From the Open Education Conference 2025 - Panel Discussion | OEA Steering Committee Members

As U.S. higher education faces rapid changes and challenges, now is a critical time to reassert open education’s role in this evolving landscape. From the shifting political climate to funding cuts to the growing use of AI, open education is more important and relevant than ever. Yet there are more barriers than ever, from intense censorship of equity to the growth of automatic textbook billing to commercial interests co-opting open education's strongest arguments. This panel builds on a conversation about the future of open education advocacy that started at OpenEd23 and has since grown into a new national initiative to develop an association that represents the interests of the open education field. Community leaders who sit on the project's steering committee will engage the audience in a strategic discussion about the dynamics of the current environment and how open education can strategically respond—individually, in communities, and collectively through a national effort.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

• Identify how open education is being impacted by the U.S. political environment.

• Describe the importance of open education in addressing the challenges facing our time.

• Apply strategies to navigate challenges that vary across different contexts.

• Contribute to shaping a new national initiative to support the open education field.