this round table discussion is to identify and discuss the strategies that organizations sizes can employ to  support their communities of researchers in engaging with open science practices.A growing number of meta-science studies have examined the impacts of Open Science at the system level. These focus, for example, on broader effects such as citation rates and research quality; societal impacts, such as public engagement, trust, and inclusivity; and institutional impacts such as innovation and efficiency gains. These each have identified important benefits and consequences of Open Science, but primarily at the systems level -not the individual level.This session draws on these studies, along with research we have conducted that systematically summarizes perceived versus empirically observed career-related incentives and risks of engaging in open science practice and the potential causal mechanisms proposed to explain the underlying incentive mechanisms.  The research systematizes evidence for the relationship between a broad range of OS practices (including sharing and producing open data and resources) and a comprehensive spectrum of individual–level  direct benefits (e.g. collaborations, dissemination)  and  costs (e.g. time, skill acquisition) and longer-term rewards ( e.g. citation, promotion ) and risks (e.g. trusts, reputation) . During the roundtable we will: Summarize what  rewards, costs, and benefits for individual researchers are known to be associated with participation in different open practices -- based on best-of-class systematic reviewsElicit from participants the current approaches that are used by their organizations to support and incent open practices; and their relationship to organizational goals.  Facilitate discussion and analysis of strategies to align organizational approaches and goals with individual-level professional development rewards. In addition, a lighting-talk version of the summary presented  in #1  will be made available as a pre-recorded five-minute online presentation. And participants will be provided with an annotated bibliography of resources for selecting, aligning and evaluating open practices. 
Speakers
avatar for Micah Altman

Micah Altman

Research Scientist, Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship, MIT
Dr Micah Altman is a social and information scientist at MIT’s Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship. Dr. Altman conducts research, provides public commentary, and collaborates in initiatives related to how information technologies change politics, society, and science... Read More →
Wednesday October 7, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
 
Thursday, October 8
 

8:45am EDT

Welcome to Day 2
Thursday October 8, 2026 8:45am - 9:00am EDT
Daily Welcome
Start the day with a brief conference welcome featuring important announcements, highlights, and an overview of the day's program.
Thursday October 8, 2026 8:45am - 9:00am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  General

9:00am EDT

Keynote 3
Thursday October 8, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Plenary Session
Conference-wide plenary featuring distinguished speakers and timely conversations on the future of open education. Speaker details will be announced soon.
Thursday October 8, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  Plenary

10:30am EDT

AI Enhanced Open Pedagogy: Empowering Students as OER Creators in Mathematics
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 34040

Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Pedagogy have long emphasized learner agency, collaboration, and knowledge sharing. As generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools become increasingly integrated into educational contexts, there is a timely opportunity to examine how these tools can be leveraged ethically and productively within open educational practices. This session presents an exploration of AI‑enhanced Open Pedagogy in undergraduate mathematics courses, where students were positioned not as passive consumers of content, but as creators of openly licensed knowledge.In this study, students engaged in renewable assignments that contributed directly to the OER community. Learners created mathematical problems, explanations, and learning resources, openly licensed their work, and agreed to shared it publicly. AI tools such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot were used as learning partners, supporting brainstorming, exploring alternative solution paths, generating practice questions, and refining explanations. Students were explicitly guided to use AI critically such as verifying outputs, reflecting on reasoning to ensuring that all final submissions demonstrated their own understanding.Survey results revealed that the majority of participants preferred this AI‑enhanced Open Pedagogy approach over traditional assignments. Students reported reduced stress, improved confidence, stronger conceptual understanding, and deeper engagement with the material. Many learners highlighted how AI tools supported metacognitive processes such as self‑checking answers, identifying gaps in understanding, and simplifying explanations for broader audiences. Importantly, students consistently emphasized that AI did not replace learning, but rather supported reflection and critical thinking.Participants also expressed enthusiasm about contributing to openly available resources and valued the authenticity of producing work that extended beyond the classroom. However, findings showed that student‑created OERs were often limited in format, underscoring the need for intentional design strategies. This session highlights the importance of brainstorming diverse, interdisciplinary, and creative OER formats with students early in the course to fully realize the potential of Open Pedagogy.The session will conclude with practical lessons learned, ethical considerations for AI use in open contexts, and future directions, including integrating student‑created questions into platforms such as MyOpenMath for global sharing.Key takeaways for attendees include:Practical strategies for integrating AI tools into Open Pedagogy while preserving academic integrity and learner agencyDesign principles for renewable assignments that promote creativity, reflection, and opennessStudent perspectives on AI use in OER creationActionable ideas for expanding the scope and impact of student‑generated OERsThis session offers an early but promising model for how AI‑enhanced Open Pedagogy can support active learning and transform mathematics education within the global open education movement.
Speakers
avatar for Virginia Thompson

Virginia Thompson

Associate Professor, CUNY York College
Professor Thompson currently teaches 100‑level gateway courses in the Mathematics & Computer Science Department at York College. She coordinates all Mathematics General Education (GE) courses, which includes orienting new faculty to the curriculum, updating syllabi, choosing textbook... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
8 DR6 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

From Print to Audiobook: Amplifying Student Voices Through Open Pedagogy
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 31683

This session explores the creation of an open audiobook for College of DuPage’s introductory-level speech communication OER textbook, Exploring Communication in the Real World. The audiobook was developed to expand access to learning materials while engaging students as collaborators in the creation of open educational resources. Designed to accompany and reinvigorate an existing OER speech communication textbook, the audiobook leverages open pedagogy by involving students in the recording, editing, and production of chapter segments. Through this process, students contributed directly to a resource that benefits future learners while developing practical communication, media production, and collaboration skills. This session will discuss how students can transform into a speaker in narration, an audio technician in editing and post-production, and a textbook editor in suggesting or discovering what content may be outdated or may not be clearly understood by students. Presenters will give examples of what was discovered by working with students as co-creators of course material content. The project demonstrates how open pedagogy can transform students from consumers of course materials into active knowledge creators. Participants will learn about the project’s design, including workflows for student participation, accessibility considerations, and strategies for maintaining quality in a collaborative production process. Presenters will give an overview of textbook selection and considerations for selecting this content over others, including information on how a multimedia version of the text can enhance or complement the digital or print version. The session will also explore how open audiobooks can expand the format of OER to better support diverse learners, including those who benefit from multimodal and accessible content. This presentation invites discussion about how institutions and the broader open education community can support innovative forms of open content that democratize knowledge production and make learning materials more inclusive, adaptable, and sustainable. This project was a collaboration between the Library's OER Grant Program and Media Lab. Presenters welcome questions about the process of open publishing and the differences between digital, print, and audio with special consideration for funding, licensing, and necessary skills. In addition, the post-production process, scope of work for students, part-time staff, and full-time staff, and how the success of the program was measured will be discussed. This session will include interactive elements such as links, resources, and audio samples of the work created so attendees can visualize the process along with the presentation. Attendees will be provided with access to the published audiobook at the conclusion of the session. 
Speakers
avatar for Lauren Kosrow

Lauren Kosrow

Digital Content and Open Access Librarian, College of DuPage
Lauren serves as the Digital Content and Open Access Librarian at College of DuPage and chair of the OER Steering Committee. In this role, she facilitates the Faculty Support Grant program and provides leadership for the college’s textbook affordability initiatives. Lauren has an... Read More →
avatar for Danielle Oakes

Danielle Oakes

Media Lab Supervisor, College of DuPage
Danielle Oakes, MLIS, works as Media Lab Supervisor at the College of DuPage Library. Past credentials include work in multiple libraries, archives, and museums in Illinois with a focus on emerging and/or vintage technologies. This Guinness World Record holder has been published for... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Open Pedagogy in Action: Enhancing Information Literacy Through Student-Led OER Revision
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 32228

Open pedagogy provides students with opportunities for their work to have purpose outside of the classroom through the creation or improvement of open educational resources (OER; Witt, 2020). One potential application of open pedagogy is for students to collaborate with their instructor to update an OER (Tillinghast et al., 2020). OER textbooks in particular need updating as new research is conducted and the findings reported in the textbook may be found to be inaccurate or incomplete given the current body of knowledge. In this case study, students across two semesters of an introductory-level child development course collaborated with the instructor to update the research findings reported in the course OER. Throughout the course, students used social annotation to flag citations that were five years or older. A librarian demonstrated to the students how to find scholarly articles using the campus library databases. Students at the end of the term were assigned to chapters to find a scholarly article to update one of the outdated citations. The article was first approved by the instructor to check that it was indeed scholarly and appropriate for the textbook. Then, students organized the information from the article into tables with suggestions for where and how the article could be cited in the textbook . Because students were learning how to identify, use, and create information in this open pedagogy project, it was expected that information literacy skills would be developed. To test this expectation, the students in the course were invited to complete information literacy self-reports of their skills before and after the project (using a measure adapted from Sommer et al., 2021). There was a focus on examining changes in source evaluation skills, given that the project emphasized finding and identifying appropriate sources for updating the OER textbook. Students reported an increase in source evaluation skills based on their indicated level of confidence in items such as “evaluate internet sources,” and “select information most appropriate for the need” from the beginning (M = 3.72, SD = .54) to the end of the semester (M = 4.25, SD = .50; t(90) = 7.73, p < .001). In open-ended responses to skills developed, 72 students mentioned research and source finding skills (e.g., “I learned how to use the library’s databases to find a relevant article”), 48 stated identifying outdated information (e.g., “I developed a focus on comparing information that is modern to information that is outdated”), 38 mentioned critical thinking (e.g., “Looking at sources and realizing not everything in a textbook is law”), 22 mentioned reading and note taking skills (e.g., “It gave me an opportunity to dissect the textbook in many sections”), and 18 mentioned deeper comprehension and engagement (e.g., “It helped me get a better understanding of the concepts”; note that students mentioned multiple skills in their responses). Taken together, the findings indicate that having students collaborate on updating an OER textbook benefits the students involved in developing important skills and benefits future students through an improved textbook. 
Speakers
avatar for Virginia Clinton-Lisell

Virginia Clinton-Lisell

Associate Professor, University of North Dakota
Dr. Virginia Clinton-Lisell began her career in education as an ESL teacher in New York City. She then obtained her PhD in Educational Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Science at the University of Minnesota where she was trained in educational research. She has published over... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Reframing the Past, Reimagining the Future: OER Project’s Approach to History and Climate Education
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 33807

As access to information expands globally, the question is no longer whether knowledge is available, but whose knowledge is represented and how it is framed. OER offers a powerful opportunity not only to remove cost barriers but also to rethink the narratives and perspectives embedded in educational content—and OER Project brings this opportunity to social studies, an often-overlooked discipline that so greatly impacts our present and future. This session explores how openly licensed history and climate curricula offered by OER Project can contribute to a more inclusive and democratic approach to learning. In social studies education, the phrase “to the victor go the spoils” too often underpins historical narratives. Many state standards lean heavily toward a more “traditional narrative,” and textbook publishers therefore follow their lead. OER provides an opportunity to transcend these narratives and open a conversation about who history is about and who it is for. The nature of OER allows for an expanded view of history, enabling students to learn about the diverse underpinnings of our past. OER Project history courses—Big History and World History—were designed to meet standards (because yes, standards are important), but also to provide opportunities for students to learn a more comprehensive and inclusive history, from the impact of Islamic scholars on our understanding of science to the contributions of lesser-known individuals who shaped history, such as Sorqoqtani Beki, who used her networks to shape the Mongol Empire, and Manuel Quezon, who helped more than 1,300 Jewish refugees escaping persecution find a home in the Philippines. OER Project: Climate is a course designed to bring climate change into all classrooms. We believe solving the climate crisis is not a topic that should be contained to science classrooms; solutions are interdisciplinary, and we believe all students—and teachers—should feel equipped to understand and confront the issue. Participants will consider how incorporating multiple perspectives—across regions, cultures, and voices—can help learners better understand complexity, challenge dominant narratives, and engage more critically with historical interpretation. In addition to social studies content, the session highlights the role of open resources in addressing urgent global challenges. Using a climate change course grounded in solutions-oriented thinking, we will explore how OER Project can empower learners not just with knowledge of problems but with frameworks for action and agency. This approach reflects a broader shift in education toward equipping learners to navigate uncertainty and participate meaningfully in shaping the future. Attendees will have the opportunity to learn about a variety of OER Project resources that help democratize knowledge and to reflect on how they could incorporate these resources into their own teaching. By the end of the session, participants will leave with practical strategies for evaluating and implementing open resources that prioritize inclusivity, representation, and learner agency. 
Speakers
CK

Chelsea Katzenberg

Academic Lead, OER Project
Chelsea Katzenberg is the Academic Lead at OER Project where she is responsible for managing the content development and updates for all OER Project courses. Before joining OER Project, Chelsea was a founding member of a charter high school in the South Bronx, where she taught world... Read More →
AM

Angelina Meadows Comb

Director of Education, OER Project
Angelina Meadows Comb serves as Director of OER Project, where she leads the development of innovative K-12 social studies curriculum and educator resources. Her leadership advances collaboration and empowers educators to strengthen teaching and learning nationwide.
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Service Learning: Decolonizing Open Education Through African Knowledge Co-Creation
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 33634

Service Learning: Decolonizing Open Education through African Knowledge Co-CreationIn Eastern, Western, Central and Southern Africa, Catholic Higher Education Institutions (CHEIs) are at a critical crossroads. While international knowledge systems have expanded through digital transformation and Open Educational Resources (OER), much of the content, pedagogy, and epistemology remains rooted in colonial legacies that marginalize indigenous knowledge systems and African voices. Open Education has expanded access to knowledge globally, yet critical gaps remain regarding whose knowledge is represented and legitimized. In African CHEIs, colonial legacies through Christianity continue to shape curricula, often marginalizing indigenous knowledge systems and local epistemologies (Ngungi Wa Thiong’o, 1968; Andrew Furco, 1996; Linda Tuhiwai Smith, 1999; Boaventura de Sousa Santos, 2014 & Pete, J. 2019).This presentation examines how open practices can advance the decolonization of education by repositioning knowledge as a contextualized public good for all. Drawing on over a decade of practice in Service Learning and OER, the session presents case studies from selected African CHEIs where students and communities co-create knowledge. Practical examples include: (1) Service Learning projects where students document indigenous knowledge and community innovations as open resources (local language use); (2) collaborative development of localized OER to support context-relevant teaching (faculty led); and (3) regional initiatives promoting open knowledge sharing across CHEIs in 13 Nations of Africa.These practices demonstrate how open pedagogy can shift universities from knowledge transmitters to knowledge co-creators embedded in society’s local context. The session contributes to the conference theme by showcasing African-led innovations that not only adopt but reimagine open education through equity (Solidarity Service Learning), relevance (Empathy), and epistemic justice(Synodality). The conference Pathway of Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge provides a unique opportunity to reimagine education as a public good for all, emphasizing accessibility, inclusion, and contextually relevant. By embracing open practices, African institutions especially CHEIs can democratize knowledge production and dissemination while reclaiming epistemic agency in the 21st century. In a nutshell, this presentation explores the intersection of open education, service learning, and decolonization within African education contexts. While OER and open practices aim to democratize knowledge, they often reproduce global inequalities when detached from local realities. Drawing from the presenter’s work as a regional director in Service Learning and involvement in international OER initiatives, the session highlights three practice-based case studies from several African universities:Service Learning as Open Knowledge Creation: At Catholic Higher Education Institutions and other partner universities in Eastern, Western, Central and Southern Africa, students engage with communities to co-create knowledge. Projects include documenting indigenous agricultural practices, community health solutions, prison ministry and local innovations. Localizing Open Educational Resources: Through curriculum integration efforts, faculty and students collaboratively adapt and develop OER that reflect African context thus embedding local case studies, languages, and lived realities. This addresses the disconnect between imported content and contextual relevance.Regional Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing: Cross-institutional initiatives have fostered networks of educators working on open practices, enabling sharing of resources, pedagogies, and strategies for embedding openness within teaching, learning, and research.
Speakers
avatar for Judith Pete

Judith Pete

Lecturer & Research Coordinator, Tangaza University
Dr. Judith Pete is a Senior Lecturer, Global Researcher and Africa Director for Service Learning at Higher Education institutions in Africa for over a decade. Worked in Regional Non-Governmental Organizations in different managerial and leadership capacities. She is currently the... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

The Curious Commons: Towards a Digital Public Goods Lab
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
ID: 33849

What does it actually mean to uphold knowledge as a public good in a multilingual and digitally divided world? Too often our answers stay stuck in separate silos. Or they chase reforms that do not scale and lack the longevity to serve global majority audiences. We separate arts from sciences. Global North from Global South. Research from lived experience. And open education from other open movements like open source software, open data, open access and open science.We think democratising knowledge means bringing things together intentionally, and we would like to host a panel discussion on these lines. That means drawing on the philosophical and social foundations of the commons, from Elinor Ostrom's work on collective governance to contemporary critical thinking about knowledge as a shared and abundant resource. It also means paying attention to the symbiosis of arts and sciences, learning from the lived experiences of other open communities, and recognising curiosity as a real driver. Curiosity is what turns access into engagement and infrastructure into community.We are bringing together open source advocates, academicians and community builders from across these movements to ask a practical question. How might we build a shared agenda, and perhaps a shared space like a Digital Public Goods Lab, for multilingual open education that is grounded in ideas but also practical and genuinely curious?Our conversation will draw on real experiments. These include the Future of the Commons series, inspired by Ostrom, which runs monthly discussions on AI, archives and Indian languages. Also the Content Partnerships Hub. And recognised DPGs like Wikipedia and Wikidata, which we see as useful examples rather than the main story.We will focus on three questions.First, what philosophical and social frameworks can help us understand knowledge democratisation beyond technical or bureaucratic approaches? Second, how have other open movements navigated barriers of language, power and participation, and what can open education learn from their lived experiences? Third, what would a Digital Public Goods Lab look like if it bridged open knowledge and open education, placed arts and sciences alongside each other, treated curiosity as a design principle, and served marginalised language communities in the Global South?The session will end with audience Q&A and an invitation to join a shared online workspace. The goal is to move from conversation to collective action.
Speakers
TH

Tanveer Hasan

International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
Tanveer Hasan – Works at the intersection of digital commons, open knowledge and multilingual open education. Convenor of the Future of the Commons series, an informal collective inspired by Elinor Ostrom that runs monthly discussions on AI, archives and Indian languages. Currently... Read More →
VV

Vasudeva Varma

Professor, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
Professor at IIIT Hyderabad, specialising in information retrieval, language technologies and AI. Works on making AI and digital infrastructure accessible for Indian languages and marginalised communities in the Global South. Advises on DPG policy and open knowledge initiatives.
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Open Education Fresk, a Collaborative Workshop to Explore Benefits of Open Sharing and Best Practices
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
ID: 33868


During this collaborative workshop, using maps, quizzes, and guided discussions, identify concrete situations where Open Education and Open Educational Resources (OER) come into play. Connect best practices to these use cases so you too can take action in your environment.During the workshop:- Understand the growing importance of open sharing and digital learning; open education, beyond OER platforms, is a human, collective adventure full of choices to enrich learning success.- Identify the potential benefits of open education for different users: teachers, instructional designers, and students, as well as the obstacles and how to solve them.- Explore best practices to adopt, according to your aspirations.The Open Education Fresk is conceived as a mediating tool that fosters exchange, discussion of perspectives, and the collective emergence of disciplinary or transdisciplinary use cases, while also examining its capacity to facilitate participants' appropriation of the principles and practices of open education. The "Open Education Fresk" workshop lasts 1.5 hours and is designed for up to 30 participants (teachers, instructional designers, doctoral students, support staff), divided into subgroups of 4 to 5 people. It is designed as a collaborative, experiential, and reflective process, fostering the gradual appropriation of open education concepts and open educational resources (OER).The workshop combines short theoretical presentations, professional role-playing exercises, the use of interactive materials (cards, game board), and peer discussions, all within an active learning framework. The workshop is structured in six successive stages: 1. Icebreaker, aimed at building rapport and introducing the benefits of information sharing; 2. Workshop Framework, presentation of objectives, operating rules, and the facilitator's role; 3. Professional role-playing exercises based on concrete teaching or learning situations; each participant will identify a situation that is relevant for himself-herself. 4. Structured input on open education and OER, in the form of a collaborative quiz and a debate with spatial movement, focusing on Creative Commons licenses; 5. Argumentation exercises, where participants adopt the role of ambassadors for open education and connect benefits with concrete practices; 6. Action-oriented conclusion, allowing each group to identify various best practices and a first "small step" for implementation in their individual context.  “The fresk” pedagogical model, applied to numerous topics (climate fresk, biodiversity fresk, etc.), accelerates the understanding of major societal issues. The effectiveness of this educational tool and the collaborative experience allow for the rapid and widespread dissemination of an understanding of the subject and encourage action within one's own environment.
Speakers
avatar for Anne-Catherine Baseilhac

Anne-Catherine Baseilhac

Open Education COO (Chief Operating Officer) at Nantes University, Nantes University - France
Anne-Catherine Baseilhac, Open Education Chief Operating Officer at Nantes University, France. Graduated from the Lyon School of Management, Anne-Catherine has held several project management positions, both nationally and internationally in companies, where she gained expertise in... Read More →
avatar for Arnaud Guével

Arnaud Guével

Vice President for Academic Affairs and Open Education at Nantes Université, Nantes University - France
Arnaud Guével has been Vice President for Academic Affairs and Open Education at Nantes Université since 2020. A professor in sports science specializing in neuromuscular function, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Director of the "Motricity, Interactions, Performance... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

A Massachusetts Initiative to Connect OER with Responsible AI Use
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33662

