International Mother Language Day 2025
2025-02-20 08:00 - 2025-02-21 17:00 (Europe/Paris) | UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
UNESCO will celebrate the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day, reaffirming the importance of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in fostering dignity, peace, and understanding.
UNESCO estimates that there are 8,324 languages, spoken or signed. Out of these, around 7,000 languages are still in use. However, linguistic diversity is under threat, with many languages disappearing at an accelerated pace in our rapidly changing world.
Learning in one’s mother tongue enhances comprehension, engagement, and critical thinking, particularly for marginalized communities, but 37% of learners in low- and middle-income countries lack this opportunity. Multilingual education addresses these gaps, boosting participation, retention, and socio-emotional development, while also supporting global goals like gender equality, climate action, and sustainable communities. UNESCO champions multilingualism as a powerful tool for inclusive education and meaningful global engagement.
In February, UNESCO will celebrate the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day, reaffirming the importance of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in fostering dignity, peace, and understanding. This milestone highlights decades of efforts to preserve mother tongues, safeguard cultural heritage, and improve education.
The “Languages matter: Silver Jubilee Celebration of International Mother Language Day” event will underscore the urgency of accelerating progress on linguistic diversity to build a more inclusive and sustainable world by 2030. It also supports the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, emphasizing the role of languages in achieving global development goals. The event will review progress, showcase successful multilingual education practices, and advocate for inclusive language policies that respect all communities.
The two-day event will feature technical dialogues (20 February), high-level sessions (21 February), cultural performances, and an exhibition celebrating global linguistic diversity, all accessible through live streaming and interpretation.
UNESCO estimates that there are 8,324 languages, spoken or signed. Out of these, around 7,000 languages are still in use. However, linguistic diversity is under threat, with many languages disappearing at an accelerated pace in our rapidly changing world.
Learning in one’s mother tongue enhances comprehension, engagement, and critical thinking, particularly for marginalized communities, but 37% of learners in low- and middle-income countries lack this opportunity. Multilingual education addresses these gaps, boosting participation, retention, and socio-emotional development, while also supporting global goals like gender equality, climate action, and sustainable communities. UNESCO champions multilingualism as a powerful tool for inclusive education and meaningful global engagement.
In February, UNESCO will celebrate the 25th anniversary of International Mother Language Day, reaffirming the importance of linguistic diversity and multilingualism in fostering dignity, peace, and understanding. This milestone highlights decades of efforts to preserve mother tongues, safeguard cultural heritage, and improve education.
The “Languages matter: Silver Jubilee Celebration of International Mother Language Day” event will underscore the urgency of accelerating progress on linguistic diversity to build a more inclusive and sustainable world by 2030. It also supports the International Decade of Indigenous Languages, emphasizing the role of languages in achieving global development goals. The event will review progress, showcase successful multilingual education practices, and advocate for inclusive language policies that respect all communities.
The two-day event will feature technical dialogues (20 February), high-level sessions (21 February), cultural performances, and an exhibition celebrating global linguistic diversity, all accessible through live streaming and interpretation.
Register to attend in person or watch the live stream.
Featured image credit File:”Mother tongue” in Syloti Language.jpg Wikimedia Commons Image shared under CC BY-SA

WikiAfrica Hour – De-colonising knowledge on Wikipedia
2025-02-26 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Online from Multiple Locations
What do we mean by decolonising knowledge? Why is it essential to document this on Wikimedia projects? What established knowledge decolonisation initiatives are inside (and even outside) the Wikimedia movement that we should pay attention to? How can we improve existing initiatives and encourage others to do the same?
This month on Wiki Africa Hour, we’re doing a deep dive into decolonising knowledge with guest host Achal Prabhala, who will lead a panel experienced in disrupting the information landscape.
Guests include:

Iolanda Pensa: a wikipedian and researcher. She has been contributing to Wikipedia since 2006, she organized in 2016 “Wikimania Esino Lario”, she is chair of the Wikimania Steering Committee, former chair and now national coordinator for GLAMs of Wikimedia Italia, scientific director of WikiAfrica from 2007 until 2011 and co-founder of Wiki in Africa. co-founder of De-colonising knowledge on wikipedia in Switzerland.
Asuru Lutherking Petercan: a research assistant in architectural history and heritage preservation. Advocating for free knowledge in Nigeria, advocating for policy change and creating awareness in the built environment and beyond about heritage and historic architectural archives, contributing to open source platforms, training more professionals to contribute and also starting an architectural heritage community to join in the contribution of Heritage architecture and GLAM related knowledge in Nigeria.
Sandra Schmitt Soster: Sandra Soster is the GLAM and Culture Manager of Wiki Movimento Brasil since 2022. She holds a PhD degree of Architecture and Urbanism by University of São Paulo (USP).
Chantal Edie Ntube: an artist whose art representation extends beyond her visual practice as a photographer and writer. Chantal has a BSC in History, a Masters I in Political Sciences, and an HND in HSC from Reading in the UK.

