Last week I participated in OpenEd18. This was my fourth OpenEd which, given the growth in the conference, makes me one of the “old hands” in the kind words of David Wiley.  This is the first of two reflections I’ll post about the conference. In this one, I’ll give some broad impressions of the topics and content, and how it influenced me. In the next post I’ll cover a bit more of my personal experience of the conference.

The conference this year, I’m told, was the largest yet topping out with over 1,000 registrations. I can’t verify that but I know it seemed larger. I know there were lots of great sessions, often competing with each other, creating as Rolin Moe observed a “tragedy of riches”.  Yes, the opportunity costs of sessions were often high.

I’ll just list here some of the highlights for me.

• Jess Mitchell’s keynote on inclusion and access. Actually, calling it inclusion and access doesn’t do it justice. It was an inspiration and a model of just being human and treating and seeing everybody as human. Thank you Jess. This was also my first time meeting Jess in person and having a chance for multiple conversations with Jess was a real highlight for me.  I’m richer now.
• My panel discussion on “Publishing Your Own Textbooks”.  I had the privilege of moderating a panel discussion with three fantastic and smart people: Karen Lauritsen of Open Textbook Network, Allison Brown of SUNY, and Lillian Rigling of eCampusOntario.  I honestly don’t understand why guys so often organize manels.  It’s pretty easy to look smart when you got a crew like these three leading the way.  Thanks Karen, Allison, and Lillian.
• There were several sessions discussing the broad, institutional and organizational aspects of open education in higher education, often couched in terms of a “commons”.   I’d like to include my own talk on whether higher education is a commons or not, along with David Wiley’s session and Paul Stacey’s, among others.
• It was great to see Pressbooks and Rebus community getting so much attention. I really think PB is a key to our future.  I also want to thank Bryan Ollendyke of Penn State and Hugh McGuire for the multi-hour conversation we had about future (it’s present for Bryan!) of the Web technology.  In particular, his explanation of web components and his HAX project had me excited but also had my head exploding. The brain is full.
• Rolin Moe’s session on innovation and open closed it out for me.  I love it when a session gets me thinking “oh, I don’t thought about that…” and then the grey cells start firing away with all kinds of possibilities.

I was impressed with the number of sessions (including the afternoon “unconference” session) focused on reflection of what our values as open education are, do we really live up to them. Lillian Rigling did a wonderful reflection afterwards about putting our values into practice.  The conference has come a long way in this regard, but there’s more to do as Lillian notes. I have noticed as an “old hand” how much the conversation has shifted from just free textbooks/OER to include sustainability, inclusion, and open pedagogy.

The conference is not just growing but it’s also maturing.  That’s a good thing. Free textbooks and OER are always important, but they’re only part of “open education”. We need to continue to include all aspects of an open education:  including K-12, open institutions and open organizations, open pedagogy, critical pedagogy, sustainability, inclusion, open science, and open access.

Overall, a good conference.  Thanks to David Wiley and the program committee for organizing it.