NIU is joining institutions around the world to celebrate Open Education Week, March 2-6, 2026, an annual event dedicated to promoting open educational resources (OER), open pedagogy, and initiatives that empower students and faculty while lowering barriers to learning.
A key initiative at NIU is the implementation of affordable course material (ACM) filters in MyNIU, which allows students to easily identify courses that use low‑cost or zero‑cost materials. Faculty are encouraged to inform their department scheduler and chair about upcoming courses that should be designated as low‑cost or zero‑cost.
NIU also recognizes departments and faculty who consistently offer courses using affordable materials, highlighting their commitment to student success. Training and support are available for instructors interested in transitioning their courses to low‑ or zero‑cost resources. Interested faculty should contact their subject specialist librarian for more information.
As part of the week-long observance, faculty who are considering adopting low-cost or zero-cost materials are encouraged to explore OER repositories, including NIU’s own collection in HuskieCommons and LibreTexts. In addition to browsing NIU-affiliated materials in LibreTexts (filter by Affiliation > Northern Illinois University), NIU faculty can create an instructor account and produce their own OER. And for faculty who want to know more about developing dynamic renewable assignments through open pedagogical practice, check out the Open Pedagogy Notebook website.
Highlighted below are select Open Education Week events, offering opportunities to learn more about OER adoption, teaching practices, and the broader impact of open-access materials on student success. For a full list of online and in-person events across the world, check out the Open Education Week Global website.
Science Education for a Just and Sustainable World
Mon., March 2, 2026 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm CST
As global social and environmental problems grow ever more intractable, we need transformative pedagogies that support our students to become critical, creative social agents capable of building a more sustainable and just world.
Key to achieving this vision is teaching undergraduates how to center Open Science as the default for how science is practiced by deeply integrating Open Pedagogical practices that support students to address inherent inequities, problems with data-sharing, and other barriers to the adoption of Open Science. To that end, the OCTOPUS project was developed to support higher education faculty and staff to create openly licensed materials that may eventually constitute a comprehensive undergraduate Open Science-Open Pedagogy program.
AggieOpen Invited Speaker – From Free to Usable: The Accessibility Promise of OER
Tue., March 3, 2026 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm CST
Join us for this year’s AggieOpen Invited Speaker talk, From Free to Usable: The Accessibility Promise of OER! This session explores how digital accessibility, Universal Design for Learning, and upcoming ADA Title II requirements align with the broader mission of open education.
Featured speaker Katie Healey, founder of the A11Y Project and scholar of disability history, brings a disability justice framework to advancing inclusive practices in higher education. Through the University of California Office of the President, she supports more than 120 instructors across all 10 UC campuses in meeting digital accessibility standards. She also hosts the Disability Daily Podcast, highlighting key figures and moments in disability history. This free event will be held on Zoom. Register to attend!
Open for Student Success Symposium 2026
Wed., March 4, 2026 @ 8:30 am - 3:30 pm CST
Join Georgia State University for our 4th annual Open Education Week Celebration,
where professionals and students unite with the common purpose to learn and share insights about open and affordable education. In addition to the keynote speech, the symposium will feature presentations by 22 professionals from nine U.S. states, as well as from Canada and Mexico. A full list of sessions can be found on their webpage.
Community Chat: Students within Reach—Academic Libraries and Belonging
Thurs., March 5, 2026 @ 9:00 am – 10:00 am CST
The CARLI OER Committee and Public Services Committee invite those at Illinois libraries to an informal discussion on increasing student belonging through outreach, events, activities, campus collaborations, and employing open educational practices to empower students as co-creators in the classroom and beyond.
Discussion facilitators:
- Devon Blumenshine, Student Engagement and Research Librarