Strategic Vision for the Future of the Open Education Conference

As the 2021 Open Education Conference officially gets underway, the Open Education Conference Strategic Planning Committee is thrilled to unveil the Strategic Vision for the Open Education Conference. This document provides the foundations for conference’s next steps beyond 2021, and it is stronger and more reflective of the needs of the conference community thanks to the input of the Open Education Conference Community.

Background

Earlier this year, the Open Education Conference launched a strategic planning process to chart its future as a community-owned event, with the goal of developing the foundations for a sustainable, community-led governance structure to assume leadership of the conference beyond 2021. The first step in this process was to articulate a shared vision, mission, and set of values for the conference moving forward. Harnessing community input from monthly meetings, conference plenaries, and other engagement opportunities, the committee built a first draft of the Strategic Vision.

This draft was opened for public consultation in mid-August, and received a significant amount of thoughtful engagement from members of the Open Education Conference Community. These comments were synthesized by the Strategic Planning Committee, who have created a public, annotated version of the Strategic Vision that outlines changes made as well as their rationale for doing so. While the document has now been “finalized”, it is intended to continually grow and evolve alongside the conference. It may be reviewed on a regular basis by future conference leadership.

Next Steps

As current organizers reach the end of their original two-year commitment at the end of this year, they are committed to supporting the transition to a new organizational structure. This process will be deeply rooted in the mission, vision, and values of the Strategic Vision, but will also be informed by community input.

The Friday plenary session at #OpenEd21 (12:00pm-1:00pm EDT on Friday, October 22nd) will seek to begin this conversation with attendees at this year’s conference. Members of the Strategic Planning Committee will guide attendees through an interactive conversation about this organizational transition, including how to design a process for identifying community members who will be involved in leading the conference through 2022 and beyond.

Whether or not you are able to attend the Friday Plenary, we invite all community members who are interested in being personally involved in future conference leadership to sign up using the “Expression of Interest” form below. We’re also welcoming suggestions for people who the conference should consider reaching out to as potential candidates to get involved.

Questions can be directed to contact@openeducationconference.org.