The recordings from Open Education Bootcamp 2025 are located here. Or visit the Playlist.
Day 1: Open Education Bootcamp 2025
Keynote
May 13, 2025 KEYNOTE: Open and the Oligarchs: Planting Seeds in a World on Fire
Speaker: Dr. Robin DeRosa
Abstract: Dr. Robin DeRosa has been working on open initiatives, including projects around OER, open pedagogy, and open access to research, for more than a decade. She has been interested not only in the practices that animate open, but also in the values that power an open vision for the future of education and knowledge-sharing. But recently, Robin has come to question the efficacy of the work in which she has been engaged. How can such well-conceived, thoughtful praxis around “open” be gathering steam at the same time as our public educational institutions, our libraries, and our publishing models creep closer toward privatization or economic ruin? How can our community’s investments in equity and access be thriving even as global political contexts bend toward neoliberalism, plutocracy, and fascism? This presentation will reimagine the “tragedy of the commons,” not as Garrett Hardin (mis)understood it in his seminal 1968 essay of that name, but in its current state. As LA burns and Trump ascends, we will pause and ask tough questions about where open education has gotten us.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Robin DeRosa is the Director of Learning & Libraries at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire (USA). She has previously been an English professor, the chair of a customized major program for undergraduates, and the director of a faculty development center. Robin is an advocate for public higher education, and has been working on OER and open pedagogy initiatives at institutions around the world for more than a decade. You can read more about Robin at her website, robinderosa.net
Tuesday, May 13
OER Basics (Not recorded)
Presenter: Shuana Niessen
Presentation: Increasing Interactivity and Engagement Using H5P
Presenter: Rhett Danyluk
Abstract:
A challenge most educators are faced with is increasing student engagement. This challenge seems to be magnified recently as students engage with short form content on social media. This presentation introduces a tool called H5P which is designed to increase engagement and retention of material through interactive content. H5P has a wide variety of tools that can be implemented, meeting various educational needs. In this presentation we explore what H5P is, how and when to use it. We also discuss the impact H5P has on student engagement and learning outcomes. Through demonstrations and examples, participants see how H5P can transform passive content into interactive activities. Additionally, we explore resources that will help get you started when designing your own H5P content. By the end of this session, participants will have the knowledge to select the right H5P content types that fit their learners needs and begin creating their own engaging interactive learning experiences.
Presenter bio: Rhett Danyluk is an instructional designer with the Center for Continuing Education Flexible Learning Division at the University of Regina. Here he specializes in the design and delivery of asynchronous online and blended courses. In collaboration with subject matter experts, Rhett has developed online and blended courses that prioritize engagement, accessibility, and learner success. In this work, he incorporates interactive learning experiences through the use of H5P. Passionate about leveraging technology to enhance education, Rhett brings practical insights into the use of H5P to create engaging content.
Day 2: Open Education Bootcamp 2025
Keynote
Wednesday, May 14 (Dr. John Archer Library Day)
KEYNOTE: Racing Towards a Wasted Future: Generative AI and the Resurgence of Nuclear Energy
Speaker: Professor Marco Seiferle-Valencia
Abstract: As the potentials and promises of generative AI sweep into the field of Open Education, educators and advocates have a holistic responsibility to think deeply and expansively about the known and still emerging environmental impacts of these technologies. Demand for energy by the hungry server farms that create so-called artificial intelligence is bringing damaging and dangerous energy practices back from the grave, including the resurrection of previously shuttered coal and nuclear power plants. How can we as Open practitioners reconcile the long standing historical and contemporary violence of coal and nuclear power production with the desire to widely embrace and experiment with generative AI? This talk will review the most recent research on AI energy demands and the environmental impacts, as well as provide a brief history and contextualization of the current issues with nuclear waste, pollution, and accidents in North America, primarily in the United States and Canada. Attendees will be invited to reflect deeply on what we stand to lose and gain with the widespread adoption of generative AI in society, and hopefully leave inspired to mindfully use generative AI, with its current promise and future perils in mind.
Speaker Bio: Professor Marco Seiferle-Valencia serves as Associate Professor and Open Education Librarian at the University of Idaho. His research interests span a wide range of topics, notably community archives, the history and current practices of BIPOC feminisms especially in libraries and information environments, and environmental justice. Marco is also a co-creator of the Chicana por mi Raza Digital Memory Collective, which collects imperiled histories of Chicana civil rights activism.
Presentation: Provincial Course Affordability Programs and Strategies: Growth potential for OERs?
