2026 Open Education Conference

This session presents a scalable, classroom-based Wikipedia Editathon model implemented at JSS Medical College to advance open educational resources (OER), multilingual knowledge production, and digital equity. Students contributed to underrepresented topics in communication sciences and disorders by creating and translating content into regional languages (e.g., Kannada), aligning with principles of participatory knowledge and inclusive access. The session highlights instructional design, training workflows, and assessment strategies (pre–post–delayed measures) used to evaluate student learning, engagement, and sustainability. Attendees will gain practical guidance on integrating Wikipedia-based assignments into curricula to promote open pedagogy, culturally responsive teaching, and global knowledge sharing.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Design a classroom-based Wikipedia Editathon aligned with OER and open pedagogy principles.
• Implement multilingual content creation strategies to support knowledge equity.

Open education expands access, but access alone does not sustain learning. When learners or instructors feel uncertain, disconnected, or unsupported, expertise is not enough to keep them engaged. Drawing on research in volunteer retention and learner-centered pedagogy, this session explores how connection, belonging, and psychological safety shape participation in open learning environments. Using The Carpentries as a case study, we highlight how community-driven teaching practices shift the focus from performance to participation by normalizing mistakes, encouraging collaboration, and centering the learner experience. Participants will reflect on moments when connection influenced their own learning and identify practical strategies to foster belonging in their contexts. This session reframes open education as not just what we share, but how we support one another in the space between us.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Analyze a learning environment to identify where connection and belonging are lacking.
• Distinguish between teaching approaches that emphasize performance versus participation.
• Design a small, actionable intervention to improve learner engagement or instructor support.

For many in educational technology, blogging has been framed as open digital writing within networked systems. Yet it has become entangled with platform logics—metrics, visibility, and virality—that distance it from lived experience and local community. This session reframes blogging as an open, situated, place-based practice.

Drawing on bava.studio—a physical storefront in Trento, Italy—this talk explores what happens when a blog is grounded in a material location. Posts become installations, archives become objects, and digital reflections move into public space. The blog shifts from a content stream to a site of encounter, curiosity, and conversation.

Through this experiment, I ask: What might edtech look like if accountable to place? How might blogging, freed from platform imperatives, support local culture, reflection, and meaningful community connection?

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• What if blogging were understood not merely as an online publishing tool, but as a place on Earth?
• In educational technology, blogging is often framed as digital writing within networked systems. Yet it has become entangled with platform logics—metrics, visibility, and virality—that distance it from lived experience and local community. This session reframes blogging as a situated, embodied, place-based practice grounded in openness as an approach: participation, sharing, and permeability between people and environments.
• Drawing on bava.studio—a physical storefront in Trento, Italy—this talk explores what happens when a blog is grounded in a material location. Posts become installations, archives become objects, and the blog becomes a site of encounter rather than a stream of content.
• This provocation asks: What might edtech look like if accountable to place? How might open, place-based blogging foster meaningful connection, reflection, and community in the real world?

Maps and spatial data are a powerful way to communicate, connect, and visualize data across languages and disciplines. With the advent of the internet, digital maps and apps, the use of maps has become part of our daily lives and presents exciting opportunities to integrate open pedagogical practices in the classroom and beyond.

This presentation showcases activities centered on students’ collaborative mapping that foster connectedness within and beyond the classroom, how Open Street Map can be used as a critical lens to visualize openness and mapping for the public good, and the use of mapping on a community-based curriculum on environmental justice and community organizing. The case studies are drawn from the literature and the collaborative work of the presenter on her courses and with community organizations in the Bronx, NY.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Explain how mapping can be used in open pedagogical practices.
• Describe examples of collaborative mapping platforms.
• Explain how Open Street Map can be used in the classroom and for humanitarian purposes as a non-disposable assignment.
• Incorporate collaborative mapping activities on their own teaching or community work.

Are you using Section 121 of the Copyright Act (the Chafee Amendment) as a tool for meeting the Title II Digital Accessibility Mandate? Academic libraries typically rely on fair use analysis or pursue permissions from publishers when creating accessible formats of copyrighted materials. But these tactics can cause delays that leave students without the materials they need.

With Section 121, libraries are given explicit statutory permission to create accessible formats for patrons with print disabilities--no fair use analysis is required, and no publisher permission is needed. Unlike fair use, market impact doesn't matter: libraries can create accessible versions even when publishers sell their own "accessible" products.

Through real scenarios--urgent textbook needs, inadequate publisher "accessible" versions, and institutional transition planning--attendees gain confidence using Section 121 to serve students legally and effectively while building sustainable, proactive accessibility.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Distinguish between fair use analysis and Section 121 authorization, identifying when each applies to creating accessible formats and why Section 121 provides clearer legal protection for libraries.
• Explain how Section 121 authorizes libraries to create accessible formats without publisher permission for patrons with print disabilities, supporting Title II Digital Accessibility Mandate compliance.
• Apply decision frameworks for library accessibility work: prioritizing born-accessible acquisitions, evaluating vendor accessibility claims, and using Section 121 when accessible versions are unavailable or inadequate.
• Develop library policies integrating Section 121 into reserves, interlibrary loan, and special collections while avoiding common mistakes that forfeit legal protection.

