Open Education 2017

State government leaders can accelerate the adoption of OER in higher ed and k-12, but first they have to know about OER and understand its advantages. This panel will address the best ways you can inform legislators about OER and encourage OER friendly policies in your state. It will feature Hon. Donna Howard, currently serving her seventh term in the Texas House of Representatives, who led the passage of major OER legislation this spring.  Joining her will be Nicole Allen, an experienced grassroots organizer, and Daniel Williamson, an OER Producer. Together, we will discuss the best practices for communicating and working with legislators, explore the key components of OER friendly policies, and outline effective ways to organize and mobilize constituents. We will look at these principles in practice, using OpenStax's work in Texas over the past 3 years as an example of successful OER advocacy.

Why is it so difficult for OER to become government policy? Should it even be? Federal, state, and local governments, institutions, and school districts have varying policies around use of open licenses. Have these policies increased the impact of the resources and improved teaching and learning for students in the US?

Join us as we look at Bills on Capitol Hill and the mechanics of government at all levels. Policymakers from all levels will dissect their policymaking successes and failures and consider the impact of these experiences. Panelists will also help attendees better understand how they can participate in this process regardless of their roles.

When it comes to the variety of issues our higher education system is facing today, course materials don't typically hit the top of the list. Most of the decision-makers at universities, foundations, organizations, and in the government are focused on boosting completion rates, managing growing student debt burdens, preparing for changing workforce needs, and addressing equity issues – if they have time to step away from broader fights around immigration, sexual assault, guns on campus, and free speech.

As OER advocates, we're often pushing up against those issues as we battle for airtime or funding for OER projects – and we shouldn't be.

We will be far more effective if we look for opportunities to meet the broader higher education community where they're at: in terms of our strategy and messaging, and in terms of our outreach and targeting.

This workshop will discuss four major topics faced by the higher education community: completion rates, student debt, changing workforce needs, and equity; how our community can better message OER as a solution to those problems, and how we can more effectively organize those outside our echo chamber to champion OER.