WikiAfrica Hour:
Wiki In Africa’s WikiAfrica Hour is a monthly live discussion with open movement advocates from around the world. The conversations discuss the WikiAfrica movement’s and Wikimedia activities across Africa and shares insight for anyone (from Africa and beyond) into the global Wikimedia movement.

Open Education Week 2025 Exhibit: Sharing Memories of Your Favorite Children's Book(s)
2025-03-03 - 2025-03-31 | WashU, St. Louis, MO, United States
This pop-up interactive exhibit features about 50 award winning titles recently added to the WashU Libraries’ Collection. The exhibit invites viewers to share their favorite children’s books and authors with others. These books support the methods courses for the Teacher Education Program in the Department of Education and covers a range of fiction and non-fiction topics on identity, race, gender, culture, customs, religion, and traditions.
The exhibit runs from March 3-March 31, 2025 and is on display in the Olin Library lobby.

Carteles Educativos por Wikimedia México
2025-03-03 08:00 - 2025-03-07 17:00 (Europe/London) | México, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico
Desde el Programa de Educación de Wikimedia México organizamos una serie de #CartelesEducativos con la comunidad de WikiEducación en el país, a manera de memoria de proyectos y editatones educativos, talleres, cursos, charlas y otras actividades en torno al fenómeno educativo que ha generado el uso e implementación de Wikipedia y los proyectos Wikimedia dentro y fuera del aula en México.
Estos carteles se presentan en el marco de la Semana de la Educación Abierta 2025 (#OEWeek) con el objetivo de incentivar a más personas e instituciones a participar en este movimiento de conocimiento libre, descononización de los saberes y de las diversas comunidades de aprendizajes.
Desde México decimos #WikipediaEsParteDeLaEducación en nuestras Redes Sociales donde podrán encontrar cada uno de las WikiPropuestas pedagógicas.

Open Education Week 2025 - TU Delft Kick-off
2025-03-03 12:00 - 14:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | Delft University of Technology, Delft, Netherlands
Panel Discussion: “Building Support for Open Education: Present and Future”
Insights from key stakeholders about current open education initiatives and future strategies.
Panelists:
Willem van Valkenburg (Executive Director, Extension School)
Ingrid Klok (Manager, Library Education Services)
Frank van der Hoeven (Programme Manager, Open Science Programme)
Moderator:
Freek Pols (Assistant Professor, Faculty of Applied Sciences
Poster Session:
• Explore the grassroots projects shaping open education at TU Delft, funded by the Open Education Stimulation Fund (OESF’24)
• Interact with Project leaders who are driving open education forward.

Open Education Awards:
OE Ambassador Awards: Each year, we celebrate 9 TU Delft lecturers (one per faculty and including QuTech) for their advocacy of open education and commitment to openly sharing knowledge and educational resources with the world.
They receive the award from Willem van Valkenburg, Executive Director, TU Delft Extension School for Continuing Education. (See previous winners).
Open Interactive Textbooks (OIT) & Open Textbooks (OTB) awards: In 2024, faculties and the Library celebrated Open Interactive Textbook publications. This year, we again honor our OIT authors while also recognizing OTB authors. These authors play a vital role in maintaining control over educational materials, enhance quality, reduce student costs, and share knowledge globally—well worth the recognition!

Northeast OER Summit
2025-03-03 09:00 - 2025-03-04 17:00 (America/New_York) | University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, United States
The Northeast Open Educational Resources (OER) Summit is a virtual event for new and experienced OER advocates offering the opportunity to learn and share effective practices in awareness building, implementation, collaboration, strategy, and research.
The theme of our 2025 Summit is All Hands on Deck: Exploring Open Education Through Collaboration and Innovation.

