OEGlobal 2024

The advancement of open education and widespread adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER) requires more than individual institutional efforts—it demands coordinated action and shared expertise across institutions and regions. This panel explores how collaborative organisations like the Open Education Network (OEN) and the Council of Australian University Librarians' (CAUL) OER Collective serve as crucial enablers in the open education ecosystem, creating economies of scale and fostering communities of practice that accelerate OER adoption.

Through examining these organisations' approaches, we will discuss how centralised support structures and collaborative frameworks amplify local efforts and create sustainable change. The Open Education Network's work in building a community of practice among academic libraries has demonstrated how shared expertise and resources can lower barriers to OER adoption across institutions. Similarly, CAUL's OER Collective showcases how a coordinated, national approach can pool resources effectively to create and adapt high-quality open materials while building capacity across the higher education sector.

The panel will address key questions about the role of networks in advancing open education: How do collaborative organisations effectively balance central coordination with local autonomy? What strategies have proven most successful in building sustainable communities of practice? How can networks leverage their collective power to address common challenges in OER adoption? What metrics and evidence demonstrate the impact of collaborative approaches?

Drawing from practical experiences, panellists will explore how these networks create value through shared infrastructure, professional development, advocacy, and resource creation. The session will offer insights into successful models of collaboration that can be adapted across different contexts while examining future opportunities for scaling open education through networked approaches.

The panel will comprise:

* Dr Danny Kingsley, Deakin University (facilitator)
* David Ernst, Open Education Network
* Karen Lauritsen, Open Education Netowrk
* Dr Kathy Essmiller, Oklahoma State University
* Fiona Salisbury, Western Sydney University and Council of Australian University Librarians
* Dr Kate Tickle, Council of Australian University Librarians
* Ruth Cameron, The University of Newcastle