conference-OER26

~~Openness Reimagined: Continuity, Change and Shared Vision https://www.alt.ac.uk/OER26-Proposals~~

Sustaining the Ethos and Values of Open in a Changing Landscape

Open education has always been both a practice and a proposition. It is grounded in enduring commitments to access, equity, collaboration, and the sharing of knowledge as a public good. Over decades, these commitments have taken institutional and technological form through open educational resources, open pedagogy, open research, open access publishing, and global networks of collaboration. Openness has expanded participation, reshaped practice, and challenged assumptions about who education is for and how it should be delivered.

Yet openness is not static. It evolves alongside the social, political, and technological conditions in which it operates. The rapid development of AI systems, platform-based infrastructures, shifting policy environments, new economic pressures, and renewed global debates about equity and justice are reshaping the terrain of open education. In this context, openness must be revisited, reinterpreted, reimagined, and perhaps reconfigured.

OER26 invites delegates to reimagine and re-theorise openness while recognising the enduring ethos that has sustained the movement from its earliest days. We seek to examine openness as a living project that must continually negotiate continuity and change.

OER26 positions openness as an ongoing collective endeavour requiring critical inquiry, practical innovation, and sustained ethical commitment. We are particularly interested in contributions that explore how the ethos of openness is sustained, challenged, institutionalised, or transformed in the current moment.

Area the aligns with my research:

Cluster 2: Reimagining openness: theory, technology, and futures
This cluster foregrounds critical, and future-oriented engagements.

• How might openness evolve in response to new technologies?
• Can AI-aligned technologies be genuinely open?
• Can open and participatory approaches offer balance to the extractive nature of generative AI?
• What sociotechnical imaginaries are embedded within open education movements?
• Do we need new theories of openness? What emerging practices are not yet fully theorised?
• What futures of open education are desirable? How can new educational forms be open?
• What conversations are we not yet having (but should be)?

Submission formats:

We encourage submissions from researchers, practitioners, educators, students, policymakers, technologists, librarians, instructional designers, and community organisers.

• Research Papers (20 minutes)
  Presenting completed or near-completed research studies (empirical and theoretical).

• Workshops (60 or 120 minutes)
  Interactive sessions focused on tools, practices, methods, or collaborative exploration.

• Panels and Symposia (up to 90 minutes)
  Curated discussions bringing together multiple perspectives on a shared issue.

• Posters
  Visual presentations of emerging research, projects, or initiatives.

• Lightning Talks (5 minutes)
  Short presentations highlighting new ideas, provocations, or initiatives.

• Experimental Formats
  Innovative or non-traditional formats that embody the spirit of openness, including collaborative design sessions, multimodal contributions, artistic interventions, and community-led dialogues.

^ these feel potentially viable

—