2024 Open Education Conference

This interactive panel will feature authors of three diverse chapters from the open collection, Higher Education for Good: Teaching and Learning Futures. Collectively, the panel will share insights on their authoring processes, open collaboration, participation in the authors’ community, and the value of coalition-building with diverse voices across global higher education to create more hopeful futures. The discussion will draw upon common themes across the chapters: reimagining teaching and learning, critical approaches, and open practice as a force for change. The three chapters represented in the panel draw on lived experience from North American, European, and African perspectives, mirroring the global breadth of the wider collection. This session is designed as a discursive space for the panelists to share their unique experiences as authors, collaborators, and community-members in the hopes of inspiring others to adopt similar methods of open collaboration and authoring.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Reflect on open authoring, collaboration, and the peer review process from a variety of diverse perspectives
• Compare and contrast the common themes and challenges that prevail in higher education across the globe
• Assess the challenges and opportunities of openly collaborating within wider networks
• Appreciate the value of accomplishments in open scholarship and authoring

This presentation delves into the ethical, legal, and societal dilemmas posed by AI technologies in the context of open education. Open education approaches are often associated with related concepts (critical pedagogy, OER, OEP, open science). There are exciting visions for leveraging AI technologies but an authentically “open” approach to AIED is nascent. 'Explicable AI' (XAI) attempts to address AI's opaqueness, advocating for systemic, environmental and socio technical transparency. However, most XAI understates the complexity of finding language and concepts that are explainable and interpretable to all stakeholders. There are also unresolved legal questions regarding the use of AI to produce OER: is it an interesting subversion of copyright, or a mechanism for ‘stealing’ copyrighted content and transferring it to the public domain? It’s essential that we enculture transparency if we are to understand the full social and environmental impact of AI.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Nuanced understanding of the relationship between open education and AI
• Exploration of the impact of generative AI on The Commons
• Reflection on the relevance of AI for open practice
• Refinement of concepts relevant to open education and AI in education

In our journey towards fostering a more open and equitable Europe, SPARC Europe is embarking on a mission to intertwine the realms of OS and OE to support and build more equitable access to Open knowledge across scores of universities across Europe. We are keen to share the first step in this process. This presentation will allow us to discuss how to lead this change, leveraging strategic planning and capacity building to bridge existing divides and unlock synergies between these two crucial domains. We will do this by mapping stakeholders, documenting similarities and differences between the Opens at universities across Europe to also craft a compelling narrative and business case, and action plan, for a more connected open agenda in the area of Higher Education. We are laying the groundwork for a more integrated future, looking at how we can link bottom-up and top-down initiatives and action in a strategic and operational way.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Participants will be able to understand the intrinsic relationship between Open Science and Open Education, recognizing how their integration can amplify accessibility and collaboration in higher education.
• Participants will acquire skills in effective strategic planning methodologies and capacity-building techniques essential for advancing the open agenda within their respective organizations.
• Participants will develop the ability to identify and address organizational barriers hindering the collaboration between Open Science and Open Education, equipping them with practical strategies for fostering integration.
• Participants will gain expertise in stakeholder mapping, enabling them to identify key stakeholders and networks crucial for driving forward the open agenda, and enhancing their ability to navigate diverse institutional landscapes.

College and University Governing Boards and Trustees have fiduciary responsibility for the institutions they serve. What are the responsibilities of college and university trustees and governing boards? What is the best way to communicate and educate them about open educational resources, textbooks, and the impact high-level decisions have on the success of students? Join Dr. Tanya Spilovoy, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges and Jeff Seaman, PhD, Researcher with Bayview Research, to explore the intersection of trusteeship and high-level decision makers’ impact on course materials. How can we work with College and University Governing Boards and Trustees to have a greater impact on awareness and use of open resources? Multiple factors are critical in an approach to Boards and Trustees, and you will be asked to create a strategic plan for board engagement.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Talk confidently about the role of governing boards and trustees of a college and/or university.
• Plan an approach and/or communication strategy to inform board members about open educational resources, course materials, textbooks, and the impact on students.
• Understand the data and research regarding board and trustees’ oversight regarding course materials, publishing contracts, funding, or initiatives.
• Engage efficiently and effectively with trustees to communicate about OER

This session is designed to identify an agenda for action and research for the open education community which, we argue, is at a crossroads – building on a critical conversation begun at OER24 in March: “The future isn’t what it used to be: open education at a crossroads” (Cronin & Czerniewicz, 2024). The purpose of the session is to enable globally diverse conversations about the future of open education. In the context of the current global polycrisis, it is clear that the assumptions and foundations of open education are under threat. This moment –a crossroads– requires all parts of the open education movement to work together. In alliance with those who believe that open education is central to fighting for human rights, democracy, justice and sustainability, we (i) propose a framework of ideas for moving closer to realising those ideas, a “manifesto for open education for good”, and (ii) facilitate groupwork so that participants can collaborate to identify specific next steps.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Recognise at least some of the ways that wider global crises emerge within, impact on, and intersect with open education.
• Articulate the five tenets of the Manifesto for Open Education for Good.
• Take first steps in developing an agenda to take forward after the session, to work towards creating better open education and social futures.

While many academics express a desire to create open educational resources (OERs), few do. A key barrier academics report preventing them from engaging in OER creation is a lack of in-depth understanding of the development process at an individual level. This presentation outlines individual level lessons learned about OER development from a case study of one early career academic’s experience creating OER for the first time. Analysis of the academic’s journals, critical friend meetings, and stakeholder evaluation of the OER she created, reveal barriers and facilitators encountered. Examples include: (mis)understandings about OER and how to learn about them; technology options, costs, and decisions; institutional supports; and tensions with other academic priorities. While some generic ‘how-to’ guides and macro-level analyses of OER issues exist, these contextualized first-hand lessons offer novel individual-level support for educators navigating OER creation for the first-time.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Understand the barriers and facilitators they may likely encounter as individuals developing OER for the first time.
• Develop a detailed and realistic plan for the development of their first OER.

This lightning talk will share the experience of an open online course which fostered an open online community, which begat an AI-powered audio chatbot, Dr. Oblivion, who was drafted as a teaching assistant. A community member built the bot as a project for an outside course. The instructors were able to put it to use in a digital storytelling where the class could experiment with and learn about generative AI applications as tools for creating narratives on the web. This serves as an example of how open educational practices can enable creativity and connection within a community. Dr. Oblivion may contribute snide commentary to the presentation.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Discuss broad benefits of open educational practices
• Discuss potential benefits of incorporating generative AI applications into a course