Ready for Take-off? How Emerging Technologies are Fuelling New Approaches Around OER in the UK & the US
2025-03-03 15:00 - 16:00 (Europe/Amsterdam) | University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, United States
Today we are faced with emerging technologies such as (Gen)AI, which have incredible potential – yet also significant risks and challenges. During this panel session at the Northeast OER Summit, we will hear from two forward-looking universities in the UK and the US about their views and experiences with (Gen)AI and OER. While both are unique in terms of their local context, challenges and levels of experience with OER, they are unified by their ambition to locally grow OER success and by their high expectations for its future.
From this session, expect to learn more about practical and real-world examples of (Gen)AI use at these two universities and their library today: how it is used to identify OER gaps, how to understand local OER potential as well as convincing senior leadership to get behind this. Moreover, expect to walk away with concrete ideas for how we can fuel a scaleable OER future at any institution and why now is the time really for this to take off.
During this panel session, we will hear from two different institutions in the UK and the US about their views and experiences with (Gen)AI and OER. While both are unique in terms of their local context, challenges and levels of experience with OER, they are unified by their ambition to locally grow OER success and by their high expectations for its future. You’ll hear practical and real-world examples of (Gen)AI use, such as how it is used to identify OER gaps and to understand the potential of OER.
We’ll hear from each of the panelists about where they are with OER today and why they feel now is the time for OER to take off.

Dal Badesha, Head of Learning Resources and Student Engagement, Coventry University. Dal oversees the learning resources and student engagement team at Coventry University. She plays a crucial role in making sure students can find and use learning resources, including OER.
William Walters, Executive Library Director, Manhattan University. William Walters is the executive library director at Manhattan University. His current research focuses on scholarly communication, academic librarianship, AI in higher education, nonprofit management, and assessment. In one of his latest publications he took a deep dive into the online discoverability of open textbooks.
Tom Mosterd, Co-Founder & Director, Higher Education, Sylla. Tom is one of the cofounders of Sylla, a new technology solution that helps libraries and faculty to easily find, assess and adopt OER tailored to their teaching. At Sylla he works on ensuring new technologies are used for the benefit of libraries.

Online University of Windsor Open Education Week Conference
2025-03-03 12:00 - 2025-03-06 17:00 (America/Toronto) | Online from Multiple Locations
The Office of Open Learning at the University of Windsor is hosting a conference throughout the Open Education Week and everyone is invited to join us for a week of free events. Events will be added over time, so check the site regularly.
This year will feature presentations about open educational practices, as well as some presentations about educational technologies.

Retrospective on Open Access Publishing
2025-03-03 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Edmonton) | Athabasca University, 1 University Dr, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada
“Open access (OA) ensures that scholarly research is freely accessible to all, breaking down barriers to information due to subscription costs or institutional access limitations. This democratization of knowledge fosters equity, enabling researchers, educators, policymakers, and the public worldwide to engage with research findings without financial hindrance. Open access distribution facilitates collaboration, innovation, and the adaptation of research for and from diverse contexts—empowering institutions and individuals to improve practices and outcomes. By removing paywalls, OA promotes transparency and accelerates the global exchange of ideas, vital for addressing challenges including sustainability, health crises, and education and research disparities.” (Anderson et al., 2025)
In this session, Professor Rory McGreal will provide a retrospective on OA publishing and the experience of IRRODL over the past twenty-five years as a Diamond open access journal.
Retrospective on Open Access Publishing
Dr. Rory McGreal
March 3, 2025, 11am MT
http://www.cideresearch.ca/session/mcgreal-2025
This is the first of three CIDER sessions celebrating Open Education Week 2025 and the 25th anniversary of the open access journal, The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. These three free, online sessions exploring the critical role of openness in education will be held on Monday, March 3, Wednesday, March 5, and Friday, March 7, 2025.

Open Innovation: AI and Impact on Open Education
2025-03-03 22:00 - 23:30 (Asia/Riyadh) | National eLearning Center, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
This event from the National eLearning Center (Saudi Arabia) explores the intersection of Open Innovation, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Open Education. Experts will discuss how AI-driven innovation is transforming learning ecosystems, content creation, and accessibility in open education. The session will also examine potential challenges, ethical considerations, and strategies for harnessing AI to enhance equity and inclusion in education.

Distributing open education to reduce inequity and transform higher education
2025-03-04 07:00 - 08:00 (Australia/Sydney) | Online from Multiple Locations
This online session puts open education and open publishing in the broader context of knowledge equity and transformation of higher education. It will feature discussion of a new open online course Distributing education and knowledge creation designed to help build capacity for distributing knowledge to reduce inequity. During the session we will hope to identify a cohort of interested people to enrol in the course afterwards to work through it together to improve and adapt it to use in their setting and to advocate for university reform.
The session will be led by E/Professor Dick Heller, Australia and A/Professor Upasana Gitanjali Singh, South Africa and will start with a short presentation followed by an open discussion.
Timing is planned to take place directly after the presentation by Cable Green https://oeweek.oeglobal.org/activity/shifting-to-community-owned-and-operated-open-knowledge/ which also identifies a broad societal context for open knowledge.

