2025-26 Institute on Open Education

In September 2025, AAC&U, in collaboration with ISKME, will launch the Institute on Open Education (IOE), a reenvisioning of AAC&U’s Institute on Open Educational Resources for the current moment in higher education. Open Education is defined as the myriad of learning resources, teaching practices and education policies that use the flexibility of OER, which are free, openly-licensed resources, to provide learners with high quality educational experiences. This online institute is designed to accelerate the work of teams from campuses or state systems seeking to actualize an ambitious strategy to provide access to high-quality educational opportunities through the affordances of open education. Starting from the assumption that open education is a public good, cohorts will work together to

1. identify opportunities and barriers in order to support the adoption of open educational resources (OER) and open education practices;
2. enable the conditions to ensure that OER are freely available across learning pathways;
3. broaden campus engagement and collaboration around policies and practices that support universal access to knowledge;
4. embrace the adaptation and localization of content, including designing for accessibility and incorporating universal design for learning; and
5. explore GenAI and emerging technologies in the context of open education. 

This institute model directly engages IOE teams for a full academic year via virtual events and interactions as participants’ open education implementation and acceleration plans are put into practice.

Institute Purpose and Design

Open education includes the adoption and use of open educational resources, open pedagogy, open access, and open data. As a result, open education is emerging as both a quality and a student success strategy for higher education that should be considered by all colleges and universities as they develop and revise their student recruitment, enrollment, teaching and learning, and retention initiatives.

Open educational resources (OER) are materials, from single lessons to entire textbooks, that are free for faculty and students to use, customize, and share. Their use has been proven to be a viable affordability strategy for higher education, saving money for students—and often institutions. Further, providing all students with free materials on the first day of class tends to level the academic playing field. Research has demonstrated that OER use can narrow performance gaps and reduce failure and withdrawal rates in some contexts. Designed for educators seeking to launch, expand, or hasten campus adoption of free and affordable instructional materials, the IOE will help teams of faculty, staff, and administrators design and implement a campus transformation strategy to accelerate campus OER plans for large-scale engagement and adoption. Campuses and systems exploring OER for affordability, student success, or student learning purposes are among those ideally suited for the institute. Additionally, the institute represents an opportunity for a campus to develop formal collaborations between various units, such as libraries, academic affairs, student affairs, bookstores, financial aid offices, and registrars, in the service of student learning and success.

Participating teams will engage in activities to facilitate the development of an open education implementation plan. This will include a cross-unit collaborative project to be implemented during the fall semester. Institute faculty will serve as partners for campus planning and project development. Campus teams can expect consultative opportunities to interact with the institute’s faculty throughout the fall and spring semesters as their plans are implemented and their projects evolve. Monthly webinars and cross-institutional planning meetings will also be hallmarks of the institute.

Who Should Attend?

The Institute on Open Education is designed for any campus, system, or consortium aspiring to launch or expand open education initiatives. Attendees can be at any stage in launching and contributing to open education work on their campuses. Teams should include a diverse set of colleagues. They may include a senior academic officer, faculty members, librarians, center for teaching and learning staff, learning technologies professionals, and student affairs leaders. Teams may also include assessment and curriculum specialists and others with active roles in advancing OER and OEP, open education, curricular reform, course design, student learning, and student success on campus. Although not restricted, a typical team would consist of at least five individuals.