As open education continues to evolve, practitioners are being asked to rethink how emergent technologies, particularly generative artificial intelligence (AI) can strengthen, rather than undermine, the core values of openness. This session explores how open educational practices can adapt to rapid technological change while remaining grounded in human connection, creativity, and the public good.The session draws on the Career and AI Readiness while Remixing Open Textbooks through an Equity Lens (CA-ROTEL) initiative, a collaborative project bringing together faculty and support teams across multiple institutions in Massachusetts. The project is supported by a $1.98 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to adopt open-source textbooks and create ancillary materials for general education courses that are applicable across public college systems. Framingham State University is the lead recipient and has partnered with UMass-Lowell and Northern Essex Community College on the initiative. CA-ROTEL integrates open educational resources (OER), ethical uses of generative AI, and career-connected learning into general education courses that serve diverse learner populations.Rather than positioning AI as a shortcut or efficiency tool, CA-ROTEL approaches it as a participatory and reflective technology, one that can support creativity, deepen learning, and help students articulate transferable skills when used transparently and responsibly. Faculty participating in the initiative remix openly licensed textbooks and create ancillary materials that are culturally responsive, adaptable, and locally relevant. Generative AI is used intentionally to support authentic learning activities, such as modeling workplace scenarios, discussing the ethics of AI, generating prompts for reflection and revision, and helping learners practice describing their knowledge and skills for future academic or professional contexts.This session will share how CA-ROTEL intentionally combines open licensing, faculty support, and collaborative professional development to build sustainable open educational ecosystems. Particular attention will be given to the processes that enabled both materials and teaching practices to circulate across institutions while remaining flexible enough to support local context and instructional autonomy.Speakers will highlight how integrating generative AI and career readiness prompted faculty to critically examine their own perspectives on AI and to more intentionally embed the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Competencies within their curricula. Through CA-ROTEL’s structured professional development, faculty gained a practical, values-aligned framework for thoughtfully integrating AI with OER that  moves  beyond experimentation toward purposeful pedagogical design.As a result, instructors reported increased confidence and readiness to incorporate AI-enhanced learning activities into their courses. This preparation directly supports students in developing essential digital literacy and career-relevant skills, better positioning them to navigate and contribute to today’s AI-influenced workplace.This session positions CA-ROTEL as a transferable case study, not a fixed model. While the initiative emerged within a specific regional context, its methods—remixing OER, supporting faculty through open workflows, and treating AI as a tool for inquiry rather than compliance—are intentionally designed to share. The session invites participants to consider how similar approaches might be adapted to different educational systems, languages, policy environments, and cultural contexts.Dr. Robert Awkward will facilitate this session, offering perspective on the ways the CA‑ROTEL project is influencing OER development in Massachusetts and contributing to wider conversations about openness and educational innovation.
Speakers
avatar for Susan Tashjian

Susan Tashjian

Academic Innovations Programs Manager, Northern Essex Community College (NECC)
Susan Tashjian is Academic Innovations Programs Manager at Northern Essex Community College and a CA-ROTEL principal investigator. She supports faculty in instructional innovation, OER adoption/creation, and practical AI integration. Her work emphasizes equitable access, culturally... Read More →
avatar for Donna Mellen

Donna Mellen

Executive Director of Academic Technology, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Donna Mellen is the Executive Director of Academic Technology at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she leads campus initiatives focused on learning platforms, open education, digital accessibility, and partnering with faculty to scale inclusive, learner‑centered teaching... Read More →
avatar for Robert Awkward

Robert Awkward

Assistant Commissioner for Academic Effectiveness, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Dr. Robert Awkward is an educator and scholar based in Massachusetts whose work explores the intersection of open education, inclusive pedagogy, and emerging technologies in higher education. His interests focus on how open practices—such as OER, collaborative knowledge creation... Read More →
avatar for Ben Atchison

Ben Atchison

Professor of Mathematics, Framingham State University (FSU)
Benjamin Atchison is a Professor of Mathematics at Framingham State University and is a CA-ROTEL principal investigator. He served as an Assessment Coordinator for the original ROTEL grant (2021-2025). He is a long-time OER adopter and an advocate for the development and adoption... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

An Open Introduction to Film: Lessons from a NotebookLM Case Study
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33808

The transition to Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) for foundational survey courses poses a unique challenge: how do we replace beloved, publisher-provided textbooks that come bundled with extensive, high-quality supplementary resources? At the College of San Mateo, an AANAPISI and Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI), the Film 100 (Introduction to Film) course is a core degree requirement and a highly popular general education transfer course. As part of a statewide Acceleration Grant initiative aimed at converting the entire Film AA degree to full ZTC status by Fall 2027, our team is addressing this challenge through the creation of Reframing Cinema, a new, OER ZTC textbook.Crucially, Reframing Cinema is built from a decolonial lens, integrating film history and analysis while centering BIPOC, AANAPISI, and HSI film traditions as constitutive of film history rather than supplementary to it. However, writing a culturally responsive textbook is only half the battle. To truly support both student success and widespread instructor adoption, the text needs a robust ecosystem of visual aids, study materials, and a structured delivery method that rivals commercial publisher packages.This session presents a case study on how we are leveraging Google’s NotebookLM and other generative AI tools to build this comprehensive, scalable, open-access ecosystem. We will showcase how we use generative AI to develop custom images and infographics to illustrate complex film craft concepts, and how NotebookLM transforms the foundational OER text into dynamic study materials—such as interactive podcasts, explainer videos, and study guides—that seamlessly align with the course's decolonial framework.Beyond generating individual assets, we will discuss how we are packaging the textbook and all AI-enhanced supplementary materials into a comprehensive, ready-to-use Canvas Course Shell. This turnkey model allows future instructors to simply copy and adapt the shell, effectively removing the logistical barriers and overwhelming workload often associated with transitioning to ZTC materials. We view this holistic approach as a scalable framework that can support ZTC degree pathways across film and other disciplines.By sharing our work-in-progress, we aim to spark an active dialogue about the intersection of artificial intelligence, open education, and culturally responsive pedagogy. How can we creatively leverage emergent AI tools to build media-rich, inclusive resources? And how do these tools empower faculty to center equity without succumbing to burnout? Participants will leave with actionable strategies for building their own scalable, AI-supported OER frameworks.
Speakers
avatar for Tamara Perkins

Tamara Perkins

Film Professor and Filmmaker, College of San Mateo
Tamara Perkins is an award-winning documentary director, producer, and educator with over 20 years of filmmaking experience and over six years teaching film at the College of San Mateo (an AANAPISI and Hispanic-Serving Institution). Deeply committed to equity-centered pedagogy, she... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

From Conference Spark to Campus Change: Students as Co-Creators of Open Practice
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 31878

What happens when a student encounters open education for the very first time, not in a classroom, but in the dynamic, participatory space of a conference? This session explores that question through the shared journey of an experienced open education practitioner and an undergraduate education student who, just two years ago, attended an open education conference together. For the student, the experience was transformative. What began as exposure quickly evolved into curiosity, and now into action: a senior capstone project designed to investigate and expand open education awareness at her home institution, where knowledge of open practices remains limited.Framed within the conference theme “Come Invent With Us! Innovating Open Practices to Uphold and Uplift Knowledge as a Public Good,” this session positions students not as passive recipients of open education, but as active agents in “hacking” and reshaping the open ecosystem. Together, the presenters will share their intergenerational and cross-role perspectives on entering, navigating, and contributing to the open education movement.At the heart of the session is the student’s emerging research design. She is developing a faculty survey to assess awareness of, and interest in, open educational practices, alongside plans for student-centered outreach and focus groups. These efforts aim to surface both barriers and opportunities for open education adoption at her institution, while also elevating student voice as a critical yet often underrepresented dimension of open praxis. Participants will be invited to contribute feedback on survey design, question framing, and strategies for engaging both faculty and students in meaningful dialogue about openness.This interactive session aligns with the “Hacking the Open Ecosystem and Praxis for the Public Good” track by centering experimentation, co-creation, and grassroots innovation. It highlights how small, relational entry points, such as bringing a student to a conference, can catalyze broader institutional and cultural shifts. Attendees will engage in rapid ideation activities to help refine the student’s research instruments and outreach strategies, effectively becoming co-designers in a real-time open education initiative.The session is also grounded in emerging literature on the value of student participation in academic conferences and high-impact practices. Research suggests that undergraduate engagement in scholarly communities enhances students’ sense of belonging, professional identity, and academic motivation (Kuh, 2008; Lopatto, 2010). Additionally, involving students as partners in educational innovation aligns with calls for more inclusive and participatory approaches to knowledge creation (Cook-Sather, Bovill, & Felten, 2014).By weaving together lived experience, research design, and participatory engagement, this session invites attendees to consider: What might be possible if we more intentionally invited students into the open ecosystem, not just as beneficiaries, but as co-inventors of the future of knowledge as a public good?
Speakers
avatar for Sydney DelMastro

Sydney DelMastro

Student, Endicott College
Sydney DelMastro is a student at Endicott College, majoring in English Secondary Education with a minor in Spanish. Her academic work and field experiences have focused on supporting diverse learners and creating inclusive, engaging classroom environments. She has completed field... Read More →
avatar for Lisa Young

Lisa Young

Founder & Principal, EduEssentials Consulting
Dr. Lisa Young is a longtime advocate for open education and learner centered innovation in higher education. She recently retired after more than 30 years with the Maricopa County Community College District, where she served in several leadership roles, including Faculty Administrator... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Futures Thinking in Open Education, and What to Do When the AI Bubble Bursts
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 34012

Education done with some sort of “open” ethos has existed for decades, changing shape and direction as new technologies like the World Wide Web and mobile connectivity made learning possible in new places and new ways. Over the last few years, what we previously referred to as machine learning has been repackaged with applications and software layers that communicate with humans in their native language – AI has arrived. But questions surrounding the onset and expansion of AI in the OER and broader Open Education spaces have increased, while conclusive answers about the direct and indirect impacts of its use elude us. What is AI able to do for us that we were previously unable to do, and at what social, financial, legal, and environmental costs? What changes between learners and across collaborators when various blackbox AI tools remain unreliable in their outputs? How do financial inequities shift as AI is taken up unequally by different groups, closing some gaps and further stratifying others? How do OER practitioners change their approaches to copyright and content sharing or reuse as AI models scrape and churn all content, not just that which has been openly licensed? And how might people at all levels of OER leadership and practice consider the implications on the environment, weighing them against the increased potential to democratize education? This session will explore key questions beyond just AI technology itself, but as Heidegger theorized nearly a century ago, the question concerning technology is not simply a technological question.This session will also discuss the process of futures modeling pioneered by Jim Dator, and how images of the future can be created based on trends and patterns of the past and present. Specific focus will be given to opening up the possibility that the current AI ecosystem may experience a bubble burst, similar to the Dot-com bubble in the late 1990ʻs. How do we assess the durability of our work in Open Education in the context of a potential AI bubble burst? And what do we do when it happens? While the future itself cannot be predicted, it is worth considering how Open Education changed as a result of previous seismic shifts in technology. At minimum, we can prepare to tackle undesirable future trajectories while charting paths towards those which uphold (and expand) efforts in Open Education to democratize access to public knowledge and level the learning playing field for anyone, anywhere.
Speakers
avatar for Billy Meinke-Lau

Billy Meinke-Lau

Director, Instructional Design and Development, Outreach College, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Billy Meinke is the Director of Instructional Design and Development (IDD) of the Outreach College at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, leading a team developing online programs and Open Educational Resources (OER). He has worked across many areas of Open Education, and enjoys... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
8 DR6 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

What If Open Learning Began with the World Each Learner Brings?
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 32255

What if open learning began not with content, but with the world each learner already brings? Open education has done transformative work in widening access to knowledge, resources, and participation. But in an age of artificial intelligence, when information is increasingly abundant and instantly available, a deeper educational question comes into view: what helps learners make meaning from what they encounter, connect it to their own lives, and locate themselves in relation to one another and the world?This session explores that question through a story-first approach to open learning. Rather than beginning with abstract content, predetermined curricular structures, or decontextualized competencies, this approach begins with something personally meaningful to the learner: a language, a family story, a migration history, a food tradition, a place, or another lived point of connection. From there, learning expands outward into broader historical, cultural, ecological, and interdisciplinary understanding. The aim is not simply to make learning more engaging, but to create a form of education that is more humanly relevant, contextually grounded, and responsive to the realities learners already inhabit.At the center of the session is the proposition that openness must now do more than expand access to materials. It must also create conditions for curiosity, connection, recognition, and agency. When learners are invited to begin with their own worlds, openness becomes not only a matter of availability, but also of relevance, participation, and meaning. This has important implications for how we think about global learning, intercultural understanding, and the future of education in diverse, multilingual, and technologically mediated contexts.The session introduces a story-first model for open learning that is designed to be adaptable, translatable, and usable across settings. Participants will consider how such an approach might complement and extend existing understandings of openness by foregrounding lived experience, human connection, and local context. The session will be especially relevant to educators, designers, and institutional leaders interested in the relationship between AI, global learning, and more meaningful forms of open education.After a brief framing of the core idea, participants will be invited into guided reflection and discussion around one central question: What would change in open education if learning began not only with open content, but with the world each learner brings? The goal is to generate both practical and conceptual insight for participants seeking more human-centered, future-facing approaches to open learning, approaches that preserve the values of openness while making space for identity, context, curiosity, and connection.
Speakers
PL

Paula Laurel Jackson

What If Open Learning Began with the World Each Learner Brings?, Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero
Paula Laurel Jackson is a Research Fellow and Education Architect exploring global learning, identity, human development, and the future of education in the age of AI. Drawing on research and field-based work across 56 countries, she examines how learning can become more meaningful... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Embedding Open Scholarship into the Ecosystem
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
ID: 33942

MIT has a storied history of hacking, born of a culture of creative problem-solving, boundary-pushing, and building the system you believe in if it doesn’t yet exist.  The MIT Libraries bring that same spirit of hacking to the open scholarship ecosystem, in service of our vision of “a world where enduring, abundant, equitable, and meaningful access to information serves to empower and inspire humanity." This panel explores the conditions that enabled MIT Libraries to embed open scholarship not as a single program or role, but as an institutional commitment woven through every aspect of our work. Central to the MIT Libraries’ vision is a clear strategic principle: to be relentless in the pursuit of a more open and equitable scholarly landscape.  This relentlessness requires intentional structural decision-making to invest in open scholarship, strong cultural emphasis on open scholarship as a tool for “working wisely, creatively, and effectively for the betterment of humankind” and courage as a leadership imperative.  Through a moderated discussion, our panelists will speak to each of these conditions from their own areas of responsibility, and engage with the audience in reflective discussion on what moves the needle in their own organizational environments:  Director of Libraries Chris Bourg will briefly set the stage by describing how MIT's strategic priorities — open scholarship, data and computation, digital-first libraries — are deeply interdependent, and how open scholarship is inseparable from MIT's institutional identity and values. She will then moderate a panel discussion and open a conversation with the audience.Erin Stalberg, Associate Director for Knowledge Strategy and Access, will focus on how MIT’s collections strategy operationalizes these values and how we navigate our goals for openness within a publishing ecosystem that, while changing, still remains heavily influenced by profit motives.Sue Kriegsman, Deputy Director for the Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship, will focus on how research informs the development of policies and funding models, to ensure institutional practices for open scholarship are built on a foundation of data and rigorous analysis.Heather Sardis, Associate Director for Data, Discovery, and Technology Solutions will will describe how openness is built into the Libraries' technology infrastructure, from open APIs enabling computational access to research, to repositories as platforms for open scholarship, to a discovery strategy designed to make it easy to choose open resources.After framing the MIT example of a successful ecosystem (that is still and always evolving), the moderator will open the conversation to the room: through the lenses of scholarly communications, research, data and technology, what conditions have made it possible (or challenging) to infuse open scholarship through your own organization? What advice, alternatives, and tools have been successful or challenging?  The goal is a collective conversation about what it takes to move from open as aspiration to open as embedded practice.
Speakers
avatar for Chris Bourg

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 →
avatar for Sue Kriegsman

Sue Kriegsman

Deputy Director, Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship, MIT LIbraries
Sue Kriegsman is the deputy director for the Center for Research on Equitable and Open Scholarship (CREOS) at MIT Libraries where her porfio includes managing the interdisciplinary team that produces and supports research and education on the policies, practices, and impacts of open... Read More →
avatar for Heather Sardis

Heather Sardis

Associate Director for Data, Discovery, and Technology Solutions, MIT Libraries
Heather Sardis is the Associate Director for Data, Discovery, and Technology Solutions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Libraries.  Prior to assuming her role at MIT, Heather directed the library of the California Academy of Sciences.  Her work in the nonprofit... Read More →
ES

Erin Stalberg

Associate Director for Knowledge Strategy and Access, MIT Libraries
Erin Stalberg is the Associate Director for Collections and Faculty Relations Strategy at MIT Libraries, where her portfolio includes general and distinctive collections, scholarly communications and copyright strategy, technical and access services, and liaisons, instruction, and... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

12:25pm EDT

The Open Science Adoption Gap in Research Training
Thursday October 8, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT
ID: 33915

Open science has become a central element of global science policy and open education. International initiatives such as the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science (2021) encourage transparency, accessibility, and collaboration in research. Universities and research agencies have increasingly implemented infrastructures and policies supporting open access publishing, open repositories, and open research data. However, open science requires not only open infrastructures but also capacity building for the collective process of knowledge creation (Peršić and Straza, 2023). How are future researchers educated to embrace open practices and become part of this open ecosystem? This session examines the relationship between open science policies and the educational practices (Cronin, 2017) that prepare researchers to engage in open science. It provides a Latin American perspective by examining how open science is translated into research training within a public university in Uruguay. The study analyzes how open science concepts and practices appear in social sciences undergraduate studies and humanities programs at a large public university. The research focuses on the curricular content of 56 undergraduate courses related to research training, including methodology, epistemology, statistics, information science, and digital technologies.Using qualitative content analysis supported by AI-assisted tools, the study explores whether open education and open science principles—such as open educational resources, open access, open data, open peer review, and collaborative research—are explicitly or implicitly present in course programs. The results reveal a significant gap between the institutional promotion of open science and the educational preparation of future researchers. Explicit references to open science are largely absent from the analyzed curricula. While some courses address elements related to the public nature of science, data management, or research transparency, the systematic teaching of open science practices remains limited.Drawing on sociological perspectives on academic habitus (Bourdieu, 1990) and theories of technological appropriation, the session argues that the adoption of open science depends not only on policies and infrastructures but also on how openness becomes embedded in teaching and learning the professional grounds and practices of open research. From an open education perspective, integrating open science into research training curricula may represent a crucial step in enabling universities to move from policy adoption toward the meaningful practice of openness in knowledge production.The session invites participants to reflect on how global open science agendas encounter local academic traditions, institutional constraints, and epistemic inequalities (Fricker, 2007) in research training. It aims at answering how higher education institutions can bridge the gap and connect open science policies with open education strategies that support the development of new generations capable of working within open knowledge ecosystems.
Speakers
avatar for Mariana Porta Galván

Mariana Porta Galván

Universidad de la República
Mariana Porta is a sociologist and holds a PhD in Informatics in Education from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul and Universidad de la República (UFRGS–Udelar). She is a faculty member and researcher at Universidad de la República, Uruguay, where she works at the intersection... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

12:25pm EDT

Wikipedia and Open Education
Thursday October 8, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT
ID: 34909

This presentation explores how might we transform a university’s course catalog, expert faculty, and multimedia archives into a global public good through the Wikimedia ecosystem. We explore formal, institutional-scale collaborations that move beyond traditional classroom or departmental-level projects in higher education. A focus of the effort we have underway at MIT is the shift toward a "multimedia-first" strategy. By integrating video lectures and course materials into Wikimedia Commons, partnerships can go beyond text to bridge critical knowledge gaps in, for example, climate science, technology history, and women's history.The session will address critical issues of this type of collaboration:Navigating the social and technical challenges of high-volume, automated contributions across multilingual projects.Transitioning a text-centric culture to effectively host, curate, and search complex digital assets like video and structured metadata.Moving from isolated, project-based "edit-a-thons" to permanent models that align with a university’s core mission of knowledge dissemination.Historically, university engagement with Wikipedia has been siloed within departments or library collections. This interactive session invites the GLAM, education, and multimedia communities to help shape a new model of engagement that respects the volunteer-led spirit of the movement while amplifying the reach of specialized academic knowledge to billions.
Speakers
avatar for Andrew Lih

Andrew Lih

Wikimedian in Residence, MIT Open Learning, MIT Open Learning
Andrew Lih has a long history in the Wikimedia movement and was the 2022 Wikimedia Laureate. He was among the first to use Wikipedia in the classroom at the university level, at the University of Hong Kong in 2003. Since then, he has been a champion of partnerships with universities... Read More →
avatar for Peter B. Kaufman

Peter B. Kaufman

Associate Director, Resource Development, MIT Open Learning, MIT Open Learning
Peter B. Kaufman is Associate Director of Development at MIT Open Learning. Educated at Cornell and Columbia, he is the author of The New Enlightenment and the Fight to Free Knowledge (Seven Stories Press, 2021) and The Moving Image: A User’s Manual (The MIT Press, 2025). An educator... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 12:25pm - 12:55pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

12:55pm EDT

Lunch
Thursday October 8, 2026 12:55pm - 1:40pm EDT
Lunch Break
Take a break to enjoy lunch, connect with colleagues, and continue conversations with fellow conference participants before the afternoon sessions begin.
Thursday October 8, 2026 12:55pm - 1:40pm EDT
9 7th Floor Lobby MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  General

1:40pm EDT

After the Origin Story: Inheriting, Reframing, and Growing a Library-Led OER Program
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33691

What if an OER program isn't a program at all — it's an ecosystem? Not a single initiative, not one flagship, but an interconnected web of relationships and program lines that meet faculty where they are, with different levels of support, funding, and librarian involvement at each entry point. That's not how most OER programs are designed from the start. It's often how they end up; and this session is an honest account of what it takes to get there deliberately. When the presenter joined a mid-sized regional R1 university library as Open Education Librarian in 2023, she stepped into exactly that kind of inherited complexity. A program existed, small, functional, and built on the work of a predecessor, but it lacked differentiation, clear pathways, and a coherent story that faculty could easily understand or act on. The programs that did exist had grown organically, which meant they were also quietly accumulating complexity: overlapping eligibility criteria, administratively burdensome payment structures, and no formal mechanism for maintaining the OER that had already been created. The work of the past two-plus years has been threefold: nurture and honor what already existed, redesign what wasn't working, and build new pathways where gaps were clear. The result is a six-line program ecosystem that covers the full range of faculty OER engagement: from high-investment original creation and course-level remixes to no-cost embedded partnerships with programs and departments, to high-impact online course rebuilds, to new editions of aging existing OER. Some program lines carry direct department-level funding; others are supported entirely through librarian time, graduate assistant partnerships, and strategic collaboration with instructional designers and program directors. Together, they provide a clear, campus-facing answer to a question many institutions struggle to answer simply: here are all the ways you can work with Open Education at this institution, and here is who is eligible for what. This session will walk through the arc of that ecosystem's development: what was inherited, what was reframed, what was built new, and what is currently being formalized as the program prepares for a deliberate public relaunch. It will address the administrative lessons learned, including why individual faculty payment structures became untenable and how shifting to department-level payments dramatically reduced complexity, as well as the ongoing challenge of sustaining a multi-line program with a small team and no external grant funding. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for thinking about OER programs as ecosystems of relationships and initiatives rather than single projects; concrete, low- and no-cost program models tested in a library-led, resource-constrained context; and a realistic picture of what it looks like to inherit, reframe, and grow an open education program over time. This session is especially relevant for OER practitioners, academic librarians, and program coordinators navigating program development without the benefit of a clean slate or a large grant — which is to say, most of us. 
Speakers
avatar for Christine Rickabaugh

