Professional Development

Opportunities for OER-related learning and professional development. Please complete the “Contact Us” form if you would like us to share an event on this page.

2024 Midwestern Open Education Summit

2024 Midwestern Open Education Summit

Conferences

  • The Open Education Conference (“OpenEd”) is an annual convening for sharing and learning about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives. This dynamic gathering celebrates the core values of open education that strive to realize education ecosystems that are accessible, affordable, equitable and inclusive to everyone, regardless of their background.

  • Organized annually, OE Global Conference is the main venue for open education practitioners, policy builders, advocates, researchers, students, and decision-makers to share practices, network, and initiate collaborations. Participants collectively discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in open education and share their perspectives on its future direction.

Groups and Consortia

  • The Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER) promotes the awareness and adoption of open educational policies, practices, and resources. We believe that these practices will promote equitable access to education, particularly for underserved students while supporting academic freedom and faculty choice of openly licensed curriculum materials. Our membership includes hundreds of colleges across North America. CCCOER is part of Open Education Global.

  • The Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success (DOERS3) Collaborative is a group of 30 public higher education systems and statewide/provincewide organizations that are committed to supporting student success by promoting free, customizable open educational resources (OER). Launched in 2018, DOERS3 helps member organizations implement, scale, and sustain OER by advancing research and policy, sharing tools and learnings, and showing how OER can foster equity and student success.

  • The Open Education Network (OEN) is a vibrant and supportive community that advances the use of open educational resources and practices. Members benefit from and contribute to the global open education ecosystem.

  • OpenStax is part of Rice University, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable corporation. As an educational initiative, it's our mission to improve educational access and learning for everyone. Through our partnerships with philanthropic foundations and our alliance with other educational resource companies, we're breaking down the most common barriers to learning. Because we believe that everyone should and can have access to knowledge.

  • SPARC is a non-profit advocacy organization that supports systems for research and education that are open by default and equitable by design. We believe everyone should be able to access and contribute to the knowledge that shapes our world.

    As a catalyst for action, our pragmatic agenda focuses on driving policy change, supporting member action, and cultivating communities that advance our vision of knowledge as a public good. From the local to the global level, SPARC works to address the ways in which our knowledge systems exclude people due to racism, colonialism, and other legacies of injustice.

Trainings and Programs

  • Open educational resources (OER), such as textbooks freely available through an open license, help narrow performance gaps, reduce failure rates, and level the academic playing field. Through the yearlong online Institute on OER, participating teams gain the skills needed to design, launch, expand, and hasten their own campus OER plans for large-scale engagement and adoption. Teams interact with expert consultants and participate in regular webinars and planning sessions.

  • The Certificate in Open Educational Practices is a supportive professional development experience. It inspires you to create accessible, inclusive, student-centered pedagogy. You’ll work in pairs as one librarian and one faculty member, collaborating to make education more equitable and sustainable through innovative pedagogy.

    In the year-long program, our instructors will introduce open educational practices and work with you to create a personalized action plan. The action plan will become your customized map for implementing an impactful open educational practice project with your students the following term.

  • The Certificate in Open Education Librarianship is a structured and supportive professional development opportunity preparing librarians like you to champion open education. Guided by our expert mentors, you’ll hone critical skills, gain insight, and transform your librarianship into a catalyst for open education, all while working within a collaborative cohort of your peers.

  • The Certificate program offers in-depth courses about CC licenses, open practices, and the ethos of the Commons. Courses are composed of readings, quizzes, discussions, and practical exercises to develop learners’ open skills. They provide personalized engagement with expert facilitators and copyright lawyers in the field and offer a 1:25 (max) ratio of facilitators to course participants.

    Currently, they offer a CC Certificate for Open Culture/ GLAM, a CC Certificate for Academic Librarians, and a CC Certificate for Educators. Courses are open to everyone, from university students and entry-level professionals to experts in the fields of library science, education, and cultural heritage.

    Additionally, as part of a letter of intent between MHEC and CC, CC will offer any community member affiliated with U.S. higher education regional compacts (MHEC, NEBHE, SREB, and WICHE) 15% off the cost of CC Certificate online course. To access your 15% discount, please contact Jennryn Wetzler for the discount code; then register for a CC Certificate course in 2024, using the code.

  • The OpenStax Institutional Partnership Program is designed to help schools increase the use of OER on campus, ultimately lowering the cost of course materials. Partner schools receive individualized consulting on OER strategy and build a strategic plan customized to their institutional needs and challenges. Participants also benefit from monthly calls with other institutions where they can ask questions, discuss challenges, and get ideas and guidance from the community.

  • This comprehensive and flexible online program is designed to develop expertise and capacity across a broad spectrum of open educational practices, including open educational resources and pedagogies, educational technologies, policy, advocacy, and scholarship. The program balances both theoretical and practical elements, always ensuring that critical perspectives and issues are foregrounded.