Poco a poco, se va lejos: Developing a Spanish Z-degree at Colorado State University Pueblo
2025-03-03 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Denver) | University of Northern Colorado, 406 Dunne Dr., Greeley, CO, United States
This talk explores the development and implementation of the Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) Spanish degree at Colorado State University Pueblo, a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). It examines both the theoretical and practical considerations that shaped the process, emphasizing how a custom-built curriculum can integrate students’ lived experiences and identities while aligning with program objectives and course learning outcomes. This approach enhances accessibility while advancing inclusion, diversity, equity, and student-centered pedagogy.
As with any creative endeavor, the curriculum continues to evolve through ongoing refinement and improvement. The presentation will highlight key lessons learned, challenges faced, and potential alternative approaches, offering recommendations for those interested in developing a Z-degree. Ample time will be provided for questions and discussion.

Getting Started with Open Pedagogy
2025-03-04 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Toronto) | Brock University, 1812 Sir Issac Brock Way, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
This resource-rich virtual workshop will introduce Open Pedagogy, a student-centered and collaborative approach to teaching and learning that foregrounds access, justice, and learner agency. Drawing on inspiring examples from a wide variety of disciplines, participants will learn how to infuse principles of open pedagogy into their learning activities, policies, and assessments.
This OEweek workshop is suited for educators who are new to open educational practices as well as more experienced open pedagogues.

Open for Antiracism: Leveraging Open Education to Support Antiracism in the Classroom, 4 years in review
2025-03-04 09:00 - 09:45 (America/Los_Angeles) | College of the Canyons, Santa Clarita, CA, United States
In this 45-minute panel discussion, we address the question: “How can the open education field engage effectively with antiracist pedagogy?” The Open for Antiracism Program (OFAR) provides an example from its four years of programming that supports. California community college faculty to transform their classrooms to be antiracist through the affordances of OER and open pedagogy. Now in its fifth year, OFAR has supported almost 200 instructors from over 40 institutions to learn to adapt and author OER, integrating antiracist activities and perspectives and co-creating materials with their students.
Two propositions inform the design of OFAR:

Academics wish to change their classroom practices to be antiracist and need guidance on promising practices and a safe place to explore with peers;
OER and open pedagogy can be effective tools to transform classrooms to be antiracist.

Program participants learn about antiracist pedagogy, OER, and open pedagogy. Participants then implement a change to their teaching by integrating OER or open pedagogy to make their class antiracist. Participants receive ongoing support through webinars, coaching, and OER support.
In this session, attendees will learn about program design and research on faculty perceptions and student outcomes. In addition, attendees will hear from one of the program’s course facilitators about the successes and challenges of leading faculty in a discovery of the intersections between open education and antiracist pedagogy.The audience will be invited to share how they can apply this work in their own context to improve student success for marginalized and underserved students.
Panelists:

Laura Dunn, Program Director, Open for Antiracism, Director of Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, Santa Clara University
James Glapa-Grossklag, Co-Director, Open for Antiracism, Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources and Distance Learning, College of the Canyons
Joy Shoemate, Course Developer and Facilitator, Open for Antiracism, Director of Online Education, College of the Canyons

Registration is required

The Future of Pedagogy: Ethical and Inclusive AI in OER Development
2025-03-04 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Toronto) | Ontario Tech U, Oshawa, Ontario, Canada
This session explores the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in enhancing Open Educational Resources (OER) while ensuring ethical implementation. By proposing a framework to integrate ethical and inclusive AI practices, it emphasizes transparency, fairness, privacy, and accountability. The session demonstrates how AI can scale content creation, improve accessibility through translation and adaptive technologies, and personalize learning experiences, all while promoting equity and inclusivity in education. Drawing on Universal Design for Learning (UDL), we will discuss inclusive practices that support the future of OER, addressing ethical challenges such as algorithmic bias and offering strategies for responsible, open, and equitable AI adoption.

