Open Education Week

Open Education Book Fair
2026-03-03 11:30 - 13:30 (America/Vancouver) | Nanaimo, Canada, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada
Think Scholastic Book Fair vibes — but everything is free.
The Open Education Book Fair invites you to browse openly licensed textbooks and course materials, learn how Open Educational Resources (OERs) make learning more affordable and accessible, and explore Vancouver Island University’s Zero Textbook Cost Pilot Program.
Chat with folks from VIUSU, BCcampus, VIU Librarians, and VIU CIEL Staff to discover tools and resources you can use right away, and enjoy free snacks as you browse. All materials are free, available from day one, and require no access codes or extra costs. Come for the nostalgia, stay for the savings.
See Also

VIU Students’ Union host free open textbook fair (CHLY Radio)

Be the change you want to see: Applications of Seamless learning. Research projects from the International Research Network for Innovative Sustainable and Seamless Education (IRN-ISSE)
2026-03-04 14:00 - 15:00 (Europe/Stockholm) | Lund, Sweden, Lund, Sweden
The International Research Network for Innovative Sustainable and Seamless Education (IRN-ISSE) is a global research partnership that began at mLearn 2018 at Concordia University in Chicago. The vision of IRN-ISSE is to build an international community of practice, inviting researchers and specialists to collaborate for the greater good, with a specific focus on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4): “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” The mission of IRN-ISSE is to study, support, inform, share, and implement research globally to improve access to and quality of education worldwide. The goal is to stand together and learn with and from each other, striving to remain at the forefront of innovative, sustainable, and seamless educational practice
The community has a global reach, including Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and India. The partnership is working on several initiatives, such as:

The Seamless Learning Experience Design Model, which identifies five themes relevant to designing a seamless learning experience: 1) seamless learning concepts, 2) positive concepts, 3) practical concepts, 4) human concepts, and 5) design concepts. Based on these five concepts, a Seamless Learning Experience Design (SLED) framework was developed.
Research and ongoing work include the “Be the change to see the change” (this was the theme for interviews and larger podcasts) initiative, and on-demand, driven learning.

What you can expect:
During this webinar, you will meet some of the partners in IRN-ISSE. You will hear about their research and ongoing initiatives. You will have the opportunity to discuss with the team and the audience the interesting changes in education, including those brought about by the AI era. You will also learn how you can become involved in the IRN-ISSE partnership.

Speakers:

Helga Hambrock. Dr. S Africa, Co-ordinator
Ebba Ossiannilsson, Prof. Dr. Sweden
Ioana Andrea Stefan, Dr. Romania
Karen Ferreira Meyers, Prof. Dr. Eswatini

… even more members from IRN ISSE

Contact: Ebba Ossiannilsson, Prof. Dr. Sweden
Ebba.Ossiannilsson@gmail.com
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/32914498970710?p=EBrRzeuucxkYlwaZtL
Meeting ID: 329 144 989 707 10
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Open Education as Anti-Fascism: Building Democratic Resilience
2026-03-04 16:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Berlin) | Saskatchewan
Across the globe, higher education is facing growing authoritarian, exclusionary, and anti-democratic tendencies, not only in politics, but also in digital infrastructures, platform economies, and dominant narratives about technology and innovation. At the same time, Open Education is often framed primarily as a technical or economic solution, i.e., more efficient content production, wider access, lower costs.
In this session, we will discuss how openness can function as a form of democratic resilience in times of polarization and techno-fascism.

Open for Antiracism: Trauma informed approaches to open education
2026-03-04 10:00 - 10:45 (America/Los_Angeles) | Saskatchewan
Open for Antiracism is a special project of OE Global that has been providing professional development programming across California Community colleges on OER and Open Pedagogy for over 6 years.
In this 2-part session, you’ll first hear from our program directors, Laura Dunn and James Glapa-Grossklag, on how the antiracism and equity landscape has changed since the program’s beginnings in 2020, the impact that OFAR has had on students and faculty, and how OFAR is applied in the classroom.
In the second half of our session, OFAR coach, past participant, and professor of child development at Cerro Coso Community College, Tyrone Ledford shares how he has adapted OFAR’s program in his trauma informed approach to teaching child development. Tyrone will be presenting how to blend anti-racist curriculum and trauma informed teaching strategies to create classroom environments that are empathetic and inclusive to students of diverse backgrounds who have experienced trauma.

Tyrone Ledford is an educator and equity advocate committed to student success and community empowerment. An award-winning Umoja Counselor and two-time Faculty of the Year at Cerro Coso Community College, he created the Trauma-Informed Care specialization program to better support students impacted by trauma. Beyond the classroom, Tyrone advances equity through his family-owned community garden, where he provides students with access to fresh food, education, and hands-on experience growing their own food while promoting food security, sustainability, and self-sufficiency.
Laura Dunn is the director of Open for Antiracism and faculty of religion at the University of Hawaii. Laura’s current research examines how indigenous knowledge systems intersect with cross cultural contemplative practices as a means to reclaim identity in post- and neo-colonial contexts. She is an award-winning writer and scholar, Newhall Fellow, Interreligious Collaborative Research Fellow, and recipient of the National Endowment for the Humanities Association for Asian Studies Publication Grant.
James Glapa-Grossklag is Dean, Educational Technology, Learning Resources, and Distance Learning at College of the Canyons (USA). He serves as Technical Assistance Provider for the California Community Colleges’ Zero Textbook Cost Degree Program, the largest-ever public investment in OER. He co-directs the Open for Antiracism Program, is an OER Fellow for the Michelson 20MM Foundation, and co-leads, with Carnegie Mellon University, a national training program to help faculty from broad-access institutions learn to teach with generative AI. James is past President of Open Education Global, the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources, and Directors of Educational Technology in California Higher Education. James served as a trainer on OER for the US Department of State in the Middle East and North Africa and was Innovation Scholar in Residence at RMIT University in Australia. He held the appointment of Global OER Ambassador for ICDE 2017-21. In 2019, he received the President’s Award from Open Education Global for “advancing open education around the world through his exceptional dedication, outstanding contribution, and exemplary service.”