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 →
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Building the Open Education Association: A Framework for Field-Building
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33985

This session will walk through what it took to build the Open Education Association from the ground up, and what that process can offer to open education advocates looking to strengthen coordination in their own regions and contexts.The Open Education Association is a newly founded national organization dedicated to strengthening and expanding the open education field across the United States. Rooted in the decades-strong open education community, it represents a national coordinating body shaped entirely by the people working within it. Its development began not with a formal plan, but with a conversation at the 2023 Open Education Conference, where practitioners reflected on what the field still needed to move forward collectively.From there, SPARC, the four regional interstate higher education compacts, and DOERS co-hosted a national discussion series that examined the case for a national strategy. Those conversations pointed to a consistent theme: the field did not need a single program; it needed stronger coordination among existing efforts. A subsequent needs assessment survey gathered input from more than 1,000 community members across all 50 states. The findings confirmed that the field was not lacking solutions. It was lacking the coordination to make those solutions visible and accessible to everyone who needed them.Practitioners identified four priority areas where greater support was needed: finding OER, responding to political and technological change, securing funding, and accessing tools and resources. Just as telling, only 14% of respondents viewed the field as well-coordinated nationally, making the case for a national coordinating body clear.The association responded to those findings by developing governance structures, a membership model, and a first-year programming agenda through a series of open working sessions with the broader community. That process required making real decisions about scope, priorities, and how to balance accessibility with sustainability. It also meant sitting with the tension of building something new while being careful not to duplicate the work that existing organizations were already doing well. This session will present that development arc honestly, including what worked, what required pivoting, and what the association's early days have looked like in practice.Every national context is unique, and this session is not intended to be prescriptive. Rather, it is an opportunity to share our process openly so that others can consider what may be relevant in their own context. For anyone considering coordinating infrastructure at any scale, this session offers frameworks and hard-won lessons in how to build something that reflects the needs of the people it is meant to serve.
Speakers
avatar for Nicole Allen

Nicole Allen

Director of Open Education, SPARC
Nicole Allen is the Director of Open Education for SPARC, leading efforts to advance openness and equity in education. She oversees a state and federal policy program, a librarian community of practice, and a leadership program for open education professionals. Nicole has dedicated... Read More →
avatar for Joy Shoemate

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 →
avatar for Aishah Abdullah

Aishah Abdullah

Open Education Project Manager, SPARC
Aishah Abdullah works for SPARC as the Open Education Project Manager. In this role, she helps support SPARC's open education work and provides support to the Open Education Association. She began her journey in open education as a student advocate at her community college and continued... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
8 DR6 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Reimagining Open Practices at Scale: How Massachusetts Is Using Strategic Planning and Privacy-Conscious AI to Advance and Deepen the Utilization of OER
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33812

The Massachusetts Department of Higher Education's Open & Low-Cost Educational Resources Advisory Council (OLERAC) Strategic Planning Committee embarked on a comprehensive, year-long initiative to determine national best practices in OER implementation, identify systemic barriers facing the open education community, and explore OLERAC's potential role in expanding educational access. This presentation shares our complete methodological approach, evidence-based findings, and actionable recommendations developed for the Commissioner and the Board of Higher Education. Our multi-phase research methodology combined rigorous desk analysis of published policy and operational content from OER programs nationwide, semi-structured interviews with OER program leads across North America representing diverse institutional types (community colleges, four-year institutions, and state systems), and systematic review of internal operational, policy, and budgeting documentation from existing OER programs. Critically, we pioneered the use of closed large language models for rapid qualitative analysis while developing novel methodological frameworks and engagement documents to maintain participant privacy and data security - a pressing consideration for public institutions navigating emergent AI technologies while upholding ethical research standards. Attendees will gain practical insights into how our work directly addresses the conference theme of reimagining open practices, policies, and pedagogy to solve real-world problems at scale. We will share concrete, transferable strategies for scaling OER adoption across institutional boundaries, overcoming common implementation barriers including faculty engagement, sustainable funding, and technical infrastructure – while noting sustained faculty engagement remains an ongoing challenge. We also explored Early College and Dual Enrollment students, an emergent population that stands to benefit disproportionately from reduced material costs and improved access to high-quality learning materials before matriculating to college, though this warrants further investigation.The implications of this work extend far beyond Massachusetts. With Massachusetts public higher education students saving $21.5 million in FY24 alone, a remarkable 33% increase over FY23, and experiencing 20% lower DFW (Drop/Fail/Withdraw) rates when using no-cost textbooks compared to traditional materials, our findings offer compelling, evidence-based pathways for other states and institutions pursuing similar large-scale OER initiatives. We will present specific data on student outcomes, institutional adoption rates, and the relationship between OER implementation and equity metrics. We will also address critical questions about the intersection of openness and emergent technology: How can institutions responsibly leverage AI tools while maintaining privacy and ethical standards? What role should advisory councils play in shaping state-level OER policy?How might open practices be extended to reach students earlier in their educational journeys, particularly those from underrepresented and low-income backgrounds? Our presentation offers replicable components for strategic planning that balances innovation with accountability, demonstrating how open education can serve learners through cost savings and improved success, faculty through increased teaching & learning choices and the opportunity to use open pedagogy, and communities through expanded access to higher education.By transparently sharing our methodology, findings, challenges, and recommendations, we invite the open education community to learn from our successes, adapt our approaches to their local contexts, and collaborate on solving shared challenges, embodying the very spirit of openness, equity, and practical problem-solving this conference track celebrates.
Speakers
avatar for Robert Awkward

Robert Awkward

Assistant Commissioner for Academic Effectiveness, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Dr. Robert Awkward is an educator and scholar based in Massachusetts whose work explores the intersection of open education, inclusive pedagogy, and emerging technologies in higher education. His interests focus on how open practices—such as OER, collaborative knowledge creation... Read More →
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Carey Zigouras

Access Services Manager, Massachusetts Maritime Academy
Carey Zigouras has managed the Massachusetts Maritime Academy Library in Buzzards Bay, Ma. since 2022.  A former high school English teacher, she is interested in first year college students’ information literacy skills and their previous experiences with libraries.  She joined... Read More →
avatar for Sarah C. Hutton

Sarah C. Hutton

Education and Clinical Services Librarian, University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School
Dr. Sarah C. Hutton (she/her/ella) is an academic research librarian, educator, and data analyst whose work spans open education, governance frameworks, organizational theory, and strategic planning. At the Lamar Soutter Library at UMass Chan Medical School, she supports multi-institution... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

The Keys to Opening Open Pedagogy: Unlocking Student-Created Digital Escape Rooms Through Renewable Assignments
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 31985

Use the clues to find the keyTo opening open pedagogy.Escape rooms set the learning toneWhere students can create and own.In an introductory Library course, students are tasked with creating digital escape rooms for their peers to pilot test, learn from, and rise to the challenge of finding the key to escape based on a series of clues. Students have the option to license their digital escape rooms using Creative Commons licensing and have an understanding that they are creating an Open Educational Resource (OER) to teach future students. Marketed as content created by students for students, these digital escape rooms are renewable assignments. Renewable assignments are grounded in (OER) open pedagogy research (Wiley & Hilton, 2018) and theoretical frameworks such as self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000) and redistributive, recognitive, and representational principles of social justice (Lambert, 2018). In an effort to empower students and include diverse voices in the creation of learning materials, the digital escape rooms are creatively designed by students for future students as they teach and learn the value of libraries, information literacy concepts, or what they want students to know about the syllabus.Participants will gain insight into how this assignment integrates multiple technologies such as  PowerPoint for interactive slide challenges, Canvas quizzes with embedded video content (and closed captioning), Canva for designing, and Springshare tools such as LibWizard and LibGuides for structured clues with multiple landing pages that deliver research-based adventures. These multiple levels of digital escape rooms from basic to more advanced provide scaffolding opportunities in online classes for learners to develop skills using information literacy frames such as Research as Inquiry, Searching as Strategic Exploration, Information Creation as a Process, and Information Has Value (ACRL, 2016).The session will outline the open pedagogical framework that was a key takeaway from completing the Open For Anti-Racism (OFAR) training. Open pedagogy transforms students from passive consumers of information to active creators using online learning as the modality for escape rooms, which are popular entertainment for students. Peer to peer instruction increases confidence (Tullis & Goldstone, 2020), aligning this assignment with research that demonstrates increased engagement, motivation, and deeper learning when students proudly publish their work. Wiley and Hilton (2018) highlight renewable assignments as improving student agency and achievement of learning outcomes with work that has lasting value. DeRosa and Jhangiani (2017) emphasize that open educational practices foster inclusivity by amplifying diverse voices in the creation of knowledge in student-authored OER.Attendees will leave with ideas and strategies for implementing digital escape rooms as renewable assignments in their courses, examples of student-created escape rooms for syllabus content,library orientations, and a framework for assessing creativity and information literacy outcomes. The session will also address scalability, sustainability, and alignment with institutional goals such as Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) initiatives, equity-minded teaching practices, and OER creation.This approach democratizes knowledge as student content creators share their lived experiences, embed their cultural knowledge and how they understand the course by creating these digital escape rooms. 
Speakers
avatar for Natalie Lopez

Natalie Lopez

Librarian, Department Chair, Academic Senate President, Crafton Hills College
With twenty years of professional experience in libraries from: Private Research (The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens), Academic (California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Palomar College, Crafton Hills College), and Public (Rancho Mirage Library and Conservatory... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

What Would You Do with $100? Student-Centered OER Advocacy in the Library
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 32429

What happens when you put up a poster board in the library and simply ask students about their textbook purchasing experience? The answers are funny, heartbreaking, and powerful.  "Textbook Madness" is a tabling event designed to meet students where they are, turning an everyday library space into a site of community, storytelling, and open education advocacy. The format is deliberately simple and low-tech: poster boards invite students to share their most expensive textbook cost and what they would do with that money if they didn't have to spend it on course materials. The responses reveal the very real financial burden students carry and open the door to conversations about open educational resources (OER) and the movement to make knowledge more accessible. Over two iterations of the event, more than 250 students have participated, generating a rich collection of quantitative and qualitative data. That data is not just displayed on a poster board, it becomes a tool for institutional advocacy. Student-generated figures on textbook costs have been presented directly to undergraduate student government and to university leadership, making the case for expanded OER adoption in concrete, human terms. This presentation will walk attendees through that full arc: from the initial design of the event to data collection and analysis, to the advocacy conversations it has made possible at the highest levels of campus administration. An additional component of the event was the distribution of student advocacy cards, a resource designed to empower students to become active voices for OER on their own campuses and in their own academic communities. These cards extend the reach of the event beyond the library table and invite students into a broader movement. This session is grounded in the belief that open education advocacy is fundamentally a relational practice. Numbers matter, but it is the act of listening, of creating space for student experience, and of transforming that experience into collective action, that builds a truly sustainable OER advocacy community. The library, often imagined as a quiet backdrop to academic life, can be reimagined as a frontline space for that work. Attendees will leave with a replicable, low-cost model for community-centered OER advocacy that can be adapted across institutional contexts. Whether you are a librarian, an instructional designer, a faculty member, or an administrator, this session offers both a practical framework and an invitation to think differently about where and how open education advocacy happens AND who gets to lead it.
Speakers
avatar for Khrisma McMurray

Khrisma McMurray

Open Education and Teaching Librarian, Indiana University Indianapolis
Khrisma McMurray is the Open Education and Teaching Librarian at IU Indianapolis, where she turns library spaces into sites of student empowerment through OER advocacy. Within her role she leads OER initiatives such as Open Education Week, Open Education Award, and OER Development... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Commons, Ecosystems, and Schools: Structures for Futuring Open
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:45pm EDT
ID: 33966

The open education movement stands at a critical inflection point. After 25 years of evolution, and in the midst of emerging technologies largely controlled by commercial interests, this is a critical time to pause, reflect, and re-consider the philosophical foundations and building blocks shaping its future—specifically the commons, ecosystems, and schools. Moving forward, questions of sustainability, participation, and purpose are becoming increasingly urgent to revisit, particularly in the context of a changing world with rapid technological and institutional shifts.This panel brings together a collective set of voices that reflect their lived experience within the open education movement and are uniquely positioned to suggest a way to reset and reframe as we think about what comes next. Drawing on decades of experience across research, practice, innovation, and system-building, the panelists will offer grounded perspectives on how the movement can evolve and how we can shape the future of open education with intention, clarity, and collective responsibility.Framing open education through the lens of the learning commons, the session will explore how shared open resources can be governed, sustained, and expanded in ways that ensure equitable participation and benefit without exploitation. It will invite participants to engage deeply with the commons-based approach as a foundation for the next phase of open education,  prioritizing collective ownership, stewardship, and long-term sustainability.Building on this, the panel will examine the role of ecosystems as the enabling structures that connect people, resources, and practices. We will explore how stakeholders in the open education ecosystems can function as stewards of the movement and as force multipliers, where collaboration amplifies impact and accelerates innovation. The conversation will surface the frameworks for such ecosystems to thrive, including aligned incentives, shared infrastructure, and governance approaches that support trust and long-term collaboration.Finally, the session will focus on schools as critical sites of application and innovation within these ecosystems. The panel will explore how schools can support and sustain the movement becoming active contributors and co-creators while navigating current challenges such as resource constraints and shifting ideological landscapes. It will examine why and how faculty, students, and institutional leadership can engage meaningfully in open practices and become active participants in shaping the next 25 years of the movement beyond a narrow focus on access to resources.The panel will then solicit reactions and thoughts from the audience, both in-person and online. Together we will initiate a dialogue on what directions, choices, and changes we collectively need to make at the ecosystem, commons, and school/library levels to move open education forward.Across these three interconnected structures, the session will also engage with emerging ethical dilemmas and technological shifts—particularly the growing role of AI in the creation, adaptation, and dissemination of open resources. The panel will critically examine what it means to remain truly open, equitable, and community-driven, and how the values of openness can be upheld in an evolving digital landscape.
Speakers
avatar for Lisa Petrides

Lisa Petrides

CEO and Founder, Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME)
Lisa Petrides is CEO and founder of the Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), a nonprofit dedicated to making learning and knowledge-sharing participatory and open for all. She is a scholar and international open education expert who has led the development... Read More →
avatar for Jim Luke

Jim Luke

Independent Scholar and Professor of Economics (ret), Planning Solutions LLC
Jim Luke is an independent scholar and planning consultant. He is a retired professor of economics and was Open Learning Faculty Fellow at a community college in Michigan (USA), where he created the Open Learning Lab, a web-based pedagogy innovation incubator. Jim has expertise in... Read More →
avatar for Robin DeRosa

Robin DeRosa

Executive Director, Open Education Network
Dr. Robin DeRosa is an educator and community leader who has served in many roles over the span of her career. She has been a middle school theater teacher, a high school literature and writing teacher, and a college professor of both English and Interdisciplinary Studies. She has... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 1:40pm - 2:45pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

2:15pm EDT

The Open EdTech Advantage: Winning Support (and Funding) in a Proprietary World
Thursday October 8, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
ID: 34005

The evolving landscape of technology demands a fundamental shift in how we approach the procurement of EdTech tools. Higher Ed institutions need access to and control over technology that is inherently transparent, and tools they can not only inspect for ethical use and data privacy but also confidently modify and trust for long-term sustainability. In an era where every vendor claims to have “AI inside,” the real competitive advantage is not a license key but a community: the students, faculty, and staff who can shape, sustain, and continuously improve the tools they use every day.Over the past two decades we have seen how open source technologies and open approaches to EdTech can offer benefits for the institution as well as educators and most importantly, students. Yet one of the recurring challenges with open source software in education is advocating for open source not only as a solution for testing out innovations, but as an enterprise service. For open educators and learning technologists this presents an ongoing issue, balancing the requirements of institutional IT and purchasing policies with the needs of educators and students. With cyber security, responsible use of AI and accessibility all increasingly important, is there any room left for open solutions and services alongside an institution's core digital estate?This session reframes Open EdTech Advocacy from a plea for cheaper software into a strategic investment in human capacity. We will show how choosing open source is less a procurement decision and more a strategy that lowers total cost of ownership, reduces vendor lock-in, grows institutional expertise, and can deliver solutions that truly evolve to fit the needs of a community. We will explore strategies for making the case for open-source tools and open edtech platforms at multiple levels of an institution, from Leadership and Budget Holders, IT Teams and Central Services, to Faculty and Academic Units, as well as Students and Future Professionals.This presentation will also showcase several new Open EdTech case studies (based on interviews conducted with teams of instructional designers over the past 2 years) that show who and how institutions who are at the forefront of Open EdTech adoption develop, scale and deploy open source educational services, including Stanford University, Princeton University and SUNY Oneonta. At a time when openness in education and on the web is more contested than ever before, these case studies offer practical advice for learning designers and learning technologists, as well as strategic insights for anyone navigating funding and procurement processes for open source technologies and looking for practical know-how and resources to help you advocate for similar initiatives in your own institution.
Speakers
avatar for Taylor Jadin

Taylor Jadin

Systems Administrator and Director of Operations, Reclaim Hosting
Taylor is Reclaim Hosting’s Systems Administrator and Director of Operations, as well as a proud husband and father, teacher, musician, avid camper, and unashamed nerd. He is passionate about educating and empowering people who want to make cool stuff on the web! Before joining... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Advancing Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Open Education During Politically Challenging Times
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 32094

As Open Education (OE) continues to expand across higher education in the United States, the commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) remains central to its promise of democratizing knowledge. In a political climate marked by increased scrutiny of diversity initiatives, legislative challenges, and public debate about the role of equity in education, EDI-focused work has become both more difficult and more essential. This session explores how the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee has worked to advance inclusive OE practices while navigating a challenging political environment.The committee’s work centers on advocating for OE Practices that empower contributions from diverse learners and educators who have been underrepresented, particularly those served by community colleges. Through professional development, resource sharing, and community dialogue, the committee has focused on identifying ways to advance equity in the open movement and to increase the representation of marginalized educators and students. At the same time, the committee has had to adapt its approaches in response to shifting political pressures that may challenge the language, framing, or implementation of EDI efforts.Hosted by the current Co-Chairs of the committee, this presentation will highlight the challenges faced, key changes, and strategies developed to sustain meaningful EDI work while engaging with our broad community. These strategies include creating safe spaces for dialogue, supporting open advocates doing this work, and highlighting diverse voices, all within the OE community.Drawing on examples from committee initiatives, programming, and collaborative resource development, the session will illustrate how OE networks can continue advancing equity even in politically sensitive contexts. Presenters will discuss lessons learned as the committee navigated the shifting higher-education landscape while continuing its work on priorities and mission. The session invites discussion about how the OE community can remain resilient and values-driven while responding thoughtfully to evolving political realities. By sharing experiences from the CCCOER EDI Committee, this presentation contributes to broader conversations about how OE can remain a powerful vehicle for equity, diversity, and inclusion, even when the political environment complicates such work.
Speakers
avatar for Wayde Oshiro

Wayde Oshiro

Head Librarian, Leeward Community College
Wayde Oshiro is a professor and library director at Leeward Community College, Hawaiʻi, with over two decades of experience in academic librarianship. Since 2015, he has co-led the University of Hawaiʻi Community Colleges System's OER initiative across seven campuses. He co-chairs... Read More →
avatar for Lauren Kosrow

Lauren Kosrow

Digital Content and Open Access Librarian, College of DuPage
Lauren serves as the Digital Content and Open Access Librarian at College of DuPage and chair of the OER Steering Committee. In this role, she facilitates the Faculty Support Grant program and provides leadership for the college’s textbook affordability initiatives. Lauren has an... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Conversations in Care: Strategies for Collective Healing in the Open Education Movement
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 34001

 “No individual can meet all the needs of the world. Humans are not built to do big things alone; we are built to do them together.” - Emily & Amelia NagoskiOpen education leaders refer to ourselves regularly and proudly as members of a global open education community. Yet what does our belonging mean to us? How does our belonging sustain us? To be in community is a reciprocal relationship built on trust, shared interest, and care. This session dives deeper into this notion of care, or the obligation we have to past, present, and future generations as human beings. Deep unrest and destabilization in political, civic, and environmental sectors ultimately depletes our capacity to engage in care. This loss is particularly significant for leaders with the responsibility to manage and make direct decisions for open education efforts. During these times of great uncertainty and constant change, how do we continue to labor toward meaningful, transformative, and sustaining open education? How could we come alongside one another, learn from one another, and offer necessary support?    This session seeks to take the pulse of the current open movement. We examine stories from 10 interviews with English-speaking open education leaders from around the world. Leaders hold formal or implied authority over an institution’s or department’s open education program, initiative, committee, or task force. Interviews rely on open-ended questions that allow leaders to name unmet needs in open education advocacy, to reflect on the extent of reciprocity of care in their work, to surface personal moments of awe in and outside of open work, and to assess authentic representation and shared decision-making within open education efforts. We see these conversations as an opportunity to give and receive care through focused discussion, intentional listening, and shared reflection. These sessions are also agentic, revealing the motivations, hopes, and actions that leaders seek to offer and receive from their global community.    This presentation invites participants to consider how we are able to show up for ourselves and one another within open initiatives and spaces in this current historic moment. We spotlight and celebrate the strategies of our global open community that address common negative experiences like overwhelm, job precarity, and discrimination. Through a critical examination of current working conditions in open leadership, we promote practitioner well-being and collective care. We hope participants at all stages in this discovery process will come away with a greater sense of agency and belonging.
Speakers
avatar for Natalie Hill

Natalie Hill

Scholarly Communications Librarian and Liaison to African American Studies, Anthropology, Education, Global Studies, & Psychology, Colby College
Natalie Hill is dedicated to open education advocacy, ensuring equitable access to information, and increasing representation of historically underrepresented groups in teaching, learning, and research materials. Before joining Colby College in 2023, she worked in library, instructional... Read More →
avatar for Veronica Vold

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 →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
8 DR6 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Designing AI to Support Learning, Not Bypass It: A CLT-Grounded MOOC Case from NTHU
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 33853