UN SDG Open Pedagogy Fellowship Information Session
2025-03-04 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York) | Montgomery College, 900 Hungerford Drive, Rockville, MD, United States
During Open Education Week, Montgomery College will host an information session on the global award-winning (2020 OE Award for Excellence) United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Open Pedagogy Fellowship.
In its eighth year, this fellowship consists of more than 15 institutional partners throughout North America and Asia, involved hundreds of faculty, and impacted thousands of students through renewable assignments. Join the information session to learn how you can participate as a faculty fellow or as an institutional partner.

WikiAfrica Hour's Offline Wikis – Kiwix Demonstration
2025-03-05 10:00 - 11:00 (Africa/Johannesburg) | Online from Multiple Locations
How do we share free knowledge with people who have no stable internet? How do you identify the right offline solution, if you cannot see it in action online first?

Many steps must be taken before offline solutions can benefit the people they are designed for, some of which are quite tricky.
In this OEWeek25 special, following the January edition of WikiAfrica Hour: Offline Wikis, we invite Offline Wiki experts to demonstrate their offline solution. We hope this will make one of the many steps towards offline—the decision phase—easier by showing what you should expect from this platform before you spend hours setting up the hardware, sourcing to the right offline platform, downloading it, and then adding it to your hardware.
In the hot seat for this session is:
✔️ Stephane Coillet-Matillon, who will demonstrate Kiwix

Exploring the Dubai Declaration on OER: Advancing Global Access to Knowledge
2025-03-05 11:00 - 12:00 (Europe/Paris) | UNESCO Dynamic Coalition, Paris, France
This webinar will explore how emerging technologies and open-source tools are reshaping Open Educational Resources (OER). In light of the Dubai Declaration on OER and its complementary role to the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on OER, the webinar will delve into open licensing frameworks, overcoming barriers and scaling innovations globally—especially within regions like the Pacific region.
The speakers will share concrete examples, policy insights, and regional perspectives to inspire stakeholders and guide future developments in open education.
Objectives:

Raise awareness of the Dubai Declaration and its role in advancing the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on OER.
Examine the transformative potential of emerging technologies in creating, curating, and disseminating OER.
Showcase regional examples and case studies to illustrate how the Dubai Declaration can be operationalized locally and globally.

Speakers:

Dr Javiera Atenas, Senior Lecturer in Learning and Teaching Enhancement, University of Suffolk, United Kingdom
Dr Wayne Mackintosh, UNESCO Chair in OER, Director OER Foundation, New Zealand
Ms Anne-Marie Scott, Director Anne-Marie Scott Consulting Inc. and board member of the Open Source Initiative (OSI)

WikiAfrica Hour's Offline Wikis – Internet in a Box Demonstration
2025-03-05 16:00 - 17:00 (Africa/Johannesburg) | Online from Multiple Locations
How do we share free knowledge with people who have no stable internet? How do you identify the right offline solution, if you cannot see it in action online first?

Many steps must be taken before offline solutions can benefit the people they are designed for, some of which are quite tricky.
In this OEWeek25 special, following the January edition of WikiAfrica Hour: Offline Wikis, we invite Offline Wiki experts to demonstrate their offline solution. We hope this will make one of the many steps towards offline—the decision phase—easier by showing what you should expect from this platform before you spend hours setting up the hardware, sourcing to the right offline platform, downloading it, and then adding it to your hardware.
In the hot seat for this session is:
✔️ Tim Moody, who will demonstrate Internet in a Box

Opening Doors & Breaking Barriers: Advancing EDI through Open Education
2025-03-05 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Toronto) | St Claire College, Chattam-Kent, ON, Canada
Open education is more than just a teaching approach—it’s a powerful tool for social justice. In this interactive workshop, we’ll explore how openness can drive meaningful equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts. Join us to learn how to leverage your position to break down barriers, foster inclusive learning environments, and challenge the status quo.

The Evolution of Open and Distributed Learning
2025-03-05 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Edmonton) | Athabasca University, 1 University Dr, Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3, Athabasca, Alberta, Canada
“The rise of online education has transformed teaching and learning paradigms. These changes are fueled by advancements in technology and the demand for flexible, inclusive access to education—even in times of war and epidemic. Online educational practices emphasize interactivity, learner autonomy and self-direction, and accessibility, while theoretical frameworks have expanded to address issues such as openness, digital equity, attrition, engagement in virtual environments, and the design of learning-centered curricula. This evolution has created opportunities and challenges as researchers explore digital tools and platforms to measure if they enhance learning effectiveness and address diverse learning needs.” (Anderson et al., 2025)
In this session, Dr. Connie Anderson and Professor Emeritus Terry Anderson will review the role and impact of open and distributed learning over the last twenty-five years and explore how it may continue to evolve into the future.
The Evolution of Open and Distributed Learning
Dr. Connie Blomgren and Professor Emeritus Terry Anderson
March 5, 2025, 11am MT
http://www.cideresearch.ca/session/blomgren-anderson-2025
This is the second session in the CIDER series celebrating Open Education Week 2025 and the 25th anniversary of the open access journal, The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. These three free, online sessions exploring the critical role of openness in education will be held on Monday, March 3, Wednesday, March 5, and Friday, March 7, 2025.

