Frequently Asked Questions

EVENT DETAILS

  • The Open Education Conference is an annual in-person and virtual convening where educators and open education advocates gather to collaborate, support, and drive strategies for education that are accessible, affordable, and reflective of the learners they serve. Read more on the conference About page.

  • The 2026 Open Education Conference will be held over three days on October 27-29, 2026 as a fully virtual event with participation welcomed from across the globe.

    The conference will be set in Eastern Daylight Time (GMT-4:00), but will include varied programming time slots for global attendees.

  • The conference grows each year, with last year’s event welcoming over 1600 participants from across the globe! Attendees include faculty, librarians, instructional designers, students, administrators, and many more involved in open education practice and advocacy.

REGISTRATION

  • Registration for OpenEd26 is now open! Register by August 31 to receive discounted earlybird pricing. 


    This year, we have changed registration platforms and are now processing all registrations through Novi. For any questions related to the registration process, please reach out to contact@openeducationconference.org.

  • All tickets include full access to conference sessions as well as first access to post-conference recordings.

    Regular Rates:

    • $100 USD Earlybird Rate ($150 USD Standard Rate after Aug. 31)

    • $25 USD Student Rate

    • $25 USD Regional Rate (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Pacific Islands)

    • $300 USD In-Person “Watch Party“ Rate (see details)

    • Apply for Scholarships & Discounts

    Open Education Association Member Rates:

    The conference is now housed within the Open Education Association. Current association members receive a special conference registration rate, and there is an option to purchase conference registration plus a 1-year association membership at the same time. Learn more about Open Education Association membership.

    • $90 USD Current Open Education Association Member Rate

    • $190 USD Registration + 1 Year Membership Bundle

    Open Education Association Member rates are available throughout the registration period and are not tied to the earlybird deadline.

  • Yes, scholarship applications are now open! 

    The conference has worked to make this year's registration rate as low as possible, but we recognize that any cost will be a barrier to some participants. Scholarships will be approved based on demonstrated need. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis beginning on May Friday, May 29th. After this date, applicants will be notified by email within 2 weeks of application.

  • The Open Education Association is a new membership organization that serves as the conference’s organizational home. Current Open Education Association members can access registration at the discounted member rate by logging into your member account. 

    If you are not currently an Open Education Association member but are interested in becoming one, you can learn more about association membership options here. During conference registration, you may also choose to purchase a 1 year Open Education Association membership bundled with your conference registration for $190 USD. 

    Questions about Open Education Association membership can be directed to contact@opened.org.

  • Yes! Our registration platform allows you to register up to 20 people at once. If you would prefer to purchase tickets in bulk and have your group register themselves by voucher, please contact us at contact@openeducationconference.org for options. Note that a US $25 processing fee applies for groups smaller than 3 that wish to pay by invoice (waived for Open Education Association members).

  • If you require an invoice in advance of payment, please email contact@openeducationconference.org to request a manual invoice. Please note that a $25 invoice processing fee will apply for purchases of fewer than 3 tickets (waived for Open Education Association members).

  • Tickets can be purchased by credit/debit card or ACH directly through the registration platform. You will be provided with a receipt via email upon payment. If you require an invoice in advance of payment or need to pay by check, please email contact@openeducationconference.org to request a manual invoice. Please note that a $25 invoice processing fee will apply for purchases of fewer than 3 tickets (waived for Open Education Association members).

  • Tickets are refundable within 30 days of purchase until August 31, 2026. From September 1, 2026 on, tickets are non-refundable. All refunds will be less a non-refundable $5 USD service charge. Funds are typically returned to the method of payment within 5-10 business days. Donated credit card fees are non-refundable.

    Tickets may be transferred to another attendee upon request, free of charge. Transfer requests may take up to 5 business days to process. Refund and ticket transfer requests may be submitted to contact@openeducationconference.org.

  • Registration for OpenEd26 will remain open through the start of the event on October 27th, 2026. However, we strongly recommend registering early to receive the earlybird pricing (ends August 31st) as well as to ensure you receive all relevant email communications leading up to the event.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

  • Please read the Call for Proposals in it’s entirety before submitting a proposal. Proposals are submitted through the Oxford Abstracts platform, which requires the creation of a free account. Click here to download a template of the submission form.