The rapid integration of generative AI (GenAI) into higher education has produced a complex and often contradictory evidence base. A three-level meta-analysis found that GenAI significantly promotes higher-order thinking (g = 0.851) but shows no significant effect on creativity or reflective capacity (Wang & Fan, 2025). A broader synthesis of 68 experimental studies found a moderate positive effect on learning outcomes (SMD = 0.45), yet with extremely high heterogeneity (I² = 95%), indicating that AI's impact varies enormously depending on how, when, and for whom it is deployed (Han et al., 2025). These findings compel open education practitioners to move beyond the question of whetherto adopt AI, toward the more consequential question of how to design AI tools that reliably produce learning gains rather than cognitive by-pass.This session reflects on the experience of National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Taiwan, in integrating five GenAI-powered features into its open MOOC platform through the principled application of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). We contend that CLT, with its precise account of working memory constraints, element interactivity, and the distinction between intrinsic and extraneous cognitive load, offers the most rigorous and actionable theoretical foundation available for AI tool design in large-scale open education. This contention is itself a reflective one: having experimented with broader, multi-theoretical frameworks, we found that CLT's specificity is precisely what makes it generative for design practice.Two empirically grounded risks frame this design challenge and inform our reflections throughout. The first is cognitive offloading (Skulmowski, 2023): when learners over-delegate memory and reasoning to external tools, they tend to retain only gist-level representations rather than the richly organized long-term memory schemas that support transfer and genuine expertise development. The second is the AI placebo effect (Skulmowski, 2024): learners systematically overestimate their own contributions when using AI, producing an illusion of competence that circumvents the productive cognitive struggle necessary for schema formation. Taken together, these risks reveal that AI tools designed without explicit attention to cognitive architecture may perform well on surface-level engagement metrics while undermining the deeper learning they are meant to support.Against this backdrop, the session presents five AI features developed on the platform, each designed to address specific CLT mechanisms. The AI Panda chatbot applies Load Reduction Instruction (Martin & Collie, 2025) through Socratic dialogic scaffolding. AI Integrative Questions maintain productive intrinsic load for schema construction at the close of each course chapter. AI Mind Maps address the split-attention and transient information effects characteristic of video-based MOOC delivery. AI Notes operationalize the worked example effect by reducing the extraneous burden of concurrent note-taking. AI Practice and Open-Ended Questions dynamically calibrate task demands in response to the expertise reversal effect, while leveraging retrieval practice to consolidate long-term retention.We close by reflecting critically on the institutional, administrative, and instructional design tensions encountered during implementation, and by sharing early outcomes from the deployment of these features in NTHU's Pre-AP program. We invite attendees to interrogate whether CLT offers a transferable design language for open education institutions navigating the pressures of AI adoption without sacrificing pedagogical integrity.
Speakers
avatar for Tonny Menglun Kuo

Tonny Menglun Kuo

Division Director, Division of Learning Support and Research Planning, Center for Teaching and Learning Development, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan
Tonny Menglun Kuo, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the Interdisciplinary Program of Management and Technology (IPMT) at the College of Management and Technology, National Tsing Hua University (NTHU), Taiwan. He concurrently serves as Division Director of Learning Support and Research... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

OERs for Kids, Edited by Kids – Online Engagement to Maximise Accessibility and Learning Outcomes
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 32792

Young people overwhelmingly use online sources for extra-curricular learning, particularly now that many carry a smartphone everywhere. In this new era, resource providers (such as publishers) have an obligation to ensure that our young audience have highest-quality OERs to refer to freely. We must meet young learners in their preferred sphere, and provide trusted sources of information to combat the misinformation which is so prevalent online, causing negative mental health outcomes for young people. Beyond this, for STEMM learning, we should inspire and actively engage with young learners, to ensure we are using a shared language, shaped by our young audience themselves. If we do this successfully, we will maximise learning outcomes and boost STEMM participation throughout the key stages of education. This enables new generations to not just suffer through their formal education but to fall in love with science, and remain science-literate throughout their lives. This is the mission of Frontiers for Young Minds. Discover how our non-profit OER project works with top scientists globally, to re-write their peer-reviewed publications into short kid-friendly articles, published as open access OERs, across all fields of STEMM, free to read for anyone with an internet connection. We offer a case study on how to go beyond high-quality OER publishing by offering an online platform for direct engagement: in our unique peer-review process, every manuscript submitted is reviewed with our global network of kids aged 8-15. By taking in their feedback, we create a shared language of understanding directly between young people and active scientists, ensuring that everything we publish is accessible AND fun-to-read for the young peers of our reviewers. Our Young Reviewers gain critical thinking skills, and by having direct contact with both a Science Mentor (PhD-holding adults vetted by the FYM team and working with the kid reviewers locally) and our Authors (who are leading researchers and whose peer-reviewed research we have likewise already validated), they gain the revelation that science really IS for everyone, helping them engage with STEMM. By raising their “science capital”, we increase the likelihood of them remaining engaged, science-literate citizens, thus boosting public trust in science, and even creating the active scientists of the next generation in future.And interestingly, we can show that the learning goes two ways: our Young Reviewers, by giving their direct and unfiltered feedback to the scientist Authors, empower researchers with that new, shared language they can use to communicate their research to anyone.
Speakers
avatar for Laura Henderson

Laura Henderson

Head of Program – Frontiers for Young Minds, Frontiers Research Foundation (Frontiers Media SA)
Laura Henderson is an academic publishing professional with 20 years’ experience across respected international presses. Now part of the Frontiers Research Foundation, she strategically directs the unique science-engagement project, Frontiers for Young Minds (FYM). Passionate... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Re-Designing an International, Student-Led, Co-Curricular, Community-Engaged, Experiential Learning Project for OA
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 33695

This design case details the development of an international, student-led, co-curricular, community-engaged, experiential learning project during its first two years, during which staff and faculty guided and mentored undergraduate students as they developed a process for mentoring young writers in the US and East Africa and creating an anthology of their stories. This project was later converted to an open access approach for creating OER. I discuss critical challenges and successes regarding the design of the project that were made during this period, following the organization of teams for mentoring young writers, editing the anthology, raising funds for printing, and implementing an evaluation plan. I will focus specifically on the challenges and benefits of a minimally-funded project that placed much of the decision-making in the hands of the students. The project lasted for twelve years and resulted in twelves volumes of stories in English and Kinyarwanda, many of which are available for free online. It wasn't until after the first twelve years that the project members considered OA approaches. I conclude with implications for developing and converting to OA a project of this complexity and discuss the successes and failures that the project encountered during the first two years of its implementation (2008-2010) and beyond. I discuss the current emphasis of the project on preparing educators to create OA juvenile titles that can be adapted and translated into underserved languages. 
Speakers
avatar for Beth Lewis Samuelson

Beth Lewis Samuelson

Associate Professor, Indiana University Bloomington
Beth Lewis Samuelson is Associate Professor in the Indiana University Bloomington School of Education, with distinguished contributions in service, teaching, and research and 20 years of experience in higher education. Her research specializations include language awareness and language... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Fostering Creativity in Creative Commons: Empowering Communities to Remix Educational Resources
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 33989

How do you know whether people use your creative-commons-licensed educational resources? Library professionals often do the work of translating complex information into educational resources and engaging learning experiences for their communities to connect with each other, but do not always make time to document and share their resources broadly. Through human-centered approaches that invite playing together, elevating the creativity of library professionals and educators, and joyfully trying out others' ideas in different communities, the inspiration powered by the excitement to share resources can become an unstoppable force.  To address the gap of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education for a wider audience, MIT Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX, plix.mit.edu) develops creative creative-commons-licensed STEAM ("A" adds the arts to STEM) learning resources and experiences based on MIT research and co-designed for the public library setting. With a reach of over 1,400 public library professionals across all 50 United States, and connections across 40 countries, PLIX programs support learners as 1) designers, rather than consumers, of technology, 2) creators, rather than recipients, of knowledge, and 3) scientists and artists, rather than one or the other. PLIX connects library professionals and MIT researchers to co-design learning experiences and develop and share facilitation practices to inspire engaging STEAM programming in public libraries. Drawing from a repository of 13 thoughtfully designed STEM activities, and over 70 adaptations created by the community for localized contexts, learners create, play, experiement with paper circuits, the sound of food, wearable data trackers, urban ecology, an arcade of offline games to learn AI FUNdamentals, and more. To encourage library professionals' confidence to offer high quality STEM learning experiences, PLIX offers 1) easy-entry free online STEAM workshops that provide space for hands-on practice, 2) multi-session facilitation training on creative STEAM pedagogy available in-person, online, and in a hybrid format, and 3) an annual ambassador program to bring together a cohort of library professionals to connect, collaborate, and inspire each other. (Across 4 iterations of the PLIX ambassador program, over 67 librarians continue to use and promote PLIX resources to their library peers.)In this round table, we joyfully share a showcase of PLIX CC-BY-NC-SA printable zines, the different pathways we use to promote their adaptation and use, and encourage attendees to collaboratively edit, cut, paste, and create their own adaptations about knowledge they are excited to share with the world.  
Speakers
avatar for Ada Ren-Mitchell

Ada Ren-Mitchell

Learning Programs Designer, MIT Public Library Innovation Exchange
Ada Ren-Mitchell is a Learning Programs Designer at the MIT Public Library Innovation Exchange (PLIX), where she designs cozy communities and creative STEAM learning experiences. Since 2014, her experiences encompass innovative education pedagogy, STEM research, community facilitation... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:35pm EDT

Cross-Institutional Assessment of Student Outcomes Associated with Course Material Cost in Massachusetts Public Higher Education
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
ID: 34006

Beginning in the 2021-2022 academic year, the Massachusetts Open and Low-Cost Educational Resource Advisory Committee (MA OLERAC) implemented a statewide process to collect and standardize data on no- and low-cost course materials. OLERAC coordinated with institutional research offices at each of the twenty-eight undergraduate-serving public institutions of higher education in Massachusetts to collect data. Institutions included community colleges, state universities, and the University of Massachusetts System.The first year was a slow roll out with traditional data collection like cost savings and the number of no- or low-cost course sections offered to students. In subsequent years, data collection was expanded to include a comparison of student academic outcomes in courses with materials cost greater than $50 ("traditional"), less than $50 ("low-cost"), and $0 ("no-cost," including open educational resources, library and other free resources). Productive (ABC) and non-productive (DFW) grades were tracked for each student in every course system-wide, comparing academic outcomes among courses with traditional, low-cost, and no-cost materials. Data were further disaggregated by race, gender, and Pell Grant eligibility.In this session, we describe the process and challenges of large-scale, cross-institutional data collection and present two years of academic outcome data. Among Massachusetts public institutions, courses with no-cost materials are associated with lower DFW rates than courses with either traditional or low-cost materials. When the data are disaggregated, the correlation of improved course outcomes and no-cost course materials is consistent across almost all gender, race, and economic groups.Together with numbers of low-cost and no-cost sections and course materials cost estimates, the system-wide academic outcome data show that the use of no-cost teaching and learning materials represents a cost-savings for students, offers faculty additional tools that may be customized to engage students, and is positively linked with student academic performance. That means students who enroll in such sections are better able to persist, increase enrollment intensity, and ultimately complete their degree at a lower cost.Key takeaways from this session are a description of the types of OER data collected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, strategies for cross-institutional data collection, and assessment of the impact of no- and low-cost course materials on course grades for students from diverse demographic backgrounds. We will also discuss how to identify key partners needed to effectively implement data collection processes within a State’s Department of Higher Education and how to develop strategies to address the data collection challenges experienced when data submission is not mandatory.
Speakers
avatar for Connie Strittmatter

Connie Strittmatter

Strategic Projects Librarian, Fitchburg State University
Connie Strittmatter is the Strategic Projects Librarian at Fitchburg State University. In her current position, she supports Fitchburg State’s open and affordable education initiative by delivering workshops on OER topics, working individually with faculty to incorporate OER into... Read More →
AS

Amanda Simons

Professor and Chair of Biology, Framingham State University
Amanda Simons is the Chair of Biology at Framingham State University. She is the author of Chromosomes, Genes, and Traits, an OER textbook written with the support from a ROTEL program grant. She is currently serving as a faculty fellow for the Massachusetts Department of Higher... Read More →
avatar for Bernadette Sibuma

Bernadette Sibuma

Director, Online Learning, Massachusetts Bay Community College
Bernadette Sibuma, Ed.D., is the Director of Online Learning at Massachusetts Bay Community College.  She serves as a current member of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Open and Low-Cost Educational Resources Advisory Council (MA OLERAC) and the OLERAC Assessment... Read More →
EW

Emma Wood

Scholarly Communication Librarian, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Emma Wood is the Scholarly Communication Librarian at the University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth. She encourages the adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) among faculty and helps students understand and access OER materials. She serves as a member of the Massachusetts Department... Read More →
avatar for Robert Awkward

Robert Awkward

Assistant Commissioner for Academic Effectiveness, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Dr. Robert Awkward is an educator and scholar based in Massachusetts whose work explores the intersection of open education, inclusive pedagogy, and emerging technologies in higher education. His interests focus on how open practices—such as OER, collaborative knowledge creation... Read More →
avatar for Emily Alling

Emily Alling

Associate Dean, Library Services, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
Emily Alling is the Associate Dean for Library Services at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams, Massachusetts and leads the open and affordable textbook in initiative at her institution. She is a member of the Massachusetts Open and Low Cost Educational Resources... Read More →
SS

Suzanne Smith

Director of Research and Evaluation, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education
Suzanne Smith is the Director of Research and Evaluation at MA Department of Higher Education.  She liaises with the Massachusetts Open and Low Cost Educational Resources Advisory Council (OLERAC) Assessment Committee to collect OER key performance indicator data from the 28 public... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:35pm EDT

The Content Mafia: How Publishers Weaponize Copyright to Control Educational Resources
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
ID: 33913

This session examines eight common practices in educational publishing—edition cycling, access codes and DRM, regional pricing, bundling, inclusive access programs, copyright term extensions, orphan works, and author rights transfer—and explores how Open Educational Resources offer structural alternatives to each challenge. Rather than focusing on what's broken, we'll demonstrate what's possible when educational materials are designed for access from the start.For each publishing practice, we'll show how OER provides concrete solutions: continuous community updates replace fixed edition cycles; open formats work offline and across devices; zero-cost access eliminates currency fluctuations and affordability barriers; modular design lets instructors select exactly what students need rather than buying predetermined bundles transparent licensing prevents orphan works while protecting student privacy; and open licenses let authors retain control while enabling global adaptation and sharing.This session confirms the work OER advocates are already doing while providing practical language and evidence for advancing open alternatives. We'll explore how different business models serve different purposes, examine which practices create barriers to educational access, and equip participants with tools to advocate effectively for student-centered approaches in their own contexts. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies, international examples, and a framework for discussing educational materials that centers learning outcomes and equitable access.
Speakers
avatar for Beth Chenette

Beth Chenette

Associate Librarian, Texas A&M University Libraries
Elizabeth Chenette is an Associate Librarian, member of the OpenEd team, and Reserve Services Coordinator at Texas A&M University Libraries in College Station, Texas. With an MLS from the University of North Texas, Elizabeth has worked in higher education for 13+ years. She has Creative... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:35pm EDT

Design Discomfort: The Friction Open Education Requires
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
ID: 33999

Open education has made extraordinary progress dismantling structural barriers to access. But access is not connection, and presence is not participation. As scholars like Audrey Watters have argued, the promises of open education have often defaulted toward scale and efficiency, optimizing for reach while leaving questions of depth, belonging, and relational learning underexplored. This roundtable asks participants to sit with a new provocation: what if the next step isn't more content, but more friction, the slow, relational work of learning together.Design Discomfort is a circulating research series operating across creative and innovative spaces: design studios, schools, and organizations. The research began as a direct response to AI: where AI aggregates anonymous, patterned, average, "scraped" knowledge at scale, Design Discomfort aggregates named, vulnerable, situated, face-to-face knowledge, asking what remains distinctly human about learning together. Participants gather to have both joyful conversations and the harder ones they tend to avoid, about job security, the role of technology, what education actually prepares you for, and what society needs now. No presentations. No panels. Just people in a room, making something together. Drawing on the facilitation traditions of Freire and bell hooks, the methodology is simple: discomfort invites vulnerability, vulnerability builds community, and community is what education urgently needs.This round table puts that methodology into practice. Rather than presenting findings, the facilitator will open the room with provocations adapted for the open education community, creating the conditions for the same kind of dialogue Design Discomfort generates elsewhere. The format embodies the argument: culture is produced between people, not stored inside them, and education's role isn't to decorate culture but to actively participate in producing it.Participants will engage with questions including: What does genuine community feel like inside open education and how do we build more of it? In a landscape defined increasingly by automation and scale, what do we risk losing if we don't design for vulnerability and human contact? Attendees will leave having experienced relational learning in practice, a transferable methodology for facilitating generative dialogue in their own institutions, and the reminder that education, at its best, has always been about what happens between people — not what gets delivered to them. The friction is the point.
Speakers
avatar for Cameron King

Cameron King

Vice President, Creative (and Grad Student), CASE Agency (and Vermont College of Fine Arts)
Cameron King is a designer, educator, and advocate for collaborative creative communities.His practice sits at the intersection of visual communication, design leadership, and creative culture. As VP of Creative at CASE, he partners with global brands, including e.l.f. Beauty, Disney... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Designed for Humans: Invitations and Boundaries for the Future of Open Courses
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 33860

Designed for Humans: Invitations and Boundaries for the Future of Open Courses explores strategies to move open education beyond static content delivery toward human-centered, equitable learning design that reinforces course integrity while navigating both the promise and pressure of generative AI. Framed through the lens of "invitations" and "boundaries," we highlight course design as an expansion of and integration with OER textbooks. Grounded in research on learner engagement, equity, and Universal Design for Learning, this model was developed and refined in a diverse community college setting with 13,000 students, but the model is adaptable. We invite attendees to bring their institutional contexts, student populations, and constraints to the conversation, and choose what to reuse, revise, remix, or set aside.Invitations and Boundaries Explained"Invitations" encourage students to actively participate, identify content relevance, and build confidence. "Boundaries" preserve course integrity, protect learning outcomes, and keep students on track. When thoughtfully designed, they make open education more usable, supportive, and equitable.The Course as OERBuilding on our “Designed for Humans” work with faculty and institutions, we share a course-as-OER model, treating the course as an intentionally-curated learning experience that includes:Curated, interactive engagement activities tied to OER contentRelevance to students' lived experiencesFocused videos and strategic OER textbook excerptsLocalized content that reflects and speaks to student populationsLow-stakes assessments to reinforce understandingAuthentic assessments that build resumes, college applications, and scholarship possibilitiesThese elements broaden access to knowledge while encouraging active participation rather than passive consumption or AI shortcuts.A Repeatable Module PatternEach module follows a consistent, scaffolded structure:Engagement activity - invites immediate connection, introduces concepts2-minute journal - includes a quick knowledge check with questions drawn from the activityCurated OER content - aligned to learning objectivesLightning lecture - 3-5 minutes, targeted and specificAnonymous poll - low-stakes engagement, formative feedbackCurated OER content - second touchpoint reinforcing the conceptLightning lecture - 3-5 minutesQuiz - question pools created from unique OER and video content Discussion board video post - students apply initial learning Following module - students revisit initial post and respond using newly-learned content and collaborative problem-solvingThis module pattern creates a rhythm that helps students get into the flow. As one student noted, “Once I got started, I didn’t want to stop. I just had to see the next module’s (engagement activity), and before I knew it, I was halfway done with the next module.”For Every Learner, EverywhereOER gives educators the instructional material; intentional course design integrates that material with purpose. Both matter deeply as institutions worldwide serve learners with differing levels of preparation, confidence, time, access, and technological fluency. Attendees will leave with a course framework, examples, and revision ideas they can apply, adapt, and share across disciplines, institutions, and borders. OER works best not as a textbook substitute, but as a foundation for a learning experience that meets students where they are. By reimagining what openness looks like in practice, this session offers a path toward open courses that are truly designed for humans.
Speakers
avatar for Claire Sparklin

Claire Sparklin

Professional Faculty: Communication, Washtenaw Community College
Claire Sparklin is a Communication Faculty member at Washtenaw Community College in Michigan and a former instructional designer whose work centers on AI, instructional design, Open Educational Resources (OER), and authentic student engagement. In addition to her college teaching... Read More →
avatar for Michelle Westerdale

Michelle Westerdale

Learning Experience Designer, Washtenaw Community College
Michelle Westerdale is a Learning Experience Designer at Washtenaw Community College in Michigan. She partners with faculty to create online courses focused on authentic student experience, current pedagogy, and sustainable course design. She brings together her background as a teacher... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

For the Benefit of All: Rethinking OER Access Through Discoverability and Student Navigation
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 33697

Open Educational Resources (OER) and Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) pathways are often presented as equity-minded solutions for reducing financial barriers in higher education. Across California Community Colleges, substantial institutional effort has gone into course conversion, pathway mapping, funding, and reporting. Yet an important practical question remains: even when OER or ZTC options exist, can students actually find them, understand them, and intentionally choose them within the systems they use to plan and register for classes? This session examines that gap between institutional availability and student-facing usability.Drawing on findings from a mixed-methods ZTC Degree Feasibility Study involving 19 participating California community colleges, this presentation shares findings from an exploratory convergent design that integrates three sources of evidence: a multi-institutional student survey on awareness, preferences, and decision-making; student focus groups on navigation strategies and barriers; and semi-structured interviews with counselors, faculty, IT professionals, and administrators on operational feasibility. Together, these sources allow us to compare what institutions say is available with what students are realistically able to perceive and navigate.Across the data, several patterns emerged. Many students do not recognize the terms “OER” or “ZTC,” even when they are enrolled in courses that meet those definitions. Students consistently express interest in lower-cost and no-cost options, but cost is only actionable when it is visible, trustworthy, and easy to interpret at the moment of decision-making. Students also report confusion when labels are unclear or inconsistent, and some describe enrolling in courses marked ZTC or OER that still required payment for course materials. These findings suggest that access is not only a question of whether open options exist, but whether those options are embedded in student-facing systems in ways that support confidence, choice, and follow-through.This session introduces the concept of ambient discoverability: the idea that students should be able to identify and pursue OER and ZTC options without needing prior insider knowledge or familiarity with specialized terminology. Framed this way, OER access becomes not just a content issue, but a system design issue involving registration interfaces, degree planning tools, advising workflows, scheduling practices, and reliable backend data. Participants will leave with a practical framework for evaluating discoverability in their own settings and with concrete strategies for improving student-centered implementation. By reframing access through discoverability, navigation, and trust, this session speaks directly to the conference theme of protecting knowledge as a public good and ensuring that open education functions in practice, not only in principle. Open education is not fully open if only students with insider knowledge can find their way to it.
Speakers
avatar for Cheryl Bailey

Cheryl Bailey

Instruction & Systems Librarian, Irvine Valley College
Cheryl Bailey, MLIS, MA, is an Instruction and Systems Librarian whose work centers on equitable access to higher education, particularly for neurodiverse students. She earned her MLIS from San José State University and her MA from California State University, Long Beach, and is... Read More →
avatar for Rachel Fleming

Rachel Fleming

OER & Equity Librarian, Irvine Valley College
Rachel Fleming, MLIS, is the OER and Equity Librarian at Irvine Valley College. She earned her MLIS from San José State University and is currently completing her first year in the CSU Channel Islands Doctorate in Educational Leadership for Equity and Justice (DELEJ) program. Over... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Open Access in Action: The Real-World Impact of Transformative Agreements
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 32841