The K-State Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative, Open Textbook Platforms, & Accessibility
2025-03-05 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, United States
The cost of textbooks is a barrier to affordable higher education for many students. Open textbooks help reduce that cost while providing ways for instructors to adapt content to their course and improve accessibility for their students. Join us for an introduction to the K-State Open/Alternative Textbook Initiative, an overview on the two leading open textbook platforms – Pressbooks and LibreTexts, and a summary of methods to build accessibility into open textbooks to improve learning for all.

OEWeek 2025 Kickoff Event at TRU and Open Education Talks
2025-03-05 11:00 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Thompson Rivers University (TRU), Kamloops, BC, Canada
Join us in celebrating Open Education Week (March 3–7, 2025) with a special kickoff event on March 5th! 🎊
📍 Thompson Rivers University is hosting a catered lunch and streaming the first set of Open Education Talks, followed by an inspiring keynote by Dave Cormier, Director of Curriculum Services at TRU Open Learning. on “What Might Open Ed Look Like in the Future?” Everyone is welcome—virtual participation options are available!
📅 Date: Tuesday, March 5, 2025
🕚 Time: 11:00 AM – 1:30 PM
Event Schedule:
🔹 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM | Open Education Talks (Lightning Talks) 💡
👉 Register and join the live Zoom stream to explore innovative ideas shaping the future of Open Education.

🔹 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM | What Might Open Ed Look Like in the Future? 🌍
🎤 Speaker: Dave Cormier, Director of Curriculum Services, TRU Open Learning
Dave is the author of ‘Learning in a time of Abundance: the community is the curriculum‘
🔗 Join this exciting talk in person at Brown’s House of Learning HL269 (Register for lunch!)
Or for those that can’t make it in person, join via this Microsoft Teams link.
💡 About the Open Education Talk:
The word open in education carries many meanings—spanning licensing, pedagogy, and social justice. But how do we communicate its importance effectively? This engaging session will introduce a simple, inclusive model for thinking about openness and how it can guide decision-making in education.
🚀 Let’s celebrate openness, innovation, and collaboration in education together!
This event is generously funded by BCcampus and organized by TRU Open Press, TRU Library, and TRU Learning Technology & Innovation.
📢 #OEWeek | #OpenEducation | #OER | #TRUOpenPress
Open Ed Talks 2025 Lunch & Learn Sessions
After our March 5th Kickoff event, three interactive sessions will be held on March 12, 19, and 26. Each session includes the streaming of lightning talks from University of Calgary, followed by 30 minutes of facilitated roundtable discussions to explore and apply the open education ideas and concepts discussed in the streamed lightning talks from that day. Each roundtable discussion will be facilitated and focused on the themes outlined in the Open Ed Talks 2025 schedule. Tea/ Coffee/ Water will be provided, and in-person participants are encouraged to bring their lunch.
Dates: March 12, 19, and 26, 2025
Time: 11:00 am–1:00 pm
Location: Brown’s House of Learning HL269, or via this Microsoft Teams link
11:00 am–12:30 pm: Streamed lightning talks

12:30–1:00 pm: Facilitated round table discussions

We hope to see you there!

Open Skilling: Accelerating Workforce Readiness Through Open Education
2025-03-05 22:00 - 23:30 (Asia/Riyadh) | National eLearning Center, Ar Riyad, Saudi Arabia
This online panel discussion from the National eLearning Center of Saudi Arabia will examine how Open Education is revolutionizing skilling and workforce development. The session will focus on use cases, challenges, and opportunities in open skilling, emphasizing industry-driven training models, credentialing, and lifelong learning pathways. Experts will share insights on open credentials, microlearning, and policy frameworks that enable scalable, equitable access to skills development.

