Open Education

Since 2022, Werklund School of Education has collaborated with other institutions in western Canada to present an annual series of lightning talks each March to coincide with Open Education Week. These talks are hosted via Zoom and you can register here for one or all of the sessions. 
The purpose of these talks is to create an accessible, virtual space to engage in conversations about open education. We encourage talks that showcase the important role of student-educator collaborations in open education.  We have had presenters and participants from across Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States and beyond.

For these talks, we share our understanding of open education, which is from the UNESCO Cape Town Declaration:

“…open education is not limited to just open educational resources. It also draws upon open technologies that facilitate collaborative, flexible learning and the open sharing of teaching practices that empower educators to benefit from the best ideas of their colleagues'' (UNESCO Cape Town Declaration, 2018).

This initiative has been developed in partnership with the University of Calgary, Thompson Rivers University, Concordia University of Edmonton, the University of Alberta, and the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. The members of the organizing committee for the Open Education Talks are:

• Sarah Adams, Open Education Librarian, University of Calgary
• Michelle Brailey, Open Publishing Open Education Librarian, University of Alberta. 
• Barbara Brown, Associate Dean Teaching and Learning, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary
• Brianna Calomino, Digital Projects Librarian, University of Calgary
• Carolyn Ives, Coordinator, Learning and Faculty Development, Centre for Excellence in Learning and Teaching Open Learning Faculty Member, Thompson Rivers University
• Verena Roberts, Adjunct Assistant Professor, Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary and Instructional Designer, Thompson Rivers University.
• Brenda Smith, Open Education Librarian, Thompson Rivers University
• Alysia C. Wright, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health, Community and Education, Child Studies and Social Work, Mount Royal University

If you are interested in joining the committee as we prepare for the 2026 Open Education Talks, please contact us at tandl@ucalgary.ca.

Within the University of Calgary community, there are a variety of resources available for those either seeking Open Educational Resources (OER) for their use or those willing to develop and share content that have created.

Taylor Institute Open Education Resources Page
This site provide guidelines on how to develop your work for open use and provides links to resources which have been developed and shared by people throughout the university. Also there is access to open journals, textbooks and other resources including the services of Open Education Alberta.

University Library Repositories and Publishing Services
The university library provides support and hosting to those wishing to publish and archive publications they have completed.

Since 2021 the Werklund School of Education has hosted a series of Open Education Seminars online each fall and have offered a digital badge for participants who have attended the entire series each year.  The next round of seminars will begin in Fall 2025. This series will give participants a strong foundation in the development of Open Educational Resources and Open Education Practices.