This session brings transformative agreements to life through compelling real-world examples, researcher voices, and measurable institutional outcomes. Moving beyond theory, attendees will explore how TAs are streamlining the path to open access publication —including testimonials from researchers and institutions about the simplicity of the process and the tangible difference it has made to their work's reach and impact. From increased citation rates and global visibility to reduced administrative burden and cost transparency, this session demonstrates why transformative agreements are reshaping the publishing landscape — one institution, one researcher, one article at a time.
Speakers
avatar for Sarah Whalen

Sarah Whalen

Director, Open Research Americas, Wiley
 With over 20 years of publishing experience, Sarah started her career in book publishing as the international coordinator for the Alfred A. Knopf imprint at Penguin Random House. After shifting to scholarly publishing, she gained expertise in journal production and editorial management... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

The Structural Value of Openness: Open Infrastructure for Public Good
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 34004

Broadly conceived, open education is a collection of values and practices that seek to create, share, and expand access to knowledge for the public good. The work of open education happens in many ways across higher education. Faculty and students teach and learn with OER, librarians guide us through knowledge discovery and cataloging processes, and staff develop and support programming to cultivate communities of practice. Often these practices are disjointed across the institution and rarely connected to a university’s wider mission. However, at the City University of New York, the development of the CUNY Academic Commons demonstrates the structural value of openness: how openness can serve as an infrastructural commitment and guiding principle for an institution and the knowledge that it produces. Using the City University of New York as a case study, and in particular the open-source technological infrastructure of the CUNY Academic Commons, this presentation will explore how open infrastructure supports inclusive, student-centered pedagogical approaches, fosters faculty, staff, and student agency in knowledge creation, and connects the work within the university to its mission to serve the public good.The City University of New York is the largest urban public institution of higher education in the United States, comprising 26 colleges spread across the five boroughs of New York City.  Founded as the Free Academy 1847, CUNY has a history of openness and activism. The university’s foundational principle contends that higher education should be accessible to all the city’s residents, and despite persistent lack of funding and chronic austerity, CUNY continues to provide affordable access to higher education and serve as a transformative engine of social mobility for all New Yorkers. In 2009, a group of CUNY faculty, staff, and graduate students used the open-source software frameworks WordPress and BuddyPress to launch the CUNY Academic Commons, a digital platform to “support faculty initiatives and build community through the use(s) of technology in teaching and learning.” Over the years, and more recently with OER funding from New York State, the CUNY Academic Commons has grown to over 50,000 users who have built 40,000+ websites and administer over 2,200 groups. In addition to the Commons, other projects have emerged across CUNY, creating an open-source ecosystem and community of practice that develops alternatives to corporate, siloed tools for teaching and learning at CUNY. As a community-developed and maintained platform, the CUNY Academic Commons evolves in response to users' needs and desires. Faculty teach and students take courses, some of which involve co-developing projects and public-facing resources. University staff create websites to publicize their departments and research centers. Graduate students create personalized portfolios to share their academic and non-academic work. Colleagues leverage groups to share research projects and connect across the city. This presentation will detail how the openness and flexibility of the CUNY Academic Commons gives us a vision of what a university for the public good is and could be: diverse communities of practice facilitating and engaging in the creation of knowledge for all.
Speakers
avatar for Laurie Hurson

Laurie Hurson

Assistant Director of Open Education, The Graduate Center, The City University of New York (CUNY)
Laurie Hurson is the Assistant Director of Open Education at the CUNY Graduate Center's Teaching and Learning Center, where she focuses on faculty development and the implementation of open educational practices. Her work includes developing and leading initiatives such as the Open... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
8 DR6 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Make a Zine and Make Community
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
ID: 34010

During this round table session, participants will discuss reasons that we need support right now, and will learn how to make zines as one way to create community. Making things together (crafts, OER) can help us develop relationships, have fun, and feel a sense of accomplishment. We will discuss the ways that we might be able to find connection and hope through the values of open education. Working in higher education in the United States is especially difficult at this moment in history. Beyond the headline-grabbing threats and cancelled research funding, educators are still feeling effects from the pandemic lockdowns and altered teaching practices that began in 2020--2021. Many students today feel anxious and isolated, and have minimal coping skills to handle those feelings. Many have difficulty reading and comprehending written instructions, and some are so overwhelmed by the demands of what used to be a typical college semester that they just shut down or give up. I find this heartbreaking, frustrating, and exhausting. On top of that, I am part of a minority of faculty in my department who use open resources, which can cause a feeling of isolation. Using OER over time has led me to develop and articulate my values around education--especially public higher education--that go beyond “free is good for students” to include “education is a human right” and “my institution exists to serve the people who live in the region, whoever they are.” Sometimes I remix or create new open content, but in recent years the amount of extra work to take the materials from “class handouts” to “open resources that are proofread, formatted, licensed, posted, and publicized” has been beyond my capacity. That said, I have been able to find sources of resilience! I have found like-minded individuals within my institution. We have made changes to our classes that encourage hope and play and just talking to each other more. I attribute the latter to my decade-plus use of OER, which allowed me to decouple my teaching from the rigid structure of a commercial textbook. It has become a habit, now, to check my assumptions, figure out what my students’ needs are now, and then to find or make something that will meet those needs. Zines (from the word magazines) are 8-page booklets folded from a single sheet of letter-sized paper. The zine maker writes, draws, makes collages for each page. The zine can then be photocopied, folded, and distributed.I have used zines in classes as a way for students to engage with the course material in cognitive, affective, creative, and tactile ways that are different from what they usually do. Students summarize and create and imagine something new using what they have learned in class, and they enjoy it so much. Materials and examples will be provided.
Speakers
ES

Elizabeth Siler

Professor, Worcester State University
Elizabeth Siler is a professor at Worcester State University in the Business Administration and Economics Department. She teaches management classes to undergraduate students and almost exclusively uses open education resources, and is an advisor for the Fiber Arts Circle student... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 4:50pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Inventing Open Together: A Massachusetts Snapshot of Statewide Collaboration
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 5:25pm EDT
ID: 33778

Open Education (OE) doesn’t scale through tools or policies alone, but through relationships, and Massachusetts offers a vivid example of that work in progress. What becomes possible when OE is approached not just as an institutional effort, but as a statewide, collaborative ecosystem? The Open & Low-Cost Educational Resources Advisory Council (OLERAC) advances statewide efforts to reduce educational costs, promote equity, and support the creation and recognition of open knowledge.This panel offers an evolving snapshot of Open Education in Massachusetts, with a focus on community colleges and the work of OLERAC. Through faculty and administrative perspectives, panelists will explore how cross-institutional collaboration, shared infrastructure, and community-driven approaches are shaping more sustainable and equitable open practices.Rather than presenting a single model, this session highlights work in progress: efforts to scale course marking, support faculty engagement, and navigate emerging questions around sustainability, accessibility, and artificial intelligence. Panelists will reflect on both successes and ongoing challenges, including the realities of coordinating across systems, roles, and capacity constraints.Grounded in the conference theme, this session invites participants into the conversation. After a brief panel discussion, attendees will engage in a full-room dialogue to share how similar (or different) efforts are unfolding in their own states, regions, or countries. Together, we will surface ideas, tensions, and possibilities for “inventing” more connected and resilient open ecosystems.
Speakers
avatar for Chris Laney

Chris Laney

Professor of History & Coordinator, Honors Scholar Program, Berkshire Community College
Chris Laney teaches history and serves as the Honors Program Coordinator at Berkshire Community College.  He has used OER since 2019 and is a member of the BCC OER Committee and the Massachusetts OLERAC.  He lives on a homestead in Western Massachusetts with his family and an assortment... Read More →
GF

Gina Foley

Associate Professor of Biology, Berkshire Community College
Gina Foley is an Associate Professor of Biology at Berkshire Community College, where she has spent the past two decades teaching and supporting STEM students. During a recent sabbatical, she developed Storytelling in Biology, an OER resource that uses powerful real-world stories... Read More →
avatar for Bernadette Sibuma

Bernadette Sibuma

Director, Online Learning, Massachusetts Bay Community College
Bernadette Sibuma, Ed.D., is the Director of Online Learning at Massachusetts Bay Community College.  She serves as a current member of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Open and Low-Cost Educational Resources Advisory Council (MA OLERAC) and the OLERAC Assessment... Read More →
CD

Ceit De Vitto

Sr. Special Programs Coordinator/Open Education, Bunker Hill Community College
Ceit De Vitto holds an M.E.d. in Instructional Design, from UMass Boston. Since 2018 she has worked for Bunker Hill Community College as the Open Education Cooridinator. She also chairs the Course Flagging Committee for Massachusetts Department of Higher Education’s Open and Low-Cost... Read More →
avatar for Heather Blicher

Heather Blicher

Director, Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER), Open Education Global
Heather Blicher is the Director of the Community College Consortium for OER (CCCOER) with Open Education Global, where she leads efforts to expand and support Open Education across community and technical colleges in North America. A passionate advocate for access, equity, and collaboration... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 5:25pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:20pm EDT

Sparking Connection, Creativity, and Curiosity with the Open Education Network
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 6:00pm EDT
ID: 31480

Engage in creative conversation with other open practitioners as you experience unique open spaces and centers around the MIT campus and nearby Cambridge. A chance to unwind, interact, and pursue ideas while stepping outside of the confines of the traditional conference setting. Convened by the staff of the Open Education Network, who are also always happy to chat about their work and offering of support resources!
Speakers
avatar for Open Education Network

Open Education Network

Staff, Open Education Network
The OEN is a global collective of more than 1,700 higher education institutions and consortia that partner together to make higher education more affordable and equitable through engagement with open education. We are not a vendor, a business, or even a non-profit; we are part of... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:20pm - 6:00pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:55pm EDT

Augmenting Open Educational Resources at Scale: AI-Driven Approaches to Adoption, Adaptation, and Distribution
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
ID: 34028

Artificial intelligence (AI) is ushering in a significant shift in education, introducing systems capable of adapting to learners with unprecedented precision and immediacy. Rather than functioning as static tools, AI-driven platforms now provide context-aware guidance, personalized learning pathways, and real-time feedback that reshape how knowledge is acquired and applied. While these advances can enhance instructional effectiveness and deepen student engagement, they also raise critical concerns about access, as unequal availability risks widening existing gaps in educational opportunity.This presentation examines a new initiative from LibreTexts, a widely adopted, not-for-profit platform, that advances the integration of AI into open educational resources to create a scalable, adaptive, and equitable learning ecosystem. The initiative develops and deploys a comprehensive suite of intelligent tools across the LibreVerse, including context-aware AI tutors embedded within digital textbooks, automated generation and evaluation of formative homework, AI-assisted writing and research support, AI-guided coding and data science tools within Jupyter environments, and AI-enabled social annotation to foster deeper collaboration and engagement.The initiative is organized around five core development areas: (I) AI tutor–enhanced textbooks providing contextualized, always-available guidance grounded in vetted OER; (II) AI-supported homework systems enabling scalable question generation and automated evaluation; (III) AI-assisted writing tools supporting both student learning and instructor content creation; (IV) AI-integrated coding and data science environments enabling collaborative problem-solving; and (V) AI-enhanced social annotation to strengthen interaction, comprehension, and critical thinking.Complementing these advances are robust faculty development programs that support effective adoption and adaptation, alongside a rigorous assessment framework to evaluate learning outcomes, user experience, and system performance for continuous improvement. The anticipated result is a nationally scalable, openly accessible AI-powered ecosystem that improves student comprehension, engagement, and achievement while reducing equity gaps through free, personalized learning support. Instructors benefit from integrated tools for content creation, assessment, analytics, and pedagogy. Grounded in transparency and openness, the initiative establishes a trustworthy AI infrastructure enabling seamless interoperability across textbooks, assessment systems, coding environments, writing tools, and collaborative platforms.This initiative it builds on the proven foundation of the LibreVerse, reaches a truly global audience, and operates under a mission-driven, nonprofit model that maximizes impact. LibreTexts has an established record of developing transformative educational technology and high-quality content for post-secondary learning, with current engagement levels reaching roughly 250 million student interactions per year. This scale enables new AI-driven capabilities to be deployed and adopted rapidly. As a nonprofit dedicated to broad dissemination of OER and open-source tools, LibreTexts removes profit-driven barriers, ensuring innovations can be distributed widely, quickly, and at minimal cost.The project is also innovative in both design and implementation. Its integration within the LibreVerse leverages one of the world’s largest OER repositories, creating a powerful feedback loop of rapid deployment, widespread adoption, and continuous refinement based on authentic learning behavior. Key technical innovations include context-aware AI systems trained on open educational content and aligned with pedagogical best practices, cross-platform interoperability across the entire ecosystem, and transparent development pipelines that allow educators and researchers to audit, extend, and adapt the tools. 
Speakers
avatar for Delmar Larsen

Delmar Larsen

Professor and CEO, University of California, Davis and LibreTexts
Delmar Larsen is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis, and a leading advocate for open education. He is the founder and CEO of the LibreTexts project, one of the world’s largest open educational resource (OER) platforms, providing freely accessible, customizable... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

4:55pm EDT

Beyond Tech vs Content: Articulating the Public Interest in AI Policy:The Open Education Perspective
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
ID: 34027

Public debate continues to rage over AI policy - the economic, technical, and legal regulation of AI tool creation and use. These debates, however, reduce the interests down to a balancing of the interest and demands of the content industry with the interests and demands of the technology industry.  Neither of those interests align particularly closely with the interests of users, and of public interest institutions including libraries, educational institutions, and the populations they serve.The members of the panel will discuss what issues define the public interest as distinct from both of these corporate interests - working from the experience of the open education community as both committed to the public interest and engaged with new technologies.  We will cover interests including:Accessibility, universal design, and student agency - including the importance of users control and tool choiceTransparency and due process - focusing on the importance of disclosure when AI tools are used and a process for challenging AI determinations when they are made without meaningful reviewStudent surveillance, learning, and open pedagogy - preserving space for experimentation and learningInteroperability and portability - pushing back on platformization as a tool for extractive business models and content silosAgainst these concerns we will start with a discussion of choices at an instructor or an institutional level, but will also focus on building a public agenda for policy debates and lawmaking processes to enunciate the interests that are not currently well represented in the debate. We will engage with audience members to identify decision points in the selection, implementation, and use of AI in different teaching and learning contexts and to map the interests of users in specific cases.  This session will build on previous work, including the “Policy Priorities for Generative AI and Open Education: A Report for the DOERS Community” as well as previous workshops within the open education community over the past four years.   We hope this session will serve two parallel purposes: First we hope it prepares participants for discussions of AI implementation and policy that they are involved in at a classroom, department, institutional or system level.  Second, we hope that active discussion, participation, and feedback from participants will shape our forward looking work on furthering the public interests in law and policy debates on AI regulation, licensing, and lawmaking. These goals are urgent - as policy decisions are being made we need a clear case for the interests of users, not just a bargain struck between two competing corporate interests.  Members of the open community provide a valuable public interest perspective into this debate.
Speakers
avatar for William Cross

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 →
avatar for Meredith Jacob

Meredith Jacob

Director, Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property, American University Washington College of Law
Meredith Jacob is the director of the Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property at American University Washington College of Law. Currently her work includes research and advocacy focused on: open educational resources, open access to federally funded research, and... Read More →
avatar for Robin DeRosa

Robin DeRosa

Executive Director, Open Education Network
Dr. Robin DeRosa is an educator and community leader who has served in many roles over the span of her career. She has been a middle school theater teacher, a high school literature and writing teacher, and a college professor of both English and Interdisciplinary Studies. She has... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 4:55pm - 5:25pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

5:30pm EDT

Preparing for the Future of Work: Communications Between Workforce and OER
Thursday October 8, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
ID: 33960

Upskilling and reskilling of the current workforce has become an essential part of achieving the global development agenda of the UN’s Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Skills centered on equitable access, digital competency, and principles of sustainability are vital not only for economic growth, but also for our societies to thrive. While educational institutions and industries guide students from one stop on their path to the next, collaboration or even communication between both parties is limited.This panel brings together representatives from the DOERS Workforce Development Project to share their perspectives on the rapidly-evolving relationship between workforce and post-secondary education systems, and the value of open education in this currently prioritized landscape. Industry representatives, directors of workforce initiatives, college & university administrators and faculty, open education leaders, and working group leaders will discuss challenges and achievements in strategic outreach and forged connections. Sharing concrete examples demonstrating how the openly licensed, customizable nature of OER facilitates innovative approaches to support career-connected learning and align programs with workforce needs will impart the value of OER in workforce development to session attendees.  This project explores open educational resources (OER) as a practical policy tool supporting institutional innovation, affordability, and workforce alignment across many US states and Canadian provinces. OER use allows institutions to update curriculum efficiently, embed industry-recognized competencies, and reduce cost barriers; goals that are particularly relevant as states expand work-based learning, dual enrollment, competency-based education, and stackable credential pathways. Since 2024, the DOERS Workforce Project has focused on a three-phase approach toward its goal of supporting higher education systems and consortia toward the growth and integration of open education and OER across workforce-aligned education. Phase One was the creation and testing of an OER + Workforce Collaboration System at OpenEd25 and a plenary workshop at the Wyoming OER Conference 2026. This co-design experience invites participants to explore and test a suite of collaboration tools designed to help cross-sector teams imagine, create, and implement workforce-aligned OER solutions. Phase Two was the convening of 3 focus groups to further spotlight gaps in OER + workforce and offer future directions. Phase Three saw the generation of a Workforce OER Playbook. This living resource (forthcoming Summer 2026) will collect real-world use cases, stories, and evidence from across the OER and workforce development communities — showcasing how collaboration can lead to better learning outcomes and stronger regional economies. Both the Collaboration System and the Playbook will be openly published and made available to session attendees. DOERS acknowledges its valuable partnership with The Rebus Foundation and Clear Kinetic on the Workforce Project.
Speakers
avatar for Jaimie Henthorn

Jaimie Henthorn

Director, Academic Innovation Programs, University of Colorado System
As Director of Academic Innovation Programs for the University of Colorado System, Jaimie leads initiatives across four campuses aimed at lowering barriers to quality education through innovation. Initiatives include OER, micro-credentialing, MOOCs, and more. Currently, the Innovation... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

5:30pm EDT

Who Gets Credit When AI Shares the Work? A Provenance Conversation
Thursday October 8, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
ID: 34030

When a student submits work that includes AI-generated text, adapted OER, and original writing, who made it? When a librarian publishes a course guide remixed from three openly licensed sources and refined with an AI tool, whose work is it? When an educator adapts a textbook chapter, runs it through a translation model, and posts it under CC BY, who does that license require you to credit?
These aren't hypothetical questions. They're happening in classrooms, libraries, and publishing workflows right now, and many of us are making up the answers as we go.
Attribution in open education has always been more aspiration than infrastructure. Creative Commons gives us TASL (Title, Author, Source, License) as a starting point, not a system, and the ground is shifting under even that starting point. The U.S. Copyright Office concluded in its January 2025 copyrightability report that AI-generated content without sufficient human authorship is not copyrightable, which means the "Author" field in TASL now carries questions it was never designed for. CC Signals, Creative Commons' emerging preference signals project, introduces credit obligations for machine reuse of openly licensed collections but operates at the dataset level, not per-work provenance tracking inside a content workflow. The gap between what we say we value and what we can trace keeps growing.
This round table is a conversation about what honest attribution looks like when humans and AI share the work.
We're bringing one proposed answer to the table: DARP (Devise, Author, Review, Prepare). DARP is a structured attribution model that assigns contributor roles, human or AI, across four stages of a content workflow, each with a defined scope of involvement. It tracks provenance as work is made, not reconstructed after the fact, and that record persists through remixing and redistribution without altering source text.
DARP is not theoretical. It is implemented in commonFrame, an open-source platform licensed under AGPL, with tooling available at no cost. But this conversation is not about the platform. It's about whether a model like DARP reflects how open educators actually work (and what's missing).
One question will anchor our time together: does a four-stage attribution model fit your practice, and where does it break? We especially want to hear from the open educators, open technologists, and open innovators at OEGlobal 2026 who remix, adapt, translate, and publish in open contexts every day. If the model doesn't fit your workflow, tell us why. If there's a stage we haven't accounted for, we want to know. If your context raises questions we haven't considered, we want to hear them.
Attribution is what keeps open education trustworthy and sustainable. This community has been working in open contexts longer than most, and that experience should shape what gets built next.
Speakers
avatar for Victoria Brame

Victoria Brame

Co-Founder, Clear Box
Victoria Brame is the co-founder of Clear Box, a mission-driven organization creating local-first, clear-box AI infrastructure so that access to knowledge never comes at the cost of privacy. She also leads strategic communications at The Rebus Foundation, expanding the reach of impactful... Read More →
avatar for Chris Macek

Chris Macek

Co-Founder, Clear Box
Chris Macek is the co-founder of Clear Box, a mission-driven organization working to make public good software approachable and trustworthy. He leads development and designs systems that make it possible, a role that comes naturally after 20 years of doing the same thing in recording... Read More →
Thursday October 8, 2026 5:30pm - 6:00pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
 
Friday, October 9
 

8:45am EDT

Welcome to Day 3
Friday October 9, 2026 8:45am - 9:00am EDT
Daily Welcome
Start the day with a brief conference welcome featuring important announcements, highlights, and an overview of the day's program.
Friday October 9, 2026 8:45am - 9:00am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  General

9:00am EDT

Keynote 4
Friday October 9, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
Plenary Session
Conference-wide plenary featuring distinguished speakers and timely conversations on the future of open education. Speaker details will be announced soon.
Friday October 9, 2026 9:00am - 10:00am EDT
1 Salon MIT MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  Plenary

10:30am EDT

Democratizing Knowledge Through the Localization of OER at the School and Classroom Level in Lebanon
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 33951