OEWeek Live! Socially Just Distributed Care in the Open with Equity Unbound
2025-03-05 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Regina) | Online from Multiple Locations
How MYFest and Intentionally Equitable Hospitality manifest to promote socially just care in the open
We are delighted to offer this open conversation with a fantastic team of representatives from Equity Unbound– the movement started in 2018 focused then on “equity-focused, open, connected, intercultural learning curriculum for teaching digital literacies to educators and co-learners in diverse educational contexts.”
We will learn how this has evolved and grown to now in 2025 for an open discussion on the How Mid-Year Festival (MYFest) and Intentionally Equitable Hospitality (IEH) manifest to promote socially just care in the open. As we are all witnessing, this current time is a call for much more acts of care.
How can you be part of Equity Unbound and their mission “Making Borders Meaningless”? Learn more about IEH and as well what is in store for the next round of MYFest starting in June 2025.
Joining in the conversation are:

Maha Bali (American University in Cairo, Equity Unbound Co-Founder)
Mia Zamora (Kean University, Equity Unbound Co-Founder)
Yasmine Abulfadl (American University in Cairo, Equity Unbound)
Nadine Aboulmagd (American University in Cairo, Program Manager Equity Unbound)

Watch live in YouTube and be part of the conversations are see it later:

Note the format of our OEWeek Live conversations are strongly inspired by the early efforts many here were involved with via Virtually Connecting – its spirit lives on here.
More information

Equity Unbound https://equityunbound.org/

Equity Unbound ONEHE Community Building Activities https://onehe.org/equity-unbound/

MYFest (Mid Year Festival) 2025 https://myfest.equityunbound.org/

Express Interest in MYFest25 https://forms.gle/CtXFsvSAGC5WwCXY6

Intentionally Equitable Hospitality (IEH) https://equityunbound.org/events/intentionally-equitable-hospitality-ieh/

Bali, M., & Zamora, M. (2023). Designing and Adapting for Community with Intentionally Equitable Hospitality. Learning Design Voices. University of Cape Town.
Bali, M., Station, G., Zamora, M. (2022, August 24). Online Does Not Mean Isolated. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/08/24/building-community-online-conferences-events-opinion
Bali, M., & Zamora, M. (2022). The Equity-Care Matrix: Theory and practice. Italian Journal of Educational Technology. doi: 10.17471/2499-4324/1241
Bali, M., Caines, A., Hogue, R. J., DeWaard, H. J., & Friedrich, C. (2019). Intentionally equitable hospitality in hybrid video dialogue: The context of virtually connecting. eLearning Mag. Retrieved from https://elearnmag.acm.org/archive.cfm?aid=3331173

Support/tools for citizen dialogs and digital inclusion
2025-03-06 13:00 - 14:00 (Europe/Stockholm) | Nordic Network for Lifelong Learning, Lund, Sweden
Are you working with digital support and guidance? Then this webinar is something for you. The Network for Lifelong Learning Digital Inclusions (NLL) Digital Toolkit and Conversation tool is for you. The purpose of the toolkit is to facilitate a conversation between citizens who are facing digital challenges and the professionals who meet them on an everyday basis.

Digital inclusion encompasses the activities necessary to ensure equal access to and use of information and communication technologies for participation in social and economic life, including for education, social services, health, social and societal participation. The Nordic Network (NLL) works to bridge the digital divide and improve adults’ understanding of digital participation. By supporting effective solutions in adult education and making recommendations to decision-makers, the network helps to ensure that the adult population in the Nordic region has better opportunities to use digital community services, participate in lifelong learning, become active and critical citizens and users of technology, and be better able to cope with an increasingly digital working life. During the webinar you will be familiarized with both the Conversation Tool and the Digital Inclusion Toolkit. In addition, an example from Åland of citizen dialogs and how they work to reach citizens will be addressed.

Speakers
Ebba Ossiannilsson, Ossiannilsson Quality in Open Online Learning Consultancy, I4Quality.se and Network for Lifelong Learning Digital Inclusion, Sweden
Carola Eklund, Department of Education and Culture and Network for Lifelong Learning Digital Inclusion, Åland

Technocolonialité et diffusion des savoirs : bâtir des alternatives ouvertes
2025-03-06 18:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Paris) | Université de Lille, 42 rue Paul Duez, Lille, France
Nous avons le plaisir de vous inviter à un webinaire exceptionnel dans le cadre de l’Open Education Week 2025, semaine de l’éducation ouverte en bon français.
En effet, alors que nous passons progressivement à l’enregistrement de podcasts diffusés sur la chaîne YouTube d’OEG francophone, cet événement est une occasion unique de nous retrouver dans un format “webinaire” et d’échanger sur les actualités de l’éducation ouverte et les défis qui l’attendent.
Nous aurons également l’honneur de recevoir Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou, nouveau membre du conseil d’administration d’Open Education Global et spécialiste des technologies et des questions de l’ouverture de l’éducation, de la science et de l’innovation sur le continent africain.
Détails du Webinaire :

