Educational Programs

About 60 miles northeast of Dallas, the rural community of Commerce, Texas, is a “close-knit town full of caring citizens, involved students, and a thriving entrepreneurial spirit,” as described on its website. The town is also home to East Texas A&M University (ETAMU), an R2 public institution designated as a “Higher Access” school due to its strong regional impact, community engagement, and service to underrepresented students.

The Open Education Network’s Open Pedagogy Learning Circle hosted its Show & Tell earlier this month, wrapping up the fall 2025 program that enables OEN members to explore and engage in open pedagogy at no additional cost. Facilitated by Jamie Witman, Open Educational Practices Specialist, the Learning Circle strives to build a community of practitioners.

In early April, the Open Education Network’s (OEN) Open Pedagogy Project Symposium showcased educational innovation and achievement – examples of fresh, outside-the-box teaching strategies made possible by open pedagogy. The OEN is pleased to highlight the action plans created by teams of dedicated faculty, librarians, instructional designers, and colleagues.

From Portland State University (PSU), Stéphanie Roulon is a Teaching Assistant Professor and Amy Stanforth is a Student Success Librarian. Teaming up to participate in the Certificate in OEP, the two have been working toward enhancing language learning in a first-year French course Stéphanie teaches. 

Open education workshops are a long-established service offered by the Open Education Network (OEN) to our community members. More than a decade ago, OEN Executive Director David Ernst envisioned these events as opportunities to raise awareness, educate, and engage audiences in the principles and practices of open education. The approach has been well received, and hundreds of workshops later, member feedback continues to influence workshop topics, content, and discussion.

Victoria Taylor is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Prince George’s Community College (PGCC) in Largo, Maryland. Jeffrey Potter is PGCC Interim Director – Library & Learning Resources, and together the two have teamed up to implement an OEP pilot study in eight sections of Psychology 1010. Their goal: to close the gap in student readiness for reading, understanding, and conducting research in general psychology courses.

The team from Iowa State University pairs Abbey Elder, Open Access & Scholarly Communication Librarian, and Sayali Kukday, Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology. Abbey and Sayali are currently implementing OEP in an online, asynchronous STEM course, Biology 313: Principles of Genetics, with approximately 150 students enrolled.

Fifteen teams (one librarian and one faculty per team) have been named to take part in the program and collaborate to create accessible, inclusive, and student-centered teaching practices.