Relevancy:OER can facilitate the democratization of education because they are freely available for both receiving and sharing knowledge (Ossiannilsson, 2023). The open education community can use OER to invite more knowledge holders to contribute to the production and development of relevant resources that reflect those who will use them and that support their goals. However, the ways in which local knowledge holders, especially in the Global South, engage with OER is understudied. Arinto et al. (2017) have developed levels of social inclusion to understand and support the local participants in the Global South to engage with OER. Therefore, this presentation will show an example of how theory and participatory research can be used by the open education community to support innovative, inclusive open content. Research Design and Goals:I used the model from Arinto et al. (2017) as a framework to further understand the possibilities of localized OER. I conducted a case study of Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL), a grassroots nonprofit organization in Beirut, Lebanon, which had created a digital platform called Tabshoura aligned with the Lebanese curriculum. LAL’s goal is to use this platform to support teachers and students navigating challenging and changing circumstances like the economic and refugee crises in 2023. LAL sought to understand how and why teachers engaged with Tabshoura to grow the platform, so I used a photovoice approach to understand teachers’ experiences with this OER (Wang and Burris, 1997). Teachers submitted photos and brief captions in response to a prompt, and I interviewed teachers and observed their classrooms while they taught with Tabshoura. Research Takeaways:This case study offered the opportunity to study how open content can facilitate the democratization of education by focusing on a particular use of localized OER by teachers in the Global South at the classroom and school level. The teachers reported the decisions they made about how to use Tabshoura to implement the appropriate pedagogical approaches to enable students to direct their own learning and to collaborate with other students. They used the platform to:Facilitate alternative learning outside the classroom with the use of a mobile app.Reorder lessons, simplify activities, and combine Tabshoura with additional activities to meet students’ individual needs. Edit and create content on the platform with support from LAL. Overall, the teachers expressed confidence in Tabshoura’s reliability for their goals. Many teachers also reported they felt encouraged and supported through their community with LAL, within their schools, with parents, and with students. From this case, I created a supplemental model to Arinto et al. (2017) to showcase how Lebanese teachers developed agency by engaging with OER to support their students. Presentation Takeaways:Conducting participatory research in this study showed how centering teachers helped to further define how OER can support democratizing education at the classroom and school level. The open education community can advance open content by studying and supporting those who are already sharing and receiving knowledge through OER in order to meet their goals, even in challenging circumstances.
Speakers
avatar for Bethany Eldridge

Bethany Eldridge

Research Associate, University of Michigan
Bethany Eldridge recently completed her PhD in Educational Studies at the University of Michigan. Her research focused on understanding how teachers of vulnerable students in Lebanon engaged with an open digital platform called Tabshoura, which was developed by a grassroots nonprofit... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Indigenous Languages, Multimedia, and OER: From Decolonising the Mind to Democratising Knowledge
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 33198

This session highlights the transformative power of indigenous languages and their ability to provide access to knowledge through multimedia Open Educational Resources. It draws from the influential ideas of Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, especially his book 'Decolonising the Mind', to demonstrate that language is more than just a means of communication; it embodies culture, identity, and ways of knowing. The talk moves beyond criticizing the system to argue that true decolonization in education involves actively creating and sharing knowledge in indigenous languages.During the session, we will explore ongoing work in Yorùbá, showing how multimedia OER can take various forms: traditional storytelling, audiovisual learning tools, terminology databases, and digital content rooted in cultural contexts. These resources are designed to make information freely accessible and to promote more culturally responsive teaching. They also aim to reach young people, particularly those in the diaspora who often feel disconnected from their linguistic and cultural roots.What is exciting is how a multimedia approach: combining text, audio, visuals, and interactive features can greatly improve understanding, memory, and cultural connections. We will also address the real challenges involved: developing terminology, ensuring quality, and establishing standards for languages that have historically been minoritised. At the same time, we will highlight collaborative, community-driven methods of knowledge production.A key part of the discussion will focus on open licensing and its role in democratising access to knowledge. When educational resources are free and adaptable, communities are no longer just passive recipients; they become co-creators capable of shaping content to fit their own contexts. This shift redistributes power away from dominant knowledge systems and encourages more inclusive, diverse learning approaches.Participants will leave with practical ideas for creating multilingual, multimedia OER and strategies for integrating indigenous knowledge into both formal and informal education. This session will especially benefit educators, researchers, technologists, and cultural practitioners passionate about decolonization, digital humanities, language revitalisation, or open education.Ultimately, this session emphasises that indigenous languages are not secondary; they are central to our global knowledge systems, where access, representation, and cultural authenticity are foundational to how we learn.
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Opening Pathways to Educational Research: What We Learned from 1200+ Journals Open-Access Status
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 32962

How can educators fully participate in scholarly knowledge-making when so much of the field remains restricted by paywalls or publication fees? This presentation shares findings from a comprehensive study of 1,205 education journals and their current open-access status. Using this dataset, we map the distribution of publishing models across the field, including subscription-based journals, hybrid journals, and fully open-access journals, in order to examine how openness operates in practice rather than as an abstract ideal. Although open access is often described as a public good that broadens the reach of scholarship, the publishing landscape in education reveals a far more uneven and contradictory reality. Many journals still depend on reader-side paywalls, while others shift the financial burden to authors through article-processing charges. In both cases, access remains constrained, and participation in scholarly communication is shaped by financial privilege.This session makes those structural barriers visible by showing how both pay-to-read and pay-to-publish systems limit who can access research, who can contribute to it, and whose work is most likely to circulate widely. Particular attention is given to hybrid-access models, which often preserve inequity under the appearance of openness. While hybrid journals may offer an open-access option, that openness is frequently available only to authors or institutions with the resources to pay publication fees. As a result, hybrid publishing can reproduce exclusionary dynamics while still allowing journals to claim alignment with open values.Beyond describing the problem, the session introduces the journal dataset as a practical resource for educators, librarians, academic leaders, and policy advocates. Participants will see examples of journal policies and publishing arrangements that illustrate the complexity of the current landscape. They will also be invited to consider how the dataset can support local decision-making, including identifying publication venues aligned with open-access values, reviewing institutional publishing guidance, and informing conversations between faculty, libraries, and campus leadership. A simple follow-along checklist will be shared that attendees can adapt for advocacy, policy review, or strategic planning.The session’s central claim is that open access should not be treated as a niche concern left solely to libraries or individual authors. Instead, colleges and universities can take a more active role in reducing barriers to knowledge by aligning promotion and tenure expectations, funding practices, publishing guidance, and institutional policy with long-term commitments to broader public access. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the education journal landscape, a stronger vocabulary for discussing the limitations of hybrid openness, and concrete starting points for action within their own institutions.
Speakers
avatar for Lance Eaton

Lance Eaton

Senior Associate Director of AI in Teaching & Learning, Northeastern University
Lance Eaton, PhD, is Senior Associate Director of AI in Teaching & Learning at Northeastern University. His dissertation focuses on academic piracy and open-access practices. He has published and presented on open access, open education, and open pedagogy for the last 10 years.
avatar for Danielle Leek

Danielle Leek

Project Director, Scottsdale Community College
Danielle Leek, PhD, is an instructor at Johns Hopkins University. She is also Project Director for the federally funded Open 4Peer Review initiative at Maricopa Community Colleges and Founder and Principal at Danielle Leek Consulting.
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Students as Co-Creators: Advancing Equity and Engagement Through Collaborative Open Educational Resource Development in Undergraduate Biology
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 33709

Open Educational Resources (OER) are widely recognized for their role in reducing financial barriers to education; however, their potential to transform teaching and learning through open pedagogy remains underutilized, particularly in STEM disciplines. This study examines a student–faculty co-creation model implemented in undergraduate biology courses at Xavier University of Louisiana, a Historically Black College and University (HBCU), where students are positioned as active contributors to the development of openly licensed instructional materials. By engaging students as co-creators, this project seeks to advance equity-centered teaching practices while deepening student learning and engagement.In this initiative, undergraduate biology students collaborate with faculty to design and develop OER materials aligned with course learning objectives, including annotated lecture slide decks, formative assessments, and study guides. These materials are intentionally designed to be culturally relevant and reflective of the diverse identities and experiences of the student population. The project emphasizes inclusive pedagogy by integrating student voice into the creation of academic content, thereby challenging traditional hierarchies of knowledge production in higher education.A mixed-methods research design is used to evaluate the impact of this co-creation model. Quantitative data include pre- and post-course surveys measuring science identity, sense of belonging, and self-efficacy in biology, as well as comparisons of course performance between student participants and non-participants. Qualitative data are collected through reflective journals, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews to capture students’ perceptions of their roles as contributors, their engagement with course content, and the perceived relevance of the materials they help create. Additional evaluation includes faculty feedback on the usability and effectiveness of student-generated OER in subsequent course offerings.Preliminary findings suggest that participation in OER co-creation enhances student ownership of learning, strengthens conceptual understanding, and fosters a stronger sense of belonging in STEM. These outcomes are particularly meaningful for students from historically underrepresented backgrounds, who often experience barriers to inclusion within traditional STEM learning environments. Furthermore, this project demonstrates that student-generated OER can serve as both a pedagogical tool and a mechanism for amplifying diverse perspectives in scientific education.This work contributes a scalable and replicable model for integrating open pedagogy into undergraduate STEM curricula. All developed materials will be openly licensed and disseminated through public repositories to support broader adoption and adaptation. By centering student voice, promoting equitable participation, and expanding access to culturally relevant resources, this project advances the broader goals of open education.
Speakers
avatar for Christopher Bolden

Christopher Bolden

Assistant Professor, Xavier University of Louisiana
Christopher T. Bolden, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Xavier University of Louisiana. Trained in clinical and translational science, he earned his PhD in Biomedical Sciences (Clinical & Translational Science) from the University of Arkansas for Medical... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Sustainable Open Education: Ideation, Advocacy, Policy, Networks and Champions
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
ID: 33861

Open Educational Resources (OER) and OER-enabled Open Education Practices have transformative potential to improve educational quality, increase student retention, strengthen student engagement, expand access and widen participation, reduce costs for learners, foster cross-border and cross-sector collaboration, and enable the localization and contextualization of learning materials. Importantly, they also help advance international commitments, such as the Sustainable Development Goals—particularly SDG 4, which emphasises inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities.Despite this promise and proven potential, the sustainability of open education remains uneven and fragile. Across contexts, efforts are often constrained by a lack of supportive institutional and governmental policies, limited capacity and resources, and infrastructural challenges. Open education initiatives frequently remain project-based rather than embedded within core institutional operations. Additionally, weak integration within networks and communities of practice, limited responsiveness to emerging developments, and over- or underutilization of Open Education champions and policy entrepreneurs and a lack of support mechanisms also contribute to stalled progress.This presentation argues that achieving sustainable open education systems requires a more intentional andinterconnected approach centred on five key elements: ideation, advocacy, policy, networks, and champions. Drawing on findings from the recently defended PhD thesis, “Prepare for the Long Run: Strategies for Affecting Governmental OER Policy Developments by International Organisations,” the session explores how these elements interact to create enabling environments for sustainable open education. The study examined how international organizations influence the development of governmental OER policy and how these efforts are perceived by policymakers, experts, and advisors across 33 countries, states, and provinces.The findings from the PhD research highlight that sustainable change does not emerge from isolated interventions but from sustained processes of ideation—where shared visions and narratives around openness are developed and refined—and advocacy, which translates these ideas into compelling cases for action tailored to specific policy contexts. Policy plays a critical role in embedding open education within formal systems and ensuring continuity beyond individual projects or funding cycles. However, policy alone is insufficient without strong networks that facilitate knowledge exchange, collaboration, and mutual learning across sectors and geographies. These networks amplify impact, support capacity building, and help align local practices with global developments.Equally important are champions and policy entrepreneurs—individuals and groups who actively promote, translate, and operationalize open education within their contexts and drive policy developments. These actors bridge gaps between ideas, policy, and practice, often serving as catalysts for institutional and systemic change.By integrating ideation, advocacy, policy, networks, and champions, this presentation proposes a framework for advancing sustainable open education ecosystems. It emphasizes the need to move beyond fragmented, short-term initiatives toward coordinated, long-term approaches that embed openness within the core of education systems.
Speakers
avatar for Igor Lesko

Igor Lesko

Co-Executive Director, Open Education Global
Igor Lesko, PhD, is Co-Executive Director of Open Education Global (https://www.oeglobal.org/),  an international nonprofit organizationpromoting and mainstreaming open education worldwide. Originally from Slovakia and based in South Africa since 2003, he has over 16 years of experience... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:00am EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

10:30am EDT

Feminist Pedagogy as Liberatory Practice
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
ID: 34013

Equity and inclusion have recently become contentious topics on college campuses, but in the classroom, the expectation for student-centered learning remains constant. As educators navigate the tension between increased scrutiny of their teaching practices and eroding higher education institutions, pedagogy is at an inflection point. Institutional incentives to perpetuate the status quo abound; now more than ever, the educational is political.This panel calls for an analysis of power in and outside the classroom, and a confrontation of the patriarchal and oppressive underpinnings of traditional pedagogy. Despite a renewed focus on inclusion in the classroom, many teaching practices still center the professor-as-expert; promote a canon of white, Western-centric ways of knowing; and perpetuate a violent culture of individualism. Mainstream discourse around student-centered learning tends to reinforce hegemonic power structures and place the burden of change on educators rather than on institutions. To foster learning environments that are marked by belonging, agency, and connection, and to prepare students for an increasingly complex society, inclusive teaching practices must be accompanied by an analysis of power, both in the classroom and in the world around them.Feminist pedagogy is a framework that places questions of power, inequality, and justice at the center of teaching. Feminist scholar and educator bell hooks, informed by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire, defined feminist pedagogy as a liberatory practice that fosters critical thinking and provides students with the tools to question inequality and social structures. hooks framed the pursuit of learning as intertwined with the pursuit of liberation, and elevates educators as as catalysts for transformation who should foster love and justice. There is no precise formula for practicing feminist pedagogy; it comprises a set of unifying themes such as reducing the classroom power gap, viewing students as active participants in their education, addressing systems of oppression, and challenging those systems through a democratized classroom.This panel aims to highlight ways in which feminist pedagogical practices are currently shaping education, and explore ethical and practical challenges that educators face in their teaching. Emerging from the collaborative book project Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design (MIT Press, 2023), which illuminates design as a feminist practice, we propose a moderated dialogue featuring five educators working at the intersections of art, design, and technology, each from diverse backgrounds and institutions in and outside the U.S. Each panelist arrives at this conversation through the unique lens of their own identities and experiences as educators, administrators, practicing designers, mothers, social workers, queer folx, and people of color. Topics to be addressed include power relations in the classroom; care as a pedagogical method; culturally responsive mentorship; curricula and projects that center social justice; where feminist and decolonial perspectives merge; and enacting change within institutions. Panelists will share a plurality of approaches to implementing feminist ways of knowing and doing in the classroom that could be applicable to any discipline. With an emphasis on collaboration and community, we aim to generate an open dialogue about education as a liberatory practice for both students and educators.
Speakers
avatar for Heather Snyder Quinn

Heather Snyder Quinn

Associate Professor, DePaul University
Heather Snyder Quinn, MFA is an Associate Professor of Design and Civics Institute Teacher-Scholar. She was named a 2024 “Researcher to Know” by the Illinois Science and Technology Coalition and serves on the board of directors for DePaul’s Institute for Business and Professional... Read More →
avatar for Ayako Takase

Ayako Takase

Associate Professor, Rhode Island School of Design
Ayako Takase is a designer and educator who centers their practice on creating experiences and objects that foster meaningful, emotive connections with people, culture, and audiences. Her life is a mixture of east and west—her early upbringing in Japan fostered an appreciation of... Read More →
JK

Jeff Kasper

Associate Professor, UMass Amherst
Jeff Kasper is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and educator, specializing in public art, design, community education, and social engagement. He creates text-based projects, experimental publications, games, audio storytelling, open editions, exhibitions, and workshops, often... Read More →
avatar for Alison Place

Alison Place

Assistant Professor Educator, University of Cincinnati
Alison Place is a designer, educator, and writer whose work explores the intersection of design and feminist theory as a space for critical making and radical speculation. She is the author of Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design (MIT Press 2023), which illuminates... Read More →
SR

Sarah Rutherford

Associate Professor, Cleveland State University
Sarah Rutherford is an Associate Professor of Design and the Undergraduate Director of Design at Cleveland State University and a former President of AIGA Cleveland. She researches, writes, and speaks about pedagogy and learning in higher education. She holds a Master of Fine Arts... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 10:30am - 11:35am EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Embedding No-Cost and Low-Cost Materials in Program Design
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33233

Open Educational Resources (OER) and other affordable learning materials are often adopted at the course level, yet students experience programs across a sequence of courses. Program-level information can illustrate how performance aligns across a program or course sequence and how students engage with course materials and learning activities over time. Because program-level quality and effectiveness assessment guides how programs are structured and reviewed, these processes create opportunities to consider the learning experience, including access to materials and possible barriers to successful, on-time completion. From this perspective, course material choices can function as elements of program design and support progression, completion, and performance. Open Education Practices contribute to this work through shared development, collaboration across faculty, and iterative improvement that aligns materials with the student experience and program goals. The session will discuss how these considerations appear within existing institutional contexts and how they can inform ongoing cycles of program review, evaluation, and improvement.
Speakers
avatar for Joshua Nave

Joshua Nave

Director of Academic Affairs, Tennessee Higher Education Commission
Joshua Nave, Director of Academic Affairs at the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), works with institutional and system leaders to ensure academic programs align with state priorities and support Tennessee’s evolving workforce and student needs. In his role, he supports... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Filmbuilding: A Framework for Connection, Creativity, and Collective Learning
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33723

At a time when access to knowledge and the ability to meaningfully engage with it is increasingly fragmented, educators are being called not just to share information, but to cultivate connection, creativity, and collective agency.  This session introduces Filmbuilding as an open, adaptable framework that transforms learners from passive recipients of knowledge into active co-creators of meaning, relationships, and real-world solutions.Filmbuilding is a collaborative, project-based approach in which participants co-create short films through an emergent, iterative process that prioritizes curiosity, lived experience, and shared authorship.  Unlike traditional media education models that emphasize technical skill acquisition or predefined outcomes, Filmbuilding operates as an open educational practice that is inherently flexible, culturally responsive, and transferable across contexts.Drawing from implementations in various settings — including city-wide initiatives like Filmbuilding Malden, school-based programs at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, and partnerships with organizations such as METCO and international sister city programs — this presentation demonstrates how Filmbuilding functions as a connective infrastructure.  It creates spaces where diverse participants collaboratively explore identity, community, and complex social challenges through visual storytelling.Aligned with the OE Global 2026 theme of “inventing together to uphold knowledge as a public good,” this session highlights how Filmbuilding expands access not just to content, but to the processes of knowledge creation itself.  Participants engage in real-time collaboration, navigating ambiguity, negotiating perspectives, and building shared understanding; skills essential for both open education practitioners and global citizens.The session will illustrate how Filmbuilding fosters:Human connection through structured yet open-ended collaboration across cultural and institutional boundariesCreativity and curiosity by centering exploration over correctness and process over productCollective resilience by enabling participants to engage with real-world issues in ways that are experiential, relational, and solution-orientedShared ownership of knowledge by positioning participants as co-creators who shape, interpret, and contribute meaningfully to the learning processImportantly, Filmbuilding is not presented as a fixed program, but as a scalable and adaptable framework that can be integrated into diverse educational ecosystems, including K-12 classrooms, higher education, community organizations, and cross-cultural exchanges.  Its alignment with open education principles lies in its emphasis on co-creation, accessibility, and the democratization of storytelling as a tool for knowledge production.Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how Filmbuilding can be applied within their own contexts to foster deeper engagement, strengthen community ties, and empower learners to collaboratively address complex challenges.  The session will conclude with a Q&A inviting participants to explore potential adaptations, partnerships, and future applications within the global open education movement.
Speakers
avatar for Tom Flint

Tom Flint

Founder & Director of Filmbuilding, Filmbuilding
Tom Flint is a moving image educator and filmmaker whose work sits at the intersection of film and cultural exchange. He is the founder and director of Filmbuilding, an educational initiative in which communities co-create films to explore and engage with real-world challenges. At... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Hard Choices, Moral Decisions, and Democracy: Overcoming the “Moral Deficit” Assumption by Building OER Texts
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33863

After two decades of teaching philosophy, one thing stands out: students show up knowing far more about ethics than standard textbooks give them credit for. They make moral choices long before they set foot in a philosophy classroom. Yet ethics textbooks often neglect this prior experience, tacitly assuming that students’ lack of philosophical knowledge and skill is not only an academic issue, but a moral deficit to be corrected. In other words, students cannot make real moral choices until they have studied philosophy.This presentation argues that this "moral deficit" assumption is wrong on two counts. First, it is morally wrong because it fails to recognize that students are already engaged in authentic moral reasoning. Community college students regularly navigate moral complexity in balancing work, family, and academic issues. Second, it is pedagogically wrong; good teaching does not begin by implicitly insulting students. It begins grounded in the experiences they bring to the classroom. Democratic education holds that the classroom is the place where students' own concerns are connected to larger issues and traditions; the teacher functions as a bridge between student experience and broader concerns. A curious teacher, genuinely interested in students' lives, is better positioned to build that bridge. In philosophical ethics, this means that concepts like supererogatory — actions that are morally good but not required — are introduced not as technical vocabulary, but as names for things students already understand. The concept illuminates existing student experience; it is not positioned as correcting some sort of deficit. Ideally, it also sparks curiosity about how philosophical resources might be acquired and deployed in ways that make students’ lives richer.OER content is uniquely positioned to contribute to this democratic vision. Freed from the cost and profit concerns of commercial publishing, OER can be focused and grounded in student experiences. As editable, living texts, they can be flexible — capable of functioning as part of a learning ecosystem rather than a static authoritative text. Additionally, because OER is accessible, it can serve students beyond the classroom — as a resource they return to beyond college. For many community college students, this may be their only philosophy course; OER designed around their experiences gives philosophical ethics its best chance of sticking.This presentation draws on the ongoing development of an OER ethics textbook to ground the discussion, before inviting participants to collaboratively build a practical Framework for Experience-First OER Ethics Design — a set of core design principles and guiding questions that can be used to audit existing content or construct new materials that treats student experience as a resource. This framework might be applied for content well beyond a course in philosophical ethics, given ethical concerns permeate throughout the curriculum. The presenter will bring draft framework elements drawn from this ongoing textbook development, which participants will critically engage with, refine, and expand together. Participants leave with materials they helped shape and can apply in their own contexts.
Speakers
NS

Nakia S. Pope

Associate Professor, Northwest Vista College
Nakia is an Associate Professor in philosophy at Northwest Vista College, where he has taught ethics and other philosophy courses for over seven years. He's been involved in faculty development, curriculum design, assessment, and other administrative pursuits at a variety of institutions... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Strategic Partnerships to Support Open Initiatives Across STEM
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
ID: 33178