    Deadline to submit: Friday, April 3rd at 11:59pm Pacific (GMT -7:00)

  • To encourage and support a wide variety of voices at the conference, each individual may be listed as a presenter or author on a maximum of 2 proposals.

  • Presenters will receive a decision on their proposal via email by Friday, May 15th.

  • Yes! You are welcome to sign up as a proposal reviewer if you submit a proposal. Our process ensures that reviewers are not assigned their own proposal. Become a proposal reviewer.

CONTRIBUTED PAPERS (NEW!)

  • This year, the Open Education Conference is introducing contributed papers as a new submission format for OpenEd26 in collaboration with the Journal for Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (JOERHE). This exciting opportunity provides the conference community with a formal, open peer-reviewed publication channel. Contributed Papers may report the results of completed research, describe research in progress, or present a position or theory on a compelling problem or issue relevant to one or more of the conference themes. The contributed papers will be published as conference proceedings and will focus on research, theory, and scholarly work in open education. 

  • Contributed paper proposals are submitted through the general conference Call for Proposals  (deadline: April 3, 2026) as an addition to a conference session proposal. While completing the proposal form, you will have the option to select “yes” to have your conference session also be considered as a contributed paper. You will then be prompted to provide a 2,400 to 3,250 character contributed paper abstract (in addition to the required 1000 character session description for the conference program). 

    Acceptance decisions will be delivered in two stages. First, proposals will receive a general decision on whether the session is accepted for the conference program by May 15, 2026. Then, accepted proposals that requested consideration as a contributed paper will be notified of acceptance as a contributed paper by early June. Only conference proposals that are selected for the general conference program will be considered as a contributed paper. Accepted session proposals remain accepted for the program regardless of the decision on the contributed paper. 

    If accepted as a contributed paper, pre-publication manuscripts will be due October 1, 2026 (about 2500-4000 words) and must be submitted using JOERHE’s template, which will be provided in the contributed papers acceptance notification. Accepted papers will go through an open peer review process and will be published as conference proceedings through JOERHE in early March, 2027 (in line with Open Education Week). 

    All submissions are subject to and must adhere to JOERHE’s Artificial Intelligence & Automated Tools Policy. Additional conditions will be described at the time of acceptance.

  • Proposals are evaluated in two stages. First your session proposal will go through the general review process to determine acceptance for the conference program. If your proposal is accepted for the program, then your contributed paper abstract will be evaluated. Abstracts must be scholarly, well-organized, and meet the Review Criteria outlined in the Call for Proposals.

    If accepted, finished papers will be subject to peer review before final publication in March 2027. JOERHE operates an open peer-review process (for more information, see JOERHE’s Peer Review Policy). Open peer review is meant to be a kind and encouraging process for all and to foster a supportive and collaborative environment.

  • Works published in Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education will be distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0). By publishing under a CC-BY license authors give explicit permission for others to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy the work, as long as the original source and author(s) are properly cited.  Please see JOERHE’s Copyright Policy for more details. 

    • April 3, 2026: Call For Proposals submission deadline

    • May 15, 2026: General proposal acceptance notification

    • Early June, 2026: Contributed paper acceptance notification

    • October 1, 2026: Pre-publication manuscripts due

    • October, 2026: Articles undergo open peer review

    • October 27-29, 2026: Open Education Conference

    • November - December, 2026: Revisions and resubmission

    • March, 2027: Journal publication (in line with Open Education Week)

ATTENDANCE

  • Paid registrants will be able to access the conference program through Sched. Closer to the event, an Attendee Guide will be distributed to registrants that provides helpful tips for accessing all conference programming.

  • Live sessions will be held in Zoom similar to previous years. Zoom links to join sessions will be available through the program in your Sched account during the week of the conference. Pre-recorded sessions will be available as embedded videos in the conference platform.

  • All presentations and plenaries are recorded (with a few exceptions). These recordings are typically posted by the next day. Speakers will also be encouraged to post their slides to the conference platform for the benefit of all attendees.

Have a question about something not addressed here? Reach out to us at contact@openeducationconference.org.

This page will be updated regularly, so be sure to check back often!