Have you ever wondered what happens to your paper after you submit it to a journal? This session demystifies the editorial process at the Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (JOERHE) by tracing the journey from submission to publication. Grounded in our mission to expand OER research and grow scholarship through open access and transparent research practices, we walk attendees through each stage of our editorial workflow. Participants will explore our multilayered review process (desk, editorial, and open peer review) followed by the revision process and final production stages (layout and galley approval). The journal's commitment to open research principles and expanding research on OER shapes every stage of this process, ensuring scholarship remains accessible, reproducible, and community-driven. Whether you are a first-time submitter or a seasoned researcher, this session offers valuable insight into the path your manuscript travels on its way to publication.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Describe the step-by-step editorial process used by the Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education, from initial submission through final publication.
• Explain how the journal's review and publication process aligns with its mission to expand research and grow scholarship in the field of open educational resources.
• Identify key milestones or decision points in the manuscript journey that authors should understand when submitting to OER-focused academic journals.
• Understand how to prepare a manuscript for submission to the JOERHE.

How can we bridge the space between teaching complex theory and making an assessment accessible? This session reframes Generative AI as a living OER for high-quality STEM assessment. Moving beyond basic automation, we explore how AI acts as a technical partner in designing project-based learning.

Using a group project on relativistic effects for a trip to Alpha Centauri as a case study, the presenter will demonstrate how AI audits student logic for time dilation and length contraction. Participants will then engage in AI-assisted assessment building to create their own rubrics aligned with Quality Matters and WCAG 2.1 AA standards, including generating ARIA labels for digital interactives. Attendees will leave with a scalable framework for coordinating consistent, accessible, and inclusive digital materials across STEM departments.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Define and apply the AI-as-OER framework to transition from static teaching materials to dynamic, adaptable STEM assessments that align with specific Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs).
• Construct a multi-stage project rubric for complex scenarios, such as relativistic time dilation in deep-space travel, that ensures transparent grading and high student engagement.
• Perform an accessibility and quality audit on AI-generated content to ensure all digital assessment materials meet WCAG 2.1 AA standards and Quality Matters benchmarks.

In the fall of 2025, Rebus and the Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS) collaborative united to turn a shared conviction into action: open educational resources (OER) have the power to fundamentally transform workforce preparation. This session introduces the Workforce OER Playbook—a practical guide born from cross-sector dialogue. We’ll unpack the collaborative process behind its creation, highlighting both successes and challenges. Attendees will learn concrete examples of how the playbook supports educators and industry partners in building mutually beneficial partnerships. Learn how to map shared goals, co-create relevant OER, and sustain collaborations beyond short-term grant cycles. Whether you’re new to OER or leading workforce initiatives, this session offers actionable strategies to bridge classroom learning and labor market needs.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Describe key workforce skills gaps, including soft skills, digital literacy, and AI literacy, drawn from focus groups with educators and industry leaders.
• Apply strategies from the Workforce OER Playbook to build cross-sector partnerships between higher education and industry.
• Use open licensing and open pedagogy to develop sustainable, accessible curriculum that stays relevant beyond the classroom.
• Leverage industry advisory boards, micro-credentials, and service learning to align academic programs with workforce needs.

Our presentation highlights how internationally collaborative authorship advances open education, using Confident Supervisors Vol2 as a case study.

Published by QUT with support from JCU, this open education resource (OER) connected contributors from Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa and the UK, to create a professional development resource to support research supervisors and developers. It showcases the diversity of learnings that develop when authors collaborate across borders.

We position open publishers as enablers of knowledge production and a mechanism for bridging the gap between the global North and South. We will share the framework behind the publication, including approaches to authorship agreements, accessibility, copyright, and licensing.

The Space Between explored is how collaborative OER projects leverage the spaces between traditional scholarly communication models to create more inclusive and globally relevant educational resources.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Explain the short- and long-term roles of the publisher, editor and author in the implementation of an OER project.
• Discuss approaches to navigating staffing and infrastructure limitations to develop and deliver a sustainable OER project.
• Explore the opportunities and challenges of working across disciplines, countries, national borders and institutional frameworks to realise an OER project within a limited timeframe.
• Demonstrate the role open publishing and publishers play in diversifying the scholarly publishing landscape.
• Reveal the ongoing impact of OER outcomes for key stakeholders, including creators and users, locally and globally. Creators achieve enhanced skills and profiling, and users have access to additional resources for their personal use or application within their institution.