While STEM disciplines account for a substantial share of undergraduate OER, science education remains underrepresented in the discourse, leadership, and conceptual framing of the open education movement. However, there are many intersections and areas of mutual interest, particularly in the age of Generative AI.  In this session, we showcase the many ways that the RIOS Institute has focused on critical intersections within the Open Ecosystem as a way to achieve our mission to transform and decolonize undergraduate science education. We highlight OCTOPUS - an open education and open science curriculum project, VECINA - an academic-community research partnership which has informed the development of course-based undergraduate research experiences, and various projects focused at the intersection of open education and AI. As we take participants through these intersections, we emphasize the understanding of the culture and histories of STEM and how they promote or sometimes counter open ethos.  The OCTOPUS Project (Open Collaboration for Transformative Open Pedagogy to support Undergraduate Open Science Education) supports educators to integrate Open Pedagogy in undergraduate Open Science education. By positioning students as co-creators of knowledge and fostering democratic, collaborative, critical, ethical and justice-oriented approaches to science, our goal is to achieve a cultural shift towards universal scientific practice that is open, equitable, and designed to serve the public. The Visualizing Environmental and Community Information for Neighborhood Advocacy (VECINA) project embraces the tradition of open scholarship by creating a collaborative of data researchers between researchers, students, and community members. Open challenges the hierarchies in STEM which dictate who is a researcher. The project itself focuses on making data and its analysis open to other researchers, including student researchers, but also relevant and accessible to the community through community leadership. This challenges and broadens academic STEM definitions of impactful scholarship and research. The scope of these projects have spanned mathematics, biology, computer science, and Latin American studies and the projects within VECINA have spanned healthcare, environmental justice, and education. This version of open challenges the siloed nature of disciplinary research and the spaces in which it occurs while also serving to introduce the next generation of researchers into open science and education.The RIOS Institute also provides numerous opportunities for participants to engage in privacy-protected free spaces to grapple with difficult questions arising for Open Ed in the face of AI.  We highlight how some open pedagogies can be enabled by Generative AI, for example by allowing play and exploration. And how Open pedagogy can be leveraged to engage students in critical use of AI through activities such as co-construction of Generative AI class policies, and in student constructed AI tools. The unique role of STEM offers opportunities to shed light on the development and understanding of AI itself.  For example, within many STEM classes, the fundamental science underpinnings of AI are discussed, from data analysis and stochasticity to programming and modeling. This new age of accessible Generative AI has spurred a variety of initiatives within STEM focused on AI literacy and navigating the information landscape. 
Speakers
avatar for Karen Cangialosi

Karen Cangialosi

Director of Open Education and Open Science, RIOS Institute
Dr. Karen Cangialosi is a passionate change agent, dedicated educator, and student advocate with national recognition in open education, STEM ed, and digital pedagogy. As a Professor of Biology at Keene State College (now emeritus), she brought open education into the biology curriculum... Read More →
CD

Carrie Diaz Eaton

Professor and Chair/Executive Director, Digital and Computational Studies, Bates College/RIOS Institute
Dr. Carrie Diaz Eaton is Professor and Chair of Digital and Computational Studies at Bates College, and co-founder and Executive Director of the RIOS Institute which focuses on improving postsecondary STEM education ecosystems. They are deeply committed to decolonizing education and... Read More →
KB

Kaitlin Bonner

Associate Professor of Biology/Director of Professional Development, St. John Fisher University/RIOS Institute
Dr. Kaitlin Bonner is an Associate Professor of Biology and Open Education Faculty Fellow at St. John Fisher University. As a passionate educator and student advocate, she brings a deep commitment to making STEM education more inclusive, accessible, and affordable. Her teaching spans... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:20pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

11:50am EDT

Future of Openness: A Human-in-the-Loop Framework for Agentic OER
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
ID: 34020

As generative AI reshapes the educational landscape, the open education community faces a critical crossroads: Will technology automate the student experience, or can we "invent" new practices that safeguard the human element of learning? This panel discussion invites participants to explore a transformative "Human-in-the-Loop" (HITL) framework for assessment. Rooted in AI engineering but reimagined for the classroom, the HITL model ensures that technology acts as a supportive tool for student growth rather than a "black box" replacement for intellectual effort.By innovating open practices that prioritize the learning process over the final output, we uphold knowledge as a public good and ensure that student agency remains the heartbeat of open education. This discussion introduces a dual-tool pedagogical framework designed to foster a resilient learning process. We will discuss our experiences on how two specific tools—The Forge and Discuss-It—work in tandem to transition OER from passive content delivery to an Agentic OER model. In this model, the "loop" of learning is anchored by the student rather than the algorithm. Rather than deploying writing analytics as a tool for surveillance, The Forge reinvents them as a transparency engine, shifting the power back to the student to document and own their creative writing process. It allows students to visualize the evolution of their work, documenting the iterative steps of their thought process. We will discuss how this shift to Agentic AI principles empowers students to treat their intellectual labor as a valuable public contribution. By making the "messy" stages of drafting visible, we make the use of "black box" automation less appealing and highlight the intrinsic value of human effort. Complementing The Forge, Discuss-It is a multimodal interaction platform that fosters authentic communication by integrating audio and video threaded dialogues directly into the learning path. This tool breaks down the text-heavy barriers that often isolate online learners, transforming assessment into an active, humanized exchange of ideas. Together, these tools form a HITL framework where the student remains the primary author and navigator of their progress, supported—but not supplanted—by emergent technology.Participants will engage with the "Come Invent With Us!" call to action by examining how these tools prevent the commodification of student data and protect the privacy of the learning journey. By centering assessment on the authentic human process, we offer a provocation to the field: to invent a future where Agentic OER does not hide the student behind a prompt, but instead illuminates the brilliance of their individual progress.
Speakers
avatar for Sarah Harmon

Sarah Harmon

OER/ZTC Program Manager and Adjunct Professor of Linguistics, Cañada College
Dr. Sarah Harmon is the OER/ZTC Program Manager and Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at Cañada College in Redwood City, California. She brings experience in AI, OER, and faculty development across multiple college contexts. Her work focuses on practical, scalable approaches that... Read More →
avatar for Delmar Larsen

Delmar Larsen

Professor and CEO, University of California, Davis and LibreTexts
Delmar Larsen is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis, and a leading advocate for open education. He is the founder and CEO of the LibreTexts project, one of the world’s largest open educational resource (OER) platforms, providing freely accessible, customizable... Read More →
avatar for Michelle Pilati

Michelle Pilati

Professor and Open Education Resource Initiative Director, Rio Hondo College
Michelle Pilati is a Professor of Psychology at Rio Hondo College and a recognized leader in open education and online learning within the California Community Colleges system. She has served as faculty at Rio Hondo since 1999 and has extensive experience teaching in online and hybrid... Read More →
avatar for Shagun Kaur

Shagun Kaur

Faculty and ZTC Grants Coordinator, De Anza College
Shagun Kaur is a Communication Studies faculty member at De Anza College and a statewide leader in open educational resources (OER) and zero-textbook-cost (ZTC) initiatives through the ASCCC OERI. Her work focuses on building sustainable, faculty-driven pathways that expand access... Read More →
avatar for Cristina Moon

Cristina Moon

Professor, Chabot College
Cristina Moon, Ph.D. is a Professor of Spanish at Chabot College, where she has been a full-time faculty member since 2006. She earned her B.A. in Spanish Literature from University of California, Berkeley and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from University... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 11:50am - 12:55pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

12:55pm EDT

Lunch
Friday October 9, 2026 12:55pm - 1:40pm EDT
Lunch Break
Take a break to enjoy lunch, connect with colleagues, and continue conversations with fellow conference participants before the afternoon sessions begin.
Friday October 9, 2026 12:55pm - 1:40pm EDT
9 7th Floor Lobby MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
  General

1:40pm EDT

Compensating the Creator: Four Grant Models of Tiered OER Support
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33369 While OER provides immediate cost savings for students, the creation of those materials still requires labor. To more fairly compensate the authors of OER textbooks, ancillary materials, and open pedagogy assignments, many institutions have created grant initiatives to subsidize faculty work encouraging the creation of OER (Finlay, 2024). This presentation will examine four programs at U.S. institutions that take a tiered approach to faculty incentives. This will allow others to learn from existing initiatives and potentially design or update their own.
After reviewing the programs, we will analyze program design, student outcomes, and propose best practices for tiered OER grant programs. Programs analyzed include Boise State University; Texas Tech University; Open Oregon Educational Resources, a state-level organization; and the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI), a library consortium. Each of these grant initiatives offers instruction to faculty on OER and open pedagogy, as well as having at least three tiers of available funding for adopting, revising, remixing, and creating materials. While they differ in the specific types of activities at each tier, all four programs include options for adopting OER as is, creating your own, and adapting a course to be no- or low-cost to students. To support this, all of the programs require some form of professional learning opportunity for participants, though they vary in terms of the types and degree required. This is a necessary element for faculty who may be unaware of the complex nuances of copyright, licensing, and sharing OER (Elder & Gallant, 2022). By reviewing two university programs and two organizations that serve multiple universities, we create a roadmap of scaffolded OER incentive programs relevant to the whole of the OER community.
By examining the existing landscape of these programs, including what types of activities they fund, how they prioritize adoption versus creation, how long they have been in place, and what metrics they report on, we will be able to identify trends and best practices that will inform an ideal OER faculty incentive program. One key element we will examine in each program is the extent to which the institution encourages collaboration among participants. Is there an opportunity to collaborate with other practitioners and support one another in the OER adoption and creation process, potentially beyond the duration of the grants?
Each OER initiative faces successes and challenges, but educators are more successful in OER practices when exposed to community groups and support from the OER community (Boyle, 2023). Having the opportunity to collaborate allows for human connection, fostering creativity and curiosity. Just as we can use the cost-saving nature of OER to open conversations around student engagement, agency, and voice in the classroom through open pedagogy, by funding faculty work around OER in an environment that fosters collaboration outside of traditional academic silos, we can spark new connections and ideas.
Speakers
avatar for Amy Hofer

Amy Hofer

Statewide Open Education Program Director, Open Oregon Educational Resources
Amy Hofer, Statewide Open Education Program Director, is the OER librarian for Oregon's colleges and universities; visit the Open Oregon Educational Resources website at openoregon.org to learn more.
avatar for Sabrina Davis

Sabrina Davis

Assistant Librarian, Texas Tech University
Sabrina Davis is the Access & User Services Librarian at Texas Tech University. As the Access & User Services Librarian, she oversees the Access Services Department and ensures patrons have safe, reliable access to library resources and spaces. The Online Learning and Open Educational... Read More →
avatar for Hans Aagard

Hans Aagard

Research and Innovation Consultant - OER Focus, eCampus Center, Boise State University
Hans Aagard, PhD, is an OER specialist for Boise State University, supporting online faculty in the eCampus Center as they find, remix, or create open educational materials. Before working on OER he did instructional design and multimedia development. He lives in Salt Lake City... Read More →
avatar for Emily Helton

Emily Helton

Affordable Learning Program Manager, Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI)
With a background in K-12 education and STEM professional development, Emily became interested in OER for the opportunities it affords to invite students into the knowledge creation process. After completing a PhD at West Virginia University examining how professional learning can... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Decolonizing the Open Curriculum: Reclaiming Indigenous and Local Knowledge Through ODL in Higher Education in Cameroon
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 34756

The potential of Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is often hailed as a democratizing tool or a digital link developed to break down barriers related to geography, socio-economic status, and institutional privilege (Bates, 2015; UNESCO, 2019). However, beneath this narrative of universal accessibility and inclusivity lie empirical concerns that the “open” curriculum often perpetuates the same Eurocentric knowledge systems that have historically dominated higher education (Mignolo, 2011; Santos, 2014). Open education must transcend mere content delivery and engage in the critical task of decolonizing the curriculum if it must genuinely achieve its transformative goals. This could be considered a symbolic gesture of inclusivity, as well as a significant act of epistemic justice aimed at dismantling entrenched knowledge hierarchies that continue to marginalize Indigenous and local perspectives (Smith, 2012). For decades, the flows of educational content, textbooks, online courses, open resources, and digital platforms have carried embedded assumptions about what counts as legitimate knowledge, who is authorized to teach, and which voices deserve to be heard (Foucault, 1980). These assumptions reflect historical power relations that have normalized Western epistemologies as universal while relegating Indigenous and local knowledges to the margins, often dismissed as anecdotal or erased altogether (Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, 1986; Said, 1978). In a field committed to widening access, this contradiction is glaring, especially when technologies that could multiply diverse forms of knowledge too often replicate the very hierarchies they claim to dismantle (Commonwealth of Learning, 2020).When ODL platforms prioritize Western scientific frameworks, textual literacy, and linear teaching models, they implicitly undervalue Indigenous knowledge systems such as oral traditions, land-based learning, and relational ways of understanding (Cajete, 2000). This exclusion amounts to epistemic violence, erasing intellectual traditions and relegating them to the periphery as folklore rather than acknowledging them as rigorous systems of thought (Spivak, 1988). In doing so, ODL institutions risk reinforcing colonial power structures, suggesting to learners that their cultural heritage and local contexts are secondary to a globalized Western standard.Using a sequential explanatory mixed-method approach (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018), the study therefore sets out to examine existing ODL practices within the Distance Education programs of the Universities of Buea and Bamenda, in order to co-develop alternative curriculum design principles with Indigenous and local knowledge holders. Specifically, the study seeks to Find out the extent to which current ODL curricula replicate colonial epistemologies and exclude Indigenous knowledge.Determine principles and governance models effectively ensure reciprocal inclusion of Indigenous and local knowledge in ODL in higher education curricularFind out how participatory co-creation can be scaled in ODL to deliver culturally grounded, pedagogically sound resourcesDetermine the measurable impacts that decolonized ODL modules have on learner engagement. By employing postcolonial theories and critical pedagogy, this study contends that the reclamation of Indigenous and local knowledge through ODL is essential for promoting intellectual sovereignty and resilience (Freire, 1970; Santos, 2014).
Speakers
avatar for Loveline Yaro

Loveline Yaro

Professor, University of Buea
I am female Cameroonian born on the 22.10.1974 in Mankon Bamenda the Northwest Region OF Cameroon. A single mother of three children. Professor of Curriculum and Instruction. My main specialties are; Curriculum Development, Instructional Design, Teacher Education, Pedagogy, Curriculum... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
7 DR5 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Hacking Distance: Real-World Open Praxis and Postdigital Literacies for the Online Student
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33730

This presentation examines the practical implementation of a theoretical model initially proposed in response to the 2024 MIT Open Learning call (Bucio, 2025). Building upon that piece, this study evaluates the first implementation of this initiative designed to utilize artificial intelligence to accelerate inclusive open education and bridge systemic opportunity gaps. Specifically, the project tackles the linguistic barrier that Spanish-speaking students in Mexico's public distance education system (SUAyED) face when accessing English-dominant academic research. To translate the original concept into a viable educational intervention, it was embedded within the university's formal administrative structures as an official 480-hour "social service" program, a mandatory graduation requirement. The implementation engaged a diverse cohort of 20 online students. While achieving international reach with one participant joining from Spain, the majority were distributed throughout Mexico (spanning Ciudad de México, Estado de México, Guadalajara, Hidalgo, Morelos, Querétaro, Veracruz, and Zacatecas). This geographical distribution underscores the program's success in uniting distance-education students across physical barriers, bringing them together in a shared postdigital environment where they can collaboratively build and disseminate open knowledge.Throughout the program, students engage in a structured workflow designed to democratize access to specialized knowledge. The process begins with community building, mastering the core pillars of Wikipedia participation, and curating academic sources through critical evaluation. To assist in the deep reading and comprehension of complex texts, students leverage generative AI, though they are strictly prohibited from using it to generate the actual article text.The core activity centers on open-platform editing. Students write, manage, and publish content on Wikipedia, strictly adhering to community standards for verifiability, neutrality, and accurate citation. By identifying and expanding upon missing or incomplete topics, students actively reduce information gaps in the digital ecosystem. Throughout the process, they engage in collaborative work and peer review, exchanging constructive feedback to ensure the quality and accuracy of their final published contributions.Alongside their editing tasks, participants engage in guided readings and asynchronous discussions of academic literature. By reading and commenting on articles that explore the project's foundational theories, students critically reflect on their transition from passive learners to active knowledge contributors, contextualizing their practical work within broader academic and social dialogues. The project is grounded in theoretical concepts such as epistemic agency (Nieminen et al., 2025), epistemic placemaking (Carvalho et al., 2025), postdigital assemblages and affordances (Döğer, 2026), Wikipedia for educational innovation (Evenstein Sigalov & Cohen, 2025).Drawing from editing dashboard data and in-depth interviews from the first cohort, this presentation will highlight students' reflections on their developing postdigital literacies, their transformed relationships with knowledge, and the broader impact of democratizing specialized academic content for the global public.
Speakers
avatar for Jackeline Bucio-Garcia

Jackeline Bucio-Garcia

Associate Professor, National Autonomous University of Mexico
Jackie Bucio holds a PhD in Linguistics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), a Master's degree in Asian and African Studies from El Colegio de México, and a Bachelor's degree in Hispanic Language and Literatures from UNAM. Currently, she is a full-time Associate... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Innovating Beyond Textbooks: Democratizing Knowledge Through Library-Led Support for Open Homework Systems
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33194

Commercial publishers’ increasing tendency to bundle access to textbooks with proprietary homework systems and expensive access code content has further hindered widespread faculty buy-in for open educational resources (OER). However, the increasing availability of open homework systems that can be paired with OER textbooks provides an alternate path for faculty to prioritize concerns like affordability for students, instructor control of course content, and data privacy. From 2023-2025, three institutions from the Big Ten Academic Alliance conducted a grant-funded project to investigate the feasibility of library support for open homework systems as component of OER initiatives, culminating in a pilot of five open homework systems in courses conducted at Penn State University, the University of Minnesota, and Northwestern University during the 2024-2025 academic year. This study aimed to determine whether open homework systems could meet the needs of faculty and students comparably to commercial alternatives and to better understand the challenges associated with providing access to and support for those systems.  This presentation will explore the outcomes of this open homework systems pilot, including results from an environmental scan of commercial homework system usage by faculty at the three pilot institutions, feedback gathered from pilot participants via faculty interviews and student surveys, lessons learned by the project team, and recommendations for establishing library-led support for open homework systems at other academic institutions and consortia. This cross-institutional collaboration offers unique perspective and insight into these topics from public and private institutions of different organizational structures, processes, and cultures. This presentation will provide attendees with practical guidance on how to begin supporting open homework systems as accompaniments to OER. Any attendees who support OER discovery or creation at their institutions, or who are interested in issues of course affordability will benefit from this session. This research addresses a significant gap in the open education field, as few studies have focused on open homework systems, particularly multi-institutional usage of them. While many academic libraries have begun to offer support for OER discovery and publishing, far fewer have focused their efforts on providing the infrastructure, training, maintenance, and support that are required of open homework systems. The results of this research suggest a path forward for libraries to work together across institutions to support open alternatives to commercial homework systems as a way of enhancing existing OER offerings, expanding OER adoption and use, protecting student and faculty data, and ensuring students have access to equitable and inclusive learning environments.  
Speakers
avatar for Bryan McGeary

Bryan McGeary

Sally W. Kalin Librarian for Learning Innovations & Learning Design and Open Education Engagement Librarian, The Pennsylvania State University
Dr. Bryan McGeary is the Learning Design and Open Education Engagement Librarian at Penn State University, where he advances the University’s initiatives that support open teaching practices and course content. He was also the principal investigator for an IMLS-funded project that... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

1:40pm EDT

Teacher Co-Creation of OER Through Design Thinking: A Transferable Pedagogical Model from Latin America
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
ID: 33867

The teacher co-creation of Open Educational Resources (OER) constitutes a strategic opportunity to democratise the production and circulation of pedagogical knowledge in Latin America, particularly in contexts marked by inequalities in access, participation, and representation. However, advancing toward sustainable open educational practices requires methodologies that support teachers throughout complete design cycles and integrate, from the earliest pedagogical decisions, criteria such as territorial relevance, social significance, accessibility, inclusion, and an intersectional gender perspective. Within this framework, this paper systematises a methodology for the teacher co-creation of contextualised, accessible, and socially relevant OER through design thinking, developed within the Creatón STEM+ initiative.The proposal has been implemented through intensive teacher co-creation workshops in Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay, involving 104 participants, including both in-service and pre-service teachers. Its structure is organised through a set of worksheets that operationalise the different phases of design thinking and support, document, and guide the creation process. These worksheets function as pedagogical mediation tools, making the design process visible, promoting informed decision-making, and supporting time management in intensive collaborative settings.The methodology brings together three main contributions. First, it structures the entire design process pedagogically, beginning with an understanding of the territory, user characterisation, and the definition of the pedagogical challenge, before moving into phases of ideation, prototyping, testing, and documentation. Second, it incorporates quality criteria aimed at strengthening students’ full participation from the design stage onwards, promoting the diversification of resources, forms of access, and modes of expression, alongside the transversal integration of an intersectional gender perspective. These criteria are operationalised through review tools for continuous improvement, enabling the identification of participation barriers, representational biases, and opportunities for adjustment throughout the process. Third, it conceptualises OER not merely as final products, but as open pedagogical artefacts that expand possibilities for contextual adaptation, reuse, and the circulation of knowledge across diverse educational communities.Evidence from the three implementations suggests that the use of worksheets as a pedagogical operationalisation of design thinking enhances process clarity, strengthens teacher collaboration, and creates conditions for testing the developed resources. In this sense, the methodology provides a foundation for its formalisation as a transferable teacher education model oriented toward open educational practices, with potential for scalability across diverse contexts. Overall, the experience contributes to ongoing discussions on strengthening teacher co-creation of open knowledge in Latin America, integrating the STEM+ educational approach with inclusion, accessibility, and intersectionality.
Speakers
avatar for Jennifer Venegas Espinoza

Jennifer Venegas Espinoza

Researcher & Teacher, CIDSTEM Institute at Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Biology and Natural Sciences teacher trained at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV). Holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from Alberto Hurtado University and a diploma in Gender Studies from the University of Chile. PhD candidate in the Interuniversity Program... Read More →
avatar for Lorena Santos

Lorena Santos

Researcher & Teacher, CIDSTEM Institute at Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
Special Education teacher trained at the Pontifícia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso (PUCV). Holds a Master’s degree in Education with a specialization in Higher Education Pedagogy. Her professional experience focuses on educational support aimed at fostering inclusive conditions... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 1:40pm - 2:10pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

2:15pm EDT

Open for All: Implementing UNESCO’s Capacity Building Practices to Support a Thriving, Resilient OER Community
Friday October 9, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
ID: 34009