You can watch our OE Week session here.
Session Recording Available

Sowing the Seeds of a Global Movement: Stories from California Trailblazers of Open Education
2026-03-04 15:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | Austin, United States, Austin, TX, United States
Join author Barbara Illowsky, Ph.D., editor Judith Sebesta, Ph.D., and contributor James Glapa-Grossklag for an exclusive webinar launching their new volume, Sowing the Seeds of a Global Movement: Stories from California Trailblazers of Open Education.
Published in Pressbooks under the auspices of College of the Canyons, which serves as the Technical Assistance Provider for the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Zero Textbook Cost Degree Grant Program, this powerful OER chronicles the California origins, evolution, and future impact of OER and Zero Textbook Cost (ZTC) programs through the words of visionary leaders who made it happen.
Attendees will gain invaluable insights into the strategic foundations, key partnerships, and transformative vision that propelled a grassroots effort into systemic transformation of the U.S.’s largest system of higher education and has inspired open educators across the globe.
The volume includes interviews with the following trailblazers, all based in California:

Cathy Casserly
Una Daly
James Glapa-Grossklag
Gerry Hanley
Barbara Illowsky
Martha Kanter
Gary K. Michelson
Lisa Petrides
Hal Plotkin

Whether you are an educator, policymaker, administrator, or philanthropist, discover the critical factors that led to California’s historic investment in ZTC pathways and the enduring power of collective action in making knowledge a public good.

Designing With, Not Around, Disabled Learners: A Screen-Reader Demo Experience
2026-03-05 20:30 - 22:00 (Africa/Cairo) | Cairo, Egypt, Cairo, Egypt
This session from Equity Unbound will demonstrate why screen-reader access is important when designing learning materials, especially Open Educational Resources. Have you ever wanted to know how people who are visually impaired or totally blind access your content? Come to this session and I, a visually impaired screen-reader user and an accessibility expert myself, will demonstrate for you the experience of a blind person navigating websites and digital materials.
We will begin with a TRIZ Liberating Structures activity in which participants will intentionally design the worst possible experience for someone using a screen reader. As we name common mistakes and exclusionary practices first, we will surface the barriers that disabled users encounter every day.
Through screen-reader demonstrations on JAWS, NVDA, and Voiceover, participants will experience how everyday design choices shape who can participate fully in learning spaces and who is required to work harder to feel “included” because the design was not made accessible from the beginning. Participants will see concrete examples of inaccessible practices, such as poorly structured documents, missing alt text, cluttered layouts, and excessive emoji use, and how these choices interfere with learning and participation.
The session will connect these examples to the four principles of accessibility: perceivable, operable, user-friendly, and real. We will also discuss reasonable accommodations and why accessibility must be built into course design rather than added later. Throughout the session, participants will be invited to reflect, ask questions, and rethink their own materials. By the end, they will leave with practical strategies for creating learning spaces that are genuinely inclusive for screen reader users.
Recording Now Available

See also the presentation slides and an anonymized chat log from this session

Bridging knowledge gaps through collaboration: Wikimedia in South Africa and the UK
2026-03-24 12:00 - 13:00 (Europe/London) | Leeds, United Kingdom, Leeds, United Kingdom
This Knowledge Equity webinar focuses on advancing knowledge equity through Wikimedia initiatives and open education, with a particular emphasis on South African and UK perspectives. During this session we will explore how collaborative efforts between Wikimedia communities, Open Education and Open Research networks can:
• Empower local knowledge creation and representation.
• Address systemic barriers to access and participation in digital knowledge platforms.
• Highlight successful models of community engagement
• Foster cross-regional collaboration to build inclusive, sustainable knowledge ecosystems.
The session will look at practical strategies for increasing the reach of Wikimedia, the importance of language diversity, and the ethical dimensions of open knowledge production. We will also reflect on how global partnerships can support local and regional initiatives.
Tuesday 24 March, 12:00 – 13:00 GMT / 14:00 – 15:00 SAST

Guest speakers:
Herschal Jackson is the inaugural Executive Director of Wikimedia South Africa (Wikimedia ZA), leading the chapter’s transition toward greater professionalisation of its operation, strategic growth and the amplification of its presence within the global Wikimedia community.
Previously serving as Executive Coordinator of Wikimedia ZA, he strengthened organisational systems, advanced program delivery, and facilitated the 2023 Strategic Planning Meeting. He has played key roles in major initiatives, including co‑organising WikiIndaba 2024 and leading on SWiP Phase 2, a multilingual knowledge‑equity project supporting student contributors across South Africa and neighbouring SADC countries, working in their own languages.
Herschal was instrumental in guiding the development and ratification of Wikimedia ZA’s 2024–2026 strategy and established governance subcommittees to support its implementation. His leadership continues to shape a resilient, collaborative, and future‑focused chapter for Wikimedia ZA.
—
Lucy Crompton-Reid joined Wikimedia UK as Chief Executive in October 2015, where she has spearheaded a focus on equity and inclusion on Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects. Lucy leads the charity’s work in advocating for a healthy online information ecosystem, and promoting Wikimedia as an important tool in the development of vital media and information literacy skills.
Lucy sits on the British Library Advisory Council, the Board of Advisors for the Khalili Foundation and the External Advisory Board for AI For Collective Intelligence (AI4CI), a UKRI National AI Research Hub. She also Chairs the local arts charity where she lives in rural Scotland.