Presenters: Ann Ludbrook, Catherine Lachaîne, and Erin Fields (Moderated by Brad Doerksen)
Abstract:
Moderated by Student Success Librarian, Brad Doerksen, panelists discuss how their Ontario institutions responded to the Ministry’s directive, what involvement libraries played, BC’s current plans around affordability, and any effects the Ontario directive has had on OER adoption in course materials.
Presenters bios: Ann Ludbrook is the Copyright and Scholarly Engagement Librarian at Toronto Metropolitan University. Catherine Lachaîne is the Interim Head, Collections Strategy at the University of Ottawa Library. Erin Fields is the Open Education and Scholarly Communications Librarian at the University of British Columbia.
Pressbooks Sandbox (not recorded)
Presenters: Shuana Niessen and Arlysse Quiring
Day 3: Open Education Bootcamp 2025
Keynote
Thursday, May 15
KEYNOTE: Then. Now. The Future: Directions for Open Education in the Changing World of Higher Education
Speaker: Dr. Glenda Cox
Abstract: In this presentation, Dr. Glenda Cox will be looking back at the Cape Town open education declaration (2007) and the 10 directions suggested at the 10 year anniversary in 2017. Dr. Cox will include discussions of student protests calling for the decolonisation of the curriculum, first held in 2015 and now 10 years later where are we in higher education (HE) in South Africa.
2027 will be another 10 years will be a 20 year anniversary – what have we achieved and what needs to be added? What will HE look like to 2035? Many of us will be happily retired but the students in the room will the academics of the future. How do we take steps towards the transformation of our current neoliberal, competitive HE? What steps do we take to include students in decolonising our curricula and where does Open fit in?
Speaker bio: Associate Professor Glenda Cox works in the Centre for Innovation in Learning and Teaching (CILT: http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/) at the University of Cape Town. She holds the UNESCO chair in Open Education and Social Justice and is a member of the UNITWIN network on Open Education. She is a Board member of the Open Education Global organization. She is on the editorial board of the International Journal of Students as Partners and she currently leads the Digital Open Textbooks for Development (DOT4D) initiative.
Thursday, May 15
Presentation: From Open Access Publication to Audiobook—Lessons Learned
Presenter: Dr. Barbara Reul
Abstract: On 14 February 2025 Dr. Barbara Reul released the audiobook version of a highly personal illness narrative, Perfect Timing, which she had published as an open educational resource in December 2021. It was aimed, in part, at students enrolled in an English 110 class on Medicine and Mortality taught at my institution, Luther College, University of Regina. Keen to remove another access barrier to sharing her lived experience with a global audience, Dr. Reul began to explore the possibility of creating an audiobook version of Perfect Timing in May 2024. This talk provides a snapshot of the unexpectedly complex decisions she faced over the course of the nine months it took to turn her dream into reality. For example, should she do everything herself or outsource parts (if not all) of it? What would either scenario involve – and how much would it cost? Looking back, Dr. Reul is happy with the “narrated by the author” option she ended up choosing. It taught her valuable lessons which will inform her next audiobook project, that is, the open access sequel to Perfect Timing from December 2023, Right on Time.
Presenter bio: Dr. Barbara Reul is a full professor of musicology at Luther College, University of Regina, Canada. As a music historian passionate about the distant past, she never thought she would be brave enough to author two insightful, yet entertaining memoirs, and record one of them, over the course of four short years (2021–2025).
Presentation: Open Educational Resources and Their Role in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Academia
Presenter: Dr. Arzu Sardarli
Abstract:
The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global framework for addressing pressing economic, social, and environmental challenges by 2030. Among these, SDGs 4 (Quality Education), 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) emphasize inclusive and equitable learning opportunities for our students having different social, cultural and academic background. Open Educational Resources (OER)—freely accessible, openly licensed teaching and learning materials—have emerged as a powerful tool to support these goals by reducing barriers to education, enhancing accessibility, and promoting lifelong learning. This presentation explores the intersection between OER and the SDGs, highlighting how open education initiatives contribute to sustainability efforts. Using examples of OERs that he & colleagues have collaborated on, Dr. Arzu Sardarli will explain how we try to achieve the SDGs 4, 10 and 17. In particular, he will talk about the resources Cree Dictionary of Mathematical Terms with Sound and Introductory Statistics with Indigenous Elements, supported by the University of Regina within the Open Education and Publishing Program.
