Open Education Global is proud to co-host the OE Global Conference with partner institutions annually.
The conference is the main venue for Open Education practitioners, policy builders, advocates, researchers, students, and decision-makers to share practices, network, and initiate collaborations. Participants collectively discuss the latest trends, challenges, and opportunities in open education and share their perspectives on its future direction.
Learn more about OEGlobal 23 here.
The year 2022 was a turbulent one marked by war, food and supply chain shortages, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and severe climate events, all of which exacerbated economic, social, educational, and political inequality. The global community is facing crises on several fronts that point to an unsustainable future.
Urgent global cooperation is required to fulfill the 17 United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) and their accompanying targets by 2030. The SDGs address a range of often interrelated sustainability issues, including poverty and conflict, gender inequality, affordable and clean energy, and, of particular interest to educators, “inclusive and equitable quality education” and the promotion of “lifelong learning opportunities for all” (United Nations, 2022a, Quality Education section). Despite widespread international commitment to the SDGs, the 2030 agenda is in jeopardy, with one-quarter of the world’s population living in conflict zones, 24 million learners forced from school because of the pandemic, and end-of-decade greenhouse gases expected to rise by 14% (United Nations, 2022b, p. 3).
Given the threats to the planet and the slow progress towards meeting the SDGs and their targets, OE Global Edmonton 2023 will focus primarily on how open education can support the UN’s sustainable development goals, as well as UNESCO’s framework for achieving the SDGs, the five Education for Sustainable Development priority action areas. The recent UN Summit on Transforming Education clearly outlined the importance of digitally available open educational resources in supporting SDG 4: Quality Education.
Edmonton is an ideal site for this year’s conference theme as a city committed to the SDGs, lifelong learning, and inclusivity, and as the first Canadian city to join the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities. Edmonton, also known as Amiskwacîwâskahikan (a commonly used Cree term that translates to Beaver Hills House), is situated in Treaty No. 6 Territory and the homeland of Metis Region #4. It is an important traditional and contemporary meeting place for First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples. The host, NorQuest College, is a community college with over 1,000 Indigenous learners, as well as learners from more than 100 countries. NorQuest is embracing open education because it will help us realize our strategic priorities of creating educational ecosystems that are accessible, affordable, equitable, and inclusive for everyone.
Importantly, NorQuest College’s strategic plan, NorQuest 2030: We Are Who We Include, as well as our future vision of post-secondary education, Reimagine Higher Education, highlight the desire for open and decolonial possibilities within higher education. An overarching conference subtheme will focus on the ways in which Indigenous Peoples’ knowledge systems promote sustainability and facilitate the open transfer of Indigenous ways of knowing across systems. Many Indigenous Peoples have long practised core concepts of relationality and sustainability such as respect, reciprocity, and responsibility that have helped to protect and sustain our knowledges and environment over time. Expert Indigenous thought leaders from NorQuest College will help elevate and centre Indigenous knowledges as part of our collective work. This will provide a foundation for how we might learn from, and alongside, Indigenous Peoples about the power and possibility of Indigenous knowledge systems. We welcome all those who wish to participate in this important dialogue and seek opportunities to expand possibilities in open education.
Norquest College is thrilled to host OE Global 2023. We hope you are as excited as we are about this year’s theme and subtheme and look forward to welcoming you and learning with you next October!