We support open education as a public good for all stakeholders within our postsecondary institutions. In this session, faculty and staff from the Alamo Colleges District in San Antonio, Texas, will describe how five independently accredited, minority-serving community colleges have collaborated to implement UNESCO’s (2022) key action item on OER capacity building to support open education for all!This session will present collaboratively developed open educational resources from five colleges, aimed at supporting educators new to or uncertain about using OER. The presenters will showcase the steps they have taken to develop faculty resilience and encourage curiosity in OER projects by overcoming barriers, such as limited time and working within silos (Luo, et al., 2019). The session will explore recommendations to assist faculty with selecting appropriate materials to support course outcomes, understanding license complexities, and exploring time-saving options for remixing. Attendees will learn about the Alamo Colleges OER Badge Course, developed at San Antonio College, which supports students, faculty, and staff in exploring the best practices in open licensing and OER. The presenters will describe how the badge course promotes community building by inviting Alamo Colleges stakeholders to develop foundational skills in OER while encouraging learners to consider the contributions they can make to the OER movement. Attendees will learn how to plan, develop, and implement an OER badge course. The session will also explore Palo Alto College’s Career and Experiential Learning Center OER Project. The presenters will describe how the project has invited students to become active contributors in the development of an open textbook through student-created examples, practice questions, study guides, and multimedia that reflect authentic student voices and perspectives. Attendees will learn how to create student-generated OER projects, supporting research that has found enhanced motivation, deepened learning, and development of transferable skills when students are positioned as creators contributing to the public good (Fatayer & Tualaulelei, 2023; Trust, Maloy, & Edwards, 2022). Attendees will learn how to develop their own student-informed processes to improve the quality and accessibility of OER while also giving students valuable experience in instructional design, peer review, and reflective learning.  The presenters will share how these three projects have been guided by UNESCO’s six recommendations focused on capacity building:Building awareness among relevant stakeholder communities;Providing systematic and continuous capacity building (in-service and pre-service) on how to create, access, make available, re-use, adapt, and redistribute OER; Raising awareness of exceptions and limitations for the use of copyrighted works for educational and research purposes; Leveraging open licensed tools, platforms with interoperation of metadata, and standards to ensure OER can be found;Making available easily accessible resources that provide information and assistance to all OER stakeholders on OER-related topics, andPromoting digital literacy skills to encourage the development and use of OER (UNESCO, 2022, p. 11). Attendees will explore how they can take the lessons and recommendations gained through these three projects back to their institutions to build opportunities for their communities to explore OER for all!
Speakers
avatar for Suzel Molina

Suzel Molina

Professor, Palo Alto College
Professor Suzel Molina has taught Education, Kinesiology, Student Development, and Psychology courses at Palo Alto College for over 37 years. Recipient of the 2020 Canvas Educator of the Year, Professor Molina endeavors to inspire students to trust themselves while giving them the... Read More →
avatar for Beatrice Canales

Beatrice Canales

Academic Unit Assistant/Grant Open Licensing Expert, San Antonio College
Ms. Beatrice Canales currently serves as the Open Licensing Expert and former grant project director of the Alamo Colleges OER Consortium Project, funded by a $1.96 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Open Textbook Pilot Program. She has served as an academic staff... Read More →
avatar for Anne Best

Anne Best

English Instructor, St. Philip’s College
Anne Best is an English instructor of 20 years at St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, Texas, with a commitment to multicultural and global perspectives in education. She holds a master’s degree in English from Texas A&M University, San Antonio. Best advocates for open educational... Read More →
avatar for Rosalie Wallace

Rosalie Wallace

Academic Program Coordinator/Adjunct Faculty Member, St. Philip’s College
Rosalie Wallace has taught General Biology courses and Environmental Biology courses for St. Philip’s College for six years. She has a Bachelor’s in Science from the University of the Incarnate Word and a Master of Arts from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In her roles... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 2:15pm - 2:45pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Leading Openly, Reaching Widely: MOLLI Beyond Maryland
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 33061

Leading Openly, Reaching Widely: MOLLI Beyond MarylandWhat happens when a regional professional development institute opens its doors to the world? The Maryland Online Leadership Institute (MOLLI) is finding out.MOLLI is a project of MarylandOnline (MOL), a consortium of Maryland colleges and universities dedicated to advancing online learning through training and collaboration. Designed for online learning professionals at all career stages — from instructional designers and librarians to IT managers, faculty, and administrators — MOLLI develops leadership skills through an immersive, project-based curriculum grounded in inspiration, reflection, and real-world practice.At its core, MOLLI operates on a simple but powerful belief: leadership skills are learnable, and they are valuable at every level of an organization. Each cohort, which runs on a two-year cycle, brings together higher education professionals to build community, sharpen competencies, and tackle the evolving challenges facing online and technology-mediated learning.Now, MOLLI is evolving too.Originally focused on Maryland institutions, MOLLI has expanded its reach to serve professionals across the United States — and is actively working to grow its community even further, welcoming participants from beyond U.S. borders. This expansion reflects MOLLI's commitment to building a truly global community of practice for online learning leaders.Alongside this geographic growth, MOLLI has deepened the scope of its signature high-impact group projects — year-long collaborative endeavors where cohort participants apply their learning to real challenges in online education. This session highlights one such evolution: the intentional integration of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into project work, with a focus on creative outputs designed to increase student engagement.Whether you are an online learning professional looking to grow your leadership skills, an administrator seeking to replicate or partner with models like MOLLI, or an open education advocate curious about how OER and UDL intersect with professional development, this session offers practical insights and an open invitation to join a growing community.MOLLI started in Maryland. Its future is wide open.
Speakers
avatar for Shinta Hernandez

Shinta Hernandez

Dean of MC Online and Academic Support, Montgomery College
Shinta Hernandez, Ph.D. is the Dean of MC Online and Academic Support at Montgomery College (MC), providing leadership in online education, open education, learning centers, academic success coaching, and assessment centers. From the time she started at MC in January 2007, she has... Read More →
avatar for Gracie McDonough

Gracie McDonough

Reference/Instruction/OER Librarian, College of Southern Nevada
Gracie McDonough serves as an Instruction and Reference Librarian at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas. Since joining CSN, she has been a dedicated advocate for Open Educational Resources (OER), contributing to a significant increase in institutional OER adoption from less... Read More →
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Debbie Baker

OER Coordinator, Instructional designer, Maricopa Community College District
Dr. Debbie Baker serves as the open educational resources coordinator and an instructional designer for the Maricopa Community Colleges (MCCCD), and has been an educator for almost 30 years. Her work has centered on reshaping traditional classroom dynamics by involving students in... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
3 Room I MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Beyond the Textbook: Innovating Open ASL Curriculum for Equitable Access
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 34011

As open education movements continue to expand globally, the need to actively protect and promote knowledge as a public good has become increasingly urgent. Within American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter education, access to high-quality, culturally responsive materials is often limited by cost and availability, creating barriers for many students. Open educational practices offer a critical pathway toward equity by reducing financial burdens while expanding access to meaningful, inclusive learning experiences. This presentation explores the development and implementation of digital Open Educational Resources (OER) within Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) ASL courses, positioning open access as both a pedagogical strategy and a form of advocacy.Aligned with the conference track "Innovating Open Content to Democratize Knowledge", this session highlights the development of a digital curriculum, including the LibreTexts ADAPT platform for homework, designed to remove cost barriers while supporting flexible, student-centered learning. Participants will examine how open content can be intentionally designed to reflect the linguistic, cultural, and lived experiences of Deaf communities, while remaining adaptable across diverse educational contexts, including community colleges, universities, and online and hybrid learning environments.This project reimagines ASL curriculum development as a collaborative, iterative process that brings together educators, interpreters, students, and community stakeholders. Through this process, the curriculum integrates multimedia resources, interactive modules, and culturally grounded pedagogy to move beyond static textbooks and toward dynamic, living knowledge systems. These materials are designed not only to support language acquisition, but also to foster cultural competence and deeper engagement with Deaf community perspectives.A key component of this work is the ongoing integration of real-time feedback from ASL educators using the curriculum across institutions. Through regular collaboration, surveys, and informal feedback loops, instructors share insights about student engagement, accessibility, and content effectiveness. This feedback is used to make continuous updates each semester, allowing the curriculum to remain responsive, current, and aligned with both pedagogical best practices and community needs. This continuous improvement model reflects the core values of open education by emphasizing adaptability, shared ownership, and collective knowledge-building.Preliminary outcomes from pilot implementations suggest that students engaging with ZTC OER demonstrate increased persistence, stronger engagement, and improved connections to course content. Instructors also report greater flexibility in adapting materials to meet diverse student needs. More importantly, this work illustrates how open education can function as a collective effort to safeguard and share knowledge, particularly for historically underrepresented language communities.By framing OER development as both innovation and responsibility, this session invites participants to consider how they might contribute to a more equitable and sustainable global knowledge ecosystem. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for creating, adapting, and sharing open content that supports student success while advancing the shared mission of democratizing education for the public good.
Speakers
avatar for Melanie Nakaji

Melanie Nakaji

ASL Professor & ZTC Coordinator, San Diego City College
My name is Melanie Nakaji. I have a Ph.D from the University of Northern Colorado in Rehabilitation Counseling.  I’m the lead American Sign Language (ASL) professor and strive to modify my pedological strategies to meet students’ learning needs. Most recently, I received a large... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Breaking the Golden Handcuffs: Harnessing ADAPT’s Public Question Bank for Open, Flexible Assessment
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 34032

ADAPT is an open-source, LMS-integrated homework and assessment platform within the LibreTexts suite of open courseware (LibreVerse) that is designed to address one of the most pressing challenges in higher education: the restrictive, proprietary ecosystems created by commercial publishers, often referred to as the “golden handcuffs.” These systems limit faculty autonomy, increase costs for students, and inhibit the broader dissemination and adaptation of high-quality educational resources. LibreTexts, as a not-for-profit organization, and specifically ADAPT directly confronts these constraints by providing a fully open, centralized platform for assessments that is tightly integrated with LibreTexts OER textbooks and modern learning management systems (LMSs).The presentation will explore the development, design, and comprehensive capabilities of ADAPT, highlighting its role as a robust, open-source, LMS-integrated homework and assessment platform. Beyond its technical features, the talk will examine the widespread adoption of ADAPT across the State of California, with particular emphasis on the California Community College system, which serves over 2.2 million students who now have unrestricted access to the platform. Attendees will gain insight into how ADAPT is being leveraged at scale to support diverse instructional contexts and improve access to high-quality, openly licensed assessment materials.To illustrate its versatility and impact, the presentation will feature multiple case studies demonstrating the use of ADAPT across a variety of disciplines, including STEM courses, language instruction, and composition courses. These examples will highlight not only the platform’s flexibility in accommodating different subject areas but also its effectiveness in enhancing student engagement, supporting equitable assessment practices, and enabling faculty to adapt, remix, and share exercises. The discussion will also touch on strategies for integrating ADAPT into both traditional and online learning environments, providing practical guidance for instructors and institutions seeking to implement open, scalable assessment solutions.At the heart of ADAPT is its public OER question bank for instructors that currently containing over 300,000 openly licensed exercises spanning a wide range of disciplines and course levels. This repository enables instructors to freely access, adapt, and deploy high-quality questions across courses, institutions, and platforms. Questions can be directly embedded in LibreTexts textbooks, delivered through LMSs, used as standalone web applications, or even integrated into classroom clicker and active learning systems. By decoupling assessments from proprietary systems, ADAPT provides educators with unprecedented flexibility to tailor exercises to the specific needs of their courses and students, supporting a more student-centered and inclusive learning experience.ADAPT’s open question bank also fosters collaboration and pedagogical innovation. Faculty can remix and modify exercises, contribute new questions to the shared repository, and benefit from the collective expertise of educators worldwide. This model not only enhances instructional quality but also encourages the development of equitable assessment practices, as instructors have the freedom to select or create questions that reflect diverse perspectives and learning styles.Ultimately, the presentation will offer a comprehensive view of ADAPT as a tool that not only facilitates high-quality instruction but also exemplifies how open educational technologies can expand access, promote collaboration among educators, and support student-centered learning at scale.
Speakers
avatar for Delmar Larsen

Delmar Larsen

Professor and CEO, University of California, Davis and LibreTexts
Delmar Larsen is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of California, Davis, and a leading advocate for open education. He is the founder and CEO of the LibreTexts project, one of the world’s largest open educational resource (OER) platforms, providing freely accessible, customizable... Read More →
avatar for Michelle Pilati

Michelle Pilati

Professor and Open Education Resource Initiative Director, Rio Hondo College
Michelle Pilati is a Professor of Psychology at Rio Hondo College and a recognized leader in open education and online learning within the California Community Colleges system. She has served as faculty at Rio Hondo since 1999 and has extensive experience teaching in online and hybrid... Read More →
avatar for Cristina Moon

Cristina Moon

Professor, Chabot College
Cristina Moon, Ph.D. is a Professor of Spanish at Chabot College, where she has been a full-time faculty member since 2006. She earned her B.A. in Spanish Literature from University of California, Berkeley and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Hispanic Languages and Literatures from University... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
6 DR4 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

Open Isn’t Enough: Why OER Needs Care Pedagogies to Move from Information to Action
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 34016

Democratizing knowledge through OER is a vital first step toward equity, yet access to information does not inherently empower students to wield it effectively. As social and behavioral scientists, we have found a significant gap between analyzing a situation through open content and having the pedagogical support to actualize change within one’s own life. Therefore we propose that structuring the use of OER through feminist pedagogy allows instructors to move beyond “open access” to “open learning.”  In this session, we argue that OER can be used to promote an ethic of care, as its inherent flexibility allows us to honor the lived experiences our students already possess and disrupt the traditional power dynamics that often sideline their expertise in the classroom.Integrating care ethics with the behavioral science of how people experience and excel in their learning, we ground our discussion and recommendations in feminist pedagogy and cognitive and motivation science. First, feminist pedagogy provides a lens through which to challenge and decentralize power structures in the classroom by validating students both as experts in their own lives, and as possessing valuable and essential knowledge through their lived experiences (hooks, 1994). This lens is supported by cognitive science, which has established that people learn best by anchoring new knowledge to what they already know and have experienced (Ambrose et al., 2010). Finally, we connect these ideas to Self-Determination Theory which asserts that deep learning occurs when the educational environment supports students in feeling autonomous, competent and related (Ryan & Deci, 2017). Putting this into practice, we present a framework for OER development that serves both students and educators. For learners, we discuss how OER can prioritize contextualized inquiry by including assignments and reflection questions that prompt students to bridge course concepts with their individual and community interests. For example, rather than utilizing generic vignettes, materials for a developmental psychology class can invite students to engage content that relates to developmental policy issues (like early childcare) to empower them to be informed voters on related policies (Artez-Vega et al., 2023).At the same time, we advocate for the inclusion of robust "pedagogical marginalia” for teachers. These teaching notes can explicitly highlight how core concepts can be applied across varied family, work, and community settings. For example, in a management class, using examples of school, work and family situations to engage students in lessons on conflict management.  Embedding multimedia links, and real-world narratives can further help the material "come alive" and maintain a focus on ensuring material holds practical and personal relevance for students.As caring educators, we recognize that our students arrive with divergent goals and values. Responsible pedagogy leverages this diversity as an asset rather than expecting or forcing students to learn the same way and for the same reasons (Rognile et al., 2025). By developing and intentionally using open materials that honors these lived realities, we do more than lower costs, we create a classroom space that enables learners to apply themselves and their knowledge toward a more just world.
Speakers
avatar for Kathryn Frazier

Kathryn Frazier

Associate Professor, Worcester State University
Kathryn E. Frazier, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor in the Psychology department at Worcester State University. She earned her Master’s in Psychology and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from Clark University. She publishes research on gender socialization and mental health, and... Read More →
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Elizabeth Siler

Professor, Worcester State University
Elizabeth Siler is a professor at Worcester State University in the Business Administration and Economics Department. She teaches management classes to undergraduate students and almost exclusively uses open education resources, and is an advisor for the Fiber Arts Circle student... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
4 Room T MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:00pm EDT

The Future of Openness Is Shared: Co-Creating Communication Strategies
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
ID: 34026

This session explores an open education collaborative’s approach to developing a shared communication strategy for open education grounded in collective invention, practical tools, and adaptable frameworks. As open education initiatives expand across institutions and systems, the challenge is not only demonstrating impact, but communicating that impact in ways that resonate across diverse contexts, roles, and disciplines. This session positions communication as a core infrastructure for the future of openness that must be intentionally designed.This open education collaborative has engaged in an iterative process to co-create communication strategies that support open education advocacy, publishing, and program development. Rather than developing top-down messaging, participants have worked together to build communication practices. As a group they have tested language and built shared resources that can be contextualized for individual projects while also contributing to a broader, collective voice.This session highlights the process of inventing communication strategies together. Presenters will share how members of the collaborative identified common communication challenges such as translating open education work into disciplinary language, aligning with subject-matter conversations, and articulating impact beyond cost savings, and responded by co-developing practical tools. These include reusable templates for project workflows, social media campaigns, project descriptions, and stakeholder engagement, all designed to be adapted for each project. A central focus of the session is how these communication strategies function as living artifacts of collaborative practice. Presenters will demonstrate how quarterly communications, social media interactions and project templates were developed through cycles of contribution, feedback, and revision. Each communication strategy serves as an entry point for participation, creating space for new contributors to engage in open education communication work without starting from scratch. Examples will include communication plans with structured cadences, messaging frameworks aligned with student success language, and modular content that can be tailored to different audiences and platforms.Aligned with the conference theme, Catalyzing Human Connection, Creativity, and Curiosity to Thrive, this session emphasizes the future of openness as a participatory, co-constructed endeavor. It highlights how shared communication infrastructures built through open collaboration can support both consistency and flexibility, enabling open education work to be visible, credible, and connected across contexts.Attendees will leave with adaptable templates, strategies for collaborative message development, and a deeper understanding of how communication itself can be an open practice. The session will conclude with a facilitated discussion inviting participants to consider how they might engage in or initiate similar processes within their own networks, contributing to a more connected and communicative open education ecosystem.
Speakers
avatar for Kathy Essmiller

Kathy Essmiller

Coordinator, OpenOKState, Oklahoma State University
Kathy is an open education leader, librarian, and educator dedicated to advancing access to education and community through the adoption and creation of open educational resources (OER). As the Coordinator of OpenOKState at Oklahoma State University, Kathy collaborates with faculty... Read More →
avatar for Jojo Karlin

Jojo Karlin

Scholarly Communications Manager, CUNY Office of Library Services
Dr. Jojo Karlin is the Scholarly Communications Manager at the CUNY Central Office of Library Services. As the manager of CUNY Academic Works, the system’s open access institutional repository, Jojo facilitates the development and legacy of student, faculty, and staff research... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:00pm - 3:30pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:35pm EDT

Strategic Alignment: Leveraging OER to Foster Transformative Faculty Partnerships
Friday October 9, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
ID: 33984

ProblemFor academic libraries, building meaningful, sustained connections with teaching faculty is essential, yet this work is often constrained by transactional liaison engagement practices. To disrupt this pattern, Eastern Kentucky University librarians develop structured Library Program Plans that align information literacy instruction, collections, and outreach with student learning outcomes across program curricula.  Moving beyond ad hoc instruction requests or one-off interactions such as collection requests, Program Plans create a shared framework that encourages ongoing dialogue between librarians and teaching faculty. Further, when Open Educational Resources (OER) are woven into program plans, faculty can more clearly see how OER support their academic freedom, pedagogical growth, and course-level student learning goals. In this context, Open Educational Resources (OER) - often framed simply as cost-saving initiatives - invite creative, program-level collaboration and offer a clear framework in which to develop meaningful, sustained faculty engagement, grounded in mutual goals for student success.InterventionThis session explores the ways that Program Plans can be developed to intentionally include Open Educational Resources (OER) and affordable course material strategies as a core component of faculty engagement. By embedding OER considerations directly into curriculum mapping — such as identifying high-enrollment courses, gateway sequences, and points of high student cost burden — librarians can facilitate more meaningful, context-aware conversations with faculty. By identifying specific learning outcomes first, and offering faculty quality, open alternatives to their existing course materials, OER emerge as solutions to instructional design challenges, positioning faculty as active instructional architects rather than consumers of static commercial content.ExamplesDrawing on practitioner experience, the session will highlight examples of OER-integrated Program Plan templates that include fields for documenting course material types, cost considerations, and opportunities for OER adoption, adaptation, or creation. These tools make visible where alignment already exists and where new opportunities for collaboration can be developed. Attendees will see how structured, curriculum-aligned approaches can support faculty decision-making while maintaining respect for disciplinary context and instructional autonomy.OutcomesParticipants will leave with practical strategies for using curriculum alignment to build resilient, relationship-centered partnerships with teaching faculty; integrating OER into program-level planning tools; and framing conversations around student outcomes, access, and instructional goals. By situating OER within a broader ecosystem of connection, creativity, and shared inquiry, this approach offers a replicable model for fostering collective thriving through sustained, program-level engagement.SignificanceBy centering OER in program planning, librarians can move beyond a narrow affordability narrative toward one focused on quality, agency, and student success. This shift strengthens faculty partnerships by aligning with core motivations — supporting student learning, preserving academic autonomy, and enabling the adaptation of course materials to meet the needs of students.
Speakers
avatar for Kelly Smith

Kelly Smith

Director of Strategic Initiatives, Eastern Kentucky University
Kelly Smith is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at Eastern Kentucky University Libraries where she directs library assessment, reporting activities, and policy development, and co-leads the Libraries’ open education program with Bailey Lake. She is currently working on an EdD... Read More →
avatar for Bailey Lake

Bailey Lake

Open Strategies Librarian, Eastern Kentucky University
Bailey Lake is the Open Strategies Librarian at Eastern Kentucky University Libraries, where she advocates for open education and facilitates OER creation in partnership with university OER champions. Bailey is especially passionate about open pedagogy projects and the impact of renewable... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
2 Room M MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA

3:35pm EDT

The Inclusion Algorithm: Using AI Gems to Audit Equity in Open Education
Friday October 9, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
ID: 34031

We all want our course materials to reflect our students. You might already have great OER. But it is hard to catch every bias on our own. Even as experts, we have blind spots. We need a second pair of eyes.This session is about creating that partner using AI. We will use Gemini Gems to run quick equity audits on your current materials. I will share the specific script I use as an IDI certified professor. This is not about letting AI write your content. It is about using a diagnostic tool to spot representation gaps.In this 30 minute lab, we will get straight to work. You will learn how to set "rule based instructions" so the AI stays focused. You will see how it identifies Western centric biases or missing perspectives. You will leave with a functional AI Gem. It is a simple tool you can share with your department to help make your courses more inclusive.
Speakers
avatar for Ahmad Kareh

Ahmad Kareh

Associate Professor, Salt Lake Community College
Ahmad Kareh is a tenured professor at Salt Lake Community College. He is an entrepreneur who believes in the power of human connection. Ahmad is an Open Education Fellow and a UNSDG Faculty Fellow. He has served as a member of the Open Education Advisory Committee since 2016. As a... Read More →
Friday October 9, 2026 3:35pm - 4:05pm EDT
5 DR3 MIT Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge MA 02139 USA
 
From $195.00
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OEGlobal 2026
From $195.00
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