Presenter bio: Dr. Arzu Sardarli worked in leading research institutions and universities in Azerbaijan, Ukraine and Canada. He joined the First Nations University of Canada in 2007. Dr. Sardarli led a number of community-based research and educational projects conducted in First Nations communities. He uses Indigenous elements in his teaching. Dr. Sardarli advocates for holistic methods of teaching and open educational resources. He co-authored the first Cree Dictionary of Mathematical with elements of Indigenous Art. The online version of the Dictionary has been developed within the Open Education and Publishing (OEP) Program at the University of Regina and published on Pressbook platform.
Day 4: Open Education Bootcamp 2025
Keynote
Friday, May 16, 2024
KEYNOTE: Designing for Justice with Open Educational Practices
Speaker: Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani
Abstract: Whereas the adoption of open educational resources can widen equitable access by helping alleviate the financial burden experienced by students, the embrace of broader open educational practices carries the potential to advance additional dimensions of social and epistemic justice. This presentation will focus on practical ways in which educators may approach learning resources, activities, assessments, and policies in service of more inclusive, supportive, and just learning environments.
Speaker bio: Dr. Rajiv Jhangiani is the Vice Provost, Teaching and Learning at Brock University, where he holds faculty appointments in the Departments of Educational Studies and Psychology, directs the Inclusive Education Research Lab, and is affiliated with the Social Justice Research Institute. The architect of Canada’s first zero textbook cost degree programs and a global leader in open education, his scholarship is supported by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada and focuses on open educational practices, student-centered pedagogies, and ethical approaches to educational technology.
Friday, May 16
Panel Presentation: Pros, Cons and Challenges of Open Licensing (Not recorded)
Presenters: Christina Winter, Dr. Amber Fletcher, and Dr. J. Normand (Moderated by Brad Doerksen)
Abstract: Panelists will describe their projects and share from their experiences with OER creation the pros, cons and challenges of open licensing.
Panelists bios:
Christina Winter is the Copyright and Scholarly Communications Librarian at the Dr. John Archer Library, University of Regina. She holds a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Western Ontario. Dr. Amber Fletcher is Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Social Studies and the Academic Director of the Community Engagement and Research Centre, University of Regina. J. Normand is a Lab Instructor with the Faculty of Science, University of Regina.
Presentation: Adapting an Open Textbook: Lessons Learned
Presenters: Dr. Bettina Schneider
Abstract: The presenter will discuss their experiences with adapting an open textbook and offer the lessons they learned along the way, and any tips and tricks they can offer as guidance for participants.
Presenter bio: Dr. Bettina Schneider is an Associate Professor in Indigenous Business & Public Administration at the First Nations University of Canada. She is the author of Financial Empowerment: Personal Finance for Indigenous and Non-Indigenous People (2nd Ed.) an adaptation of the openly licensed textbook Personal Finance, v. 1.0 which was adapted by Saylor Academy (2012).
Presentation: Knowing Within and Between our Cultures: Some Concepts and Lessons for an Open Education
Presenter: Dr. Jérôme Melançon
Abstract: Open Education must be understood as a reaction against closed forms of education in which scholarly, cultural, and economic capital have been closely guarded. These closed systems of knowledge, such as the University, seek to extract as much as possible from those with little access to control over the institutions of formal education while excluding them from these institution, and to impose knowledge and ways of thinking upon them. Against this exploitation and this oppression, to open education would then mean to examine ways of sharing knowledge and acknowledging expertise according to different epistemologies and cultures, so that we may create places to gather and create knowledge together. Open Educational Resources can offer opportunities to come to know, each within our own cultures and associated epistemologies (interculturally), and together as we explore the differences in our perspectives and experiences on our shared realities (transculturally).
Presenter bio: Dr. Jérôme Melançon is a Professor and Head of the Philosophy and Classics department. His research currently focuses on settler colonialism in Canada, and specifically on research methods around the Indian Residential School system, including questions related to translation and cultural transfers. He continues to lead research in phenomenology and political philosophy, and is the author of La politique dans l’adversité. Merleau-Ponty aux marges de la philosophie (Geneva, Metispresses: 2018), as well as the editor of four books or journal issues around Merleau-Ponty’s political philosophy, and of several articles on the Vietnamese philosopher Tran Duc Thao. He has co-edited two Electronic Resources, Being Together. A Living Land Acknowledgement for oskana kâ-asastêki / Regina and Canadian Settler Colonialism: Relating the Past, Opening New Paths, and supervised two more Openly licensed books through the University of Regina Pressbooks.