2025 Keynote Speakers

August 6: Where the Technical Power of Generative AI Meets the Participatory Power of OER

Speaker: David Wiley, Chief Academic Officer and Co-founder, Lumen Learning. Associate Professor, Marketing, MIS, and Entrepreneurship, Academic Affairs Fellow, Marshall University

The affordances of generative AI provide educators and others with the opportunity to reimagine how we improve access to educational opportunity for everyone, everywhere. Although the open education movement has been focused on improving access to education for decades, it has largely ignored the transformative possibilities of generative AI so far - choosing instead to pigeonhole generative AI into the role of “help us author OER faster and cheaper.” This presentation explores lessons learned by the open education movement as it dramatically increased access to educational opportunity over the last 27 years, and suggests ways we can use generative AI to begin creating an additional, equally dramatic increase in access to educational opportunity today.

August 7: The Future of Equity in OER Amid a Shifting Landscape

Speakers: 

• Abbey Elder, Open Access and Scholarly Communication Librarian | Iowa State University 

• Rebel Cummings-Sauls, Director of Digital Services and OER | Florida Virtual Campus Library Services

• Deborah Baker, Instructional Designer | Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation and OER Coordinator of Open Maricopa

As national discourse around education shifts, promoting equity through OER has become an increasingly complex endeavor, particularly in politically charged environments. This panel will bring together three leaders from across the open education community who have overcome adversity in advocating for equitable practices and resources. Panelists will discuss both programmatic and individual experiences—ranging from institutions where terms like "equity" are restricted from official communications, to grassroots strategies for supporting student centered pedagogies under changing directives. They will share best practices for navigating sensitive political climates, sustaining faculty engagement, and keeping the core values of openness alive in OER work. This conversation will offer critical insights for anyone working in or alongside OER initiatives and will help chart a path forward for an open community committed to serving all learners, even amid shifting cultural and governmental landscapes.