Announcing the 2025 Conference Board Election

As we prepare to gather for the 2025 Open Education Conference on October 28-30, the Open Education Conference is launching its annual community election process for its Advisory Board. Guided by the Strategic Vision, newly elected board members will join conference leadership in January 2026 to shape its future as a sustainable, community-owned event.

The goal of the election is to appoint six community members to serve on the Advisory Board for a two year term, starting January 1, 2026 and ending December 31, 2027. Starting today, interested candidates are invited to review the requirements and self-nominate by Friday, November 14th, 2025. Voting will take place from Monday, December 1st to Friday, December 5th, 2025. For more details, visit the election page.

Voting Process & Registration

Anyone who has attended either of the two most recent years of the Open Education Conference or otherwise identifies as a member of the Open Education Conference community is eligible to vote. If you have registered to attend OpenEd24 or OpenEd25, you are automatically registered to vote. If you have previously registered to vote but have not attended either of these conferences, you will need to renew your voter registration. To renew or update your voter registration, please complete the voter registration form.

Voting will take place December 1st to 5th, 2025 and secure voting instructions will be delivered to each registered voter by email.

Changes to Administrative Organizing

The Open Education Conference is an annual convening for sharing and learning about open educational resources, open pedagogy, and open education initiatives. Building on a twenty-year history, the conference began a transition to community leadership in 2020, culminating in the adoption of a Strategic Vision and election of a Board of Directors in 2021. Since then, SPARC has served as administrative organizer of the conference.

Starting in 2026, the Conference Board has designated the Open Education Association Development Project (soon to be Open Education Association) to serve as the conference’s administrative organizer. This decision positions the conference to be part of building a sustainable home for the future, while remaining an accessible, international event that welcomes all who share the values of open education. As the project is currently managed by SPARC, there will be no interruption to the conference’s day-to-day operations. 

This administrative change has prompted a change in terminology for the Open Education Conference Board of Directors, which will now formally be called the Open Education Conference Advisory Board. The Board will continue to function in a similar capacity under the new name.