2026 Open Education Conference

After participating in this session, learners will be able to explain how digital transformation can be understood as a pathway for expanding open education in Chinese universities.

After participating in this session, learners will be able to identify how MOOCs, online open courses, shared platforms, and AI-supported tools widen access, flexibility, and resource sharing.

After participating in this session, learners will be able to assess the main constraints on digitally mediated openness, including inequality, governance, recognition, and platform dependence.

After participating in this session, learners will be able to apply insights from the Chinese case to wider discussions of emerging technologies and open education.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Understand how digital transformation is reshaping open education in Chinese universities.
• Recognize how MOOCs, online open courses, shared platforms, and AI-supported tools expand access, flexibility, and resource sharing.
• Identify the main opportunities and challenges that emerging technologies bring to open education in the Chinese higher education context.
• Reflect on how the Chinese case can inform broader discussions about inclusive and sustainable open education.

This session shares the ONE List, a tagging framework developed at the University of Nebraska Omaha to make visible the authority signals often missing from OER discovery systems: author credentials, publisher type, editorial oversight, revision history, accessibility features, and more. Grounded in information literacy and the ACRL frame “Authority Is Constructed and Contextual," this project aims to develop an objective system for categorizing OER according to standard notions of publishing authority through application of relevant metadata. This provides potential faculty adopters with ready markers of publishing authority when scanning for materials. The session will also discuss a newer phase of the work: investigating the feasibility of AI assistants in a human-in-the-loop workflow to assist with tagging while preserving transparency, evidence, and librarian review. Attendees will leave with a practical model for improving OER discoverability, trust, and adoption support.

It is not claimed that this system should be the primary method for categorizing and recommending OER to potential adopters, nor that traditional notions of publishing authority are the exclusive qualifiers of potential source quality. Rather, this presents a way to promote objective categorization, address common adopter concerns, reward the existence of still-important publishing attributes, and ultimately improve the toolkits we use in adoption and promotion.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify common metadata gaps that may be initial barriers to OER adoption.
• Describe how an objective tagging attribute framework can surface markers of academic authority.
• Apply fundamental information literacy tenets to OER discovery and selection.
• Adapt key elements of the ONE List model to local OER, library, or instructional design workflows.
• Evaluate the benefits and limits of using human-in-the-loop AI to support metadata creation in open education settings (this portion of the project is still in-progress).

Every day, we hit warp speed. Every day, we forget what it means to warp. If Open Education programs want to survive, our captains need to stare into The Warp, the Immaterium, the Unspace: The Space Between.

The early years of open education management included what many leaders called "building the plane as we flew it." Open Education organizations and initiatives were assembled for pilot projects like grant programs or workshops - sometimes built solely around the existence of funding or an idea for one event. As OE programs mature, what used to be "the plane" now travels faster than light. But do we know enough about how we travel? Do we understand what it means to warp?

Through the cosmic lenses of Star Trek, Warhammer 40K, and Adrian Tchaikovsky, Jeff will take you through the sometimes-painful creation of an open Standard Operating Procedures document and how this practice could help build transparency and ethical automation into the fundamental processes that make Open happen.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify standard definitions and explain their open education programs within these terms.
• Adapt and create a Standard Operating Procedures document for their own open education program.
• Build accessibility into existing processes and target accessibility-by-default in both publishing and work procedures.

As education shifts toward skills-based learning and credentials, a critical question emerges: what lies in the space between open education and workforce-aligned recognition? This panel explores that space where values of openness intersect with the growing demand for verifiable, skills-based credentials. Panelists from community colleges, universities, and international open education leadership will share perspectives on how open practices can support more transparent, equitable pathways to employment.

Through a high-level demonstration of a microcredential authoring platform and a real-world use case, the Open Financial Services Essentials project, attendees will see how open, skills-based content can be designed, validated, and recognized. Grounded in practice and policy, this session invites participants to consider how we can bridge the gaps between learning and work, and reimagine what is possible when openness meets skills.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Articulate the relationship between open education and skills-based credentials within evolving workforce ecosystems.
• Describe how open practices can support more equitable and transparent pathways from learning to employment.
• Connect policy, practice, and technology to advance open, skills-based credentialing initiatives.

People working in open education develop their knowledge and skills in open education in a range of ways. While some may take formal courses or training, often it is built through hands-on projects, the day-to-day work, and peer relationships. As such, BCcampus is working to develop a Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) framework for open education, a process to evaluate and provide formal recognition for the skills, knowledge, and experience gained through work, volunteer, and life experiences. This session discusses why BCcampus is pursuing a PLAR approach to recognition and badging, and shares the openly licensed competency and assessment frameworks being developed.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Explain the purpose of PLAR and its value for open education practitioners;.
• Describe competencies that enable open education work in a post-secondary context;.
• Identify flexible methods and options for demonstrating competencies; and.
• Understand the assessment framework for evaluating mastery of competencies.