Date : 6 mars 2025
Heure : de 18h00 à 20 heures (Heure Européenne Continentale)
Intervenant : Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou
Thème : Technocolonialité dans la production de connaissances, matériel ouvert pour la recherche scientifique et diffusion des connaissances par la communauté

Description :
Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou nous fera l’honneur de partager ses réflexions sur la technocolonialité et son impact sur la production et la diffusion des connaissances. Il abordera également l’importance du matériel ouvert pour la recherche scientifique et comment la communauté peut jouer un rôle clé dans la diffusion des connaissances.
Ce webinaire sera l’occasion d’explorer des questions essentielles telles que :

Actualités d’Open Education Global Francophone
Comment la technocolonialité influence la production de connaissances
Défis et opportunités liés à l’utilisation de matériel ouvert dans la recherche scientifique
Comment la communauté peut contribuer à une diffusion plus équitable et inclusive des connaissances

EDI Community Pulse Check: How are you doing?
2025-03-06 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | Online from Multiple Locations
As we navigate through the rapidly changing landscape of higher education in the United States, the CCCOER EDI Committee offers a safe space for the Open Education Community to come together to listen and share our hopes and fears in this uncertain time. Listen or participate- whatever is comfortable for you.
Participants may remain anonymous; however, registration is required, and we may follow up with information about future EDI committee events. The session will not be recorded. Community Guidelines will be in place to promote a respectful conversation.

Vectors of Trust: Practicing Reciprocal Values in Challenging Times
2025-03-06 14:30 - 15:30 (America/Vancouver) | British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada
In eduspaces we talk about values in nebulous terms. We believe in open, we believe in barrier-free, we believe in social justice, we believe in student-focused pedagogies. But what are these values as praxis for those of us who support student-focused spaces?
In this keynote, Dr. Ann Gagné will discuss how we are currently living through a crisis of trust in higher education, institutionally, governmentally, societally, and within our own communities. She will support reflection on how trust is a vector, with both magnitude and direction that impacts the work we do and the work we want to do. By highlighting broken reciprocal values and support systems, this talk defines the moral injury seen in our eduspaces and gives participants the opportunity to leave with tangible next steps to promote trust as reciprocal and etymologically radical.

Speaker Bio
Dr. Ann Gagné (she/her) is Senior Educational Developer, Accessibility & Inclusion at Brock University and a sessional instructor at George Brown College. She has worked in higher education in Ontario at colleges and universities for 21 years. Her work focuses on the need for accessible pedagogies through holistic awareness of disabled learners, faculty, and staff lived experience to decrease barriers to inclusion in higher education. She has facilitated workshops and keynotes on accessible pedagogy, accessible event design, accessible social media practices, and trauma-aware UDL. In March 2023 she started her own podcast Accessagogy, which talks about accessibility and pedagogy in short (under 15 minute) episodes.
BC Open Education Librarians (BCOEL) is grateful for the support of BCcampus who has co-funded this event.

Interactive Asynchronous Discussions with Discuss-It in LibreTexts’ ADAPT
2025-03-06 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | LibreTexts, Davis, CA, United States
Ready to energize your asynchronous online discussions? In this session, our panel of instructors will introduce Discuss-It, a powerful extension of the LibreTexts’ ADAPT homework platform that fosters active learning, student engagement, and collaboration in online courses.
This tool, available for free in California, supports asynchronous student-to-student interaction and instructor-student communication through multimedia options, enhancing the learning experience for all students. Discuss-It also prioritizes accessibility and inclusivity, offering features like auto-captioning, and auto-transcription with editing capabilities in multiple languages, powered by OpenAI’s Whisper technology. With its seamless integration with Canvas and other learning management systems for automatic gradebook syncing, Discuss-It can be a powerful teaching tool and streamline course management for instructors.
Discuss-It allows students to engage in threaded discussions using text, audio, and video responses, creating a more interactive and engaging online learning environment. By promoting creativity and enabling students to express their thoughts in diverse ways, it encourages meaningful conversations with their peers. Peer review and feedback are also integral to Discuss-It, promoting reflection and increasing accountability among students.
Join us to discover how Discuss-It can transform online learning by creating an engaging, inclusive, and collaborative learning environment.
