2026 Open Education Conference

Institutions often create open education committees with strong intentions - namely to support academic freedom and student success. As Boise State worked to comply with state policies, translating those commitments into sustainable practice required infrastructure, coordination, and evidence. This panel explores how Boise State University is operationalizing the DOERS3 Student Success Through OER Rubric to bridge the space between policy aspiration and institutional implementation. Panelists representing faculty, faculty development, and instructional design will share how cross-campus collaboration, data infrastructure, faculty engagement, and strategic planning are being aligned to support Z-Degree development and measurable student success outcomes. Attendees will gain insight into conducting institutional self-assessment, addressing leadership transitions, and building durable systems that sustain open education beyond grants and grassroots efforts.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify key infrastructure components that move from OER policy to sustained institutional practice.
• Describe how the Student Success Through OER Rubric can guide institutional self-assessment and gap analysis.
• Recognize strategies for aligning faculty engagement, governance structures, and student success metrics to build durable systems for long-term sustainability.
• Evaluate approaches to building data systems that track OER usage and impact over time.
• Develop next steps for strengthening institutional readiness for Z-Degrees or large-scale OER initiatives.

Teacher preparation programs are often tasked with implementing equity-driven policies without clear pathways for practice. This session explores how an Alternative Licensure Program in rural New Mexico bridges the space between policy and practice through open, culturally responsive approaches to teacher preparation. Grounded in mandates such as structured literacy legislation and court-ordered equity reforms, this model integrates open-access resources, flexible program design, and mentoring systems that center Indigenous and multilingual learners. Participants will examine how open education practices can expand access, support teacher retention, and create sustainable pathways for educators in underserved communities. Attendees will leave with adaptable strategies for aligning policy, pedagogy, and equity-focused program design.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• By the end of this session, participants will be able to:.
• Identify key gaps between equity-driven policy and classroom practice in teacher preparation programs.
• Describe how open education practices can increase access and flexibility in licensure pathways.
• Apply culturally responsive mentoring strategies to support diverse teacher candidates.
• Adapt elements of an open, equity-centered program model to their own institutional context.

This case study explores a strategic shift at our institution, highlighting two distinct OER initiatives that bridge affordability and academic rigor.

The first project details replacing a high-cost commercial textbook in a foundational nursing course with a curated collection of open-source materials. The second highlights the development of locally produced, high-definition skills practice videos for undergraduate nurses, addressing the lack of high-quality, open-access multimedia in the discipline.

This is designed as a strategic case study, moving the conversation from "why OER is good" to "how OER works in high-pressure environments." By sharing our hurdles—such as faculty skepticism regarding "free" resources and the loss of pre-made slide decks—we offer a transparent, honest look at the transition process. Attendees will leave with a practical roadmap to help nursing programs reclaim their curriculum from publisher dependency while enhancing student clinical competency.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify the specific drivers of faculty resistance to OER in high-stakes clinical programs, particularly the "ancillary gap" created by commercial NCLEX test banks.
• Evaluate strategies for replacing proprietary nursing textbooks with curated open-source materials without compromising alignment with national licensure standards.
• Develop a workflow for creating locally-produced, high-definition clinical skills videos that serve as high-quality OER alternatives to publisher media.
• Formulate persuasive arguments for OER adoption that prioritize pedagogical flexibility and clinical accuracy alongside student cost savings.

The motivations and practices that instructors bring to open education can vary widely, particularly for those interested in publishing open textbooks. Institutional and disciplinary norms can influence how authors approach their textbook’s content, design, and format choice. In this panel, four OER authors across the disciplines of Agronomy, Biology, Food Science, and Applied Linguistics will share their experiences developing OER with support from Iowa State University's Digital Press.

In addition to coming from different disciplines, the authors have also taken different approaches to OER development, including adapting existing material, updating and republishing older works, and developing new content from scratch. During the panel, the authors will introduce the audience to their publications, explain their project design priorities, and share lessons learned. The session will conclude with a Q&A to delve deeper into the authors’ experiences.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify the steps required to develop an open textbook.
• Describe four different approaches to OER development.
• Reflect on how local support systems and priorities may affect their capacity to develop an OER.
• Apply lessons learned to design or improve their own approach(es) to OER development.

As textbook costs continue to rise and instructional practices evolve, institutions increasingly rely on low and zero cost course markings (LTC/ZTC) to signal affordability to students. But do students recognize, understand, and use these designations when making decisions?

This presentation examines four years of textbook affordability survey data alongside a recent course markings perception survey to explore how student awareness, trust, and the use of LTC/ZTC indicators have impacted the student experience with course materials. While we have invested in building a strong OER program, our findings reveal a persistent gap between intent and student experience. Our project examines how OER investments translate (or fail to translate) into student decision-making through LTC/ZTC signaling.

Attendees will leave with practical strategies to improve the visibility, clarity, and impact of affordable course materials initiatives beyond simply adopting OER.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify key factors that influence student course selection related to course materials (e.g., cost, clarity of labeling, trust in designations, timing of information, instructor reputation).
• Relate student decision-making factors to their own institutional context and course marking practices.
• Examine where breakdowns occur between affordability signaling and student action.
• Propose interventions (e.g., messaging, advising integration, system design) that better align affordability efforts with actual student behavior.

This session presents the design and development of a Spanish-language OER created as part of the Creative Commons Certificate, aimed at supporting researchers and educators in understanding and applying open licensing in practice. While OER and open licensing are often framed through English-language resources, this project addresses the gap in culturally and linguistically relevant materials for Latin America. The session will discuss key design decisions, common misconceptions around CC licenses (especially ND and NC), and the challenges of translating not only language but also legal and scholarly practices. Attendees will gain insights into how OER can function as capacity-building tools and leave with a replicable model for developing similar resources in their own contexts.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify common challenges in applying CC licenses across linguistic and legal contexts.
• Distinguish between translation and contextual adaptation in OER design.
• Analyze the implications of ND and NC licenses in educational practice.
• Apply a framework for developing OER aimed at teaching open licensing.
• Adapt OER development strategies to non-English-speaking academic communities.

When public institutions work together and pool resources to address common curriculum and educational technology needs, there are many benefits. These collaborative projects can leverage collective expertise, generate efficiencies, and distribute workload and costs. This session looks at the findings from a two-year initiative in British Columbia, Canada, that investigated models and mechanisms for enabling this kind of institutional collaboration. We will explore key things that foster and sustain collaborative ventures as well as the structural barriers, and make a case for investing in open approaches on a system level, including open communities, technologies, content, and infrastructure.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Describe the benefits of institutions working together on shared curriculum and technology projects.
• Define sustainment and describe considerations that play into sustaining collaborative projects, including open projects.
• Explain the benefits of open from a system point of view.
• Draw upon the lessons learned by existing collaborative initiatives.

As OER and Universal Design for Learning grow, many adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) continue to be excluded from Open Education conversations. As inclusion opportunities grow in post-secondary education, this exclusion represents a missed opportunity to align open education values with real learner lived experiences.

This session explores how to meaningfully include adults with IDD in the creation, use, and evaluation of OER. Participants will learn practical strategies for designing OER that support cognitive accessibility, plain language, and real-world relevance, while centering lived experience and ethical co-creation. Drawing from UDL practices, attendees will leave with concrete ideas for expanding OER to better serve adult learners with IDD.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Describe key gaps in accessibility practices and the learning needs of post-secondary adults with IDD.
• Identify concrete design principles that support cognitive accessibility and usability in OER for adult learners.
• Apply inclusive OER strategies that could apply to workforce or higher ed programs.