OpenEd20

This "Re-imagining" session encourages input and guided conversation among the regional compacts and together with the OER community. The compact panelists will share their regional and national work and ask for feedback and input from the session participants. Questions will include:
1. How can the regional compacts support the OER community during COVID-19?
2. How might the regional compacts help reduce structural inequities including systemic racism, and barriers to the access and full participation in the Open exchange of knowledge?
3. How can we all work together at the system, state, and multi-state compact levels to more efficiently scale OER?
During COVID-19, state, system, and institutional leaders are searching for ways to make college more equitable, accessible, and affordable for students. The WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) is working in concert with the four regional higher education compacts (MHEC, NEBHE, SREB & WICHE) to facilitate evidence-based frameworks and guidelines which promote policy and practice support to increase access, affordability and equity via the use of OER. The session focuses on the regional compacts' role in exploring large-scale policy and best practices in the higher education landscape in a collaborative manner.





Learning Outcomes:
1. Participants will learn about OER collaboration among the four regional compacts.
2. Participants will learn how systems, states, and multi-state regions have worked together to promote OER state policy and practice.
3. Panelists/Presenters will listen and learn how to best support OER efforts in their regions and across the US.
4. Participants and Presenters will learn more about each other and how they can encourage and support each other's efforts.

More than a decade of coordinated OER advocacy has paid off with significant victories. Congress allocated, and then renewed twice, the first-ever federal funding for higher education OER grant programs, and numerous significant state-level policy initiatives have led to increased adoption, awareness, and creation of open educational resources. Meanwhile, the millions of dollars allocated to educational institutions as part of the COVID-19 response bill, the CARES Act, opened up a new source of potential funding for OER initiatives during a period of unprecedented fiscal crisis for America's education institutions.

This session will provide attendees with an overview of the past year in U.S. OER policy from advocates engaged in the day-to-day work. We’ll review exciting developments from the past year and provide a look into what goes into big policy wins, along with analysis of what the long-term impact of these policies will be. We’ll also share insight into what’s next for OER policy, including any efforts brewing in Congress and federal agencies post-election, which states and policy trends to watch, and how OER advocates can best take action in their communities.

Federal and state policy are important for supporting the OER movement, providing districts and institutions with frameworks and resources, and sustaining the momentum that brought the movement to where it is today. Without the passion and dedication of OER advocacy efforts, these policy wins wouldn’t be possible.

Learning Outcomes:
After the session, attendees will be able to:
- Explain key developments in U.S. state and federal policy related to OER over the last year
- Identify ways COVID-19 will impact the next policy cycle
- Apply tips for contacting their policymakers to advocate for OER