Our 9th Annual OpenCon Ohio 2026 Conference is slated for May 15, 2026



Registration is Open!

If you are interested in attending an open education conference that:

  • Offers maximal flexibility for attendees to view content when it is convenient
  • Has an amazing keynote speaker
  • Prioritizes community building, both synchronous and asynchronous
  • Is in its 9th year of supporting the open ed community
  • Is completely free and online ...
... then we hope you will join us for OpenCon Ohio 2026!

Register for OpenCon Ohio 2026.

This year’s OpenCon Ohio 2026 will be offered for free via Zoom on Friday, May 15, 2026 with an in-person preconference on May 14 at Cleveland State University. Our theme this year is Reimagining Learning: The Future of Open Educationand we have sent out a Call For Proposals for lightning talk presentations. We are thrilled to have Anna Mills, visionary leader in open education and AI, as our keynote speaker!

We are also pleased to offer an in-person component to our event for the first time since 2020. Our in-person preconference event will be held at Cleveland State University on Thursday, May 14th, 2026. The free preconference is meant to build community, allow for the exchange of ideas and resources, and offer training related to textbook affordability for our Ohio colleagues. The intended audience for this event is support staff at Ohio institutions. Registration (while spots last) includes breakfast and lunch. The preconference is generously sponsored by the Midwest Higher Education Compact (MHEC).

Registration for the May 14th preconference is open through April 16th (New date extended from February 27th!).

Registration for the May 15th virtual conference is open through May 8th.

Anna Mills

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: ANNA MILLS

We are thrilled to have Anna Mills, visionary leader in open education and AI, as our keynote speaker! Anna will present "Open Practices Can Help Us Adapt to AI, and AI Can Support Open Education If We’re Careful”.

Anna has taught writing in California community colleges for 20 years and is author of the widely used open educational resource textbook How Arguments Work: A Guide to Writing and Analyzing Texts in College and the newly released AI and College Writing: An Orientation. Her writing on AI appears in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, Computers and Composition, AIPedagogy.org, and TextGenEd: Continuing Experiments. She serves on the Modern Language Association Task Force on Writing and AI. As a volunteer advisor, she has helped shape the pedagogical approach of MyEssayFeedback.ai, and she currently serves as prompting and communications lead for the Peer & AI Review + Reflection (PAIRR) project funded by the California Education Learning Lab.

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

We invite you to submit proposals for lightning talk presentations for our OpenCon Ohio 2026 virtual conference!

OpenCon Ohio 2026 Proposal Submission Form

The event will be held online the week of May 11-15, 2026.  During the week, asynchronous conversations will be held online in Discord to discuss prerecorded lightning talks. On Friday, May 15, we will have live presentations and interactive conversations via Zoom.

Lightning talks should preferably be related to the theme of Reimagining Learning: The Future of Open Education, though other topics are welcome. If accepted, lightning talks will be prerecorded and submitted for viewing by conference participants May 11 - 15. Presenters of lightning talks will engage with participants asynchronously on the conference web platform.

 

All proposal submissions are due on  March 20th, and decisions about accepted submissions will be communicated by  April 3rd , if not earlier. Proposals will be evaluated according to the proposal rubric.

Accepted lightning talks should be recorded and submitted to the conference planning team by  May 4th . Additional information about structure and format will be provided to lightning talk speakers.

SPONSORS

Thank you to our generous sponsors, Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) and OhioLINK for their financial support for the pre-conference and conference.

MHEC and OhioLINKlogos







GET SOCIAL

Stay current with our event using the hashtag #openconohio2026.

We hope to see you there!

Visit this site often for registration, call for proposals, and a schedule of sessions. Feel free to direct any questions to OpenCon Ohio Planning Committee Co-Chairs, Mandi Goodsett at a.goodsett@csuohio.edu and/or Heather Caprette at h.caprette@csuohio.edu.

OpenCon Ohio 2026 Planning Committee

Cleveland State University:

  • Heather Caprette (Committee Co-Chair), Sr. Media Developer/Instructional Designer, CSU Online (Center for eLearning)
  • Melanie Gagich, Director of First-Year Writing, Senior College Lecturer, First-Year Writing Program
  • Mandi Goodsett (Committee Co-Chair), Performing Arts & Humanities Librarian, Michael Schwartz Library
  • Barbara Loomis, Digital Scholarly Publications and Programs Administrator, Michael Schwartz Library
  • Marsha Miles, Assistant Director, Collections & Resource Management, Michael Schwartz Library
  • Laura Ray, Outreach & Instructional Services Librarian, College of Law
  • Ben Richards, Business and Communication Librarian, Michael Schwartz Library

OhioLINK:

  • Anna Bendo, Director, Affordable Learning Initiative
The Ohio State University:
  • Amanda Larson, Affordable Learning Instructional Consultant, University Libraries

Bowling Green State University:

  • Timothy Sandusky, Open Educational Resources Strategist, University Libraries

Columbus State Community College:

  • Mira Scarnecchia, Open Educational Resources Librarian, Columbus State Library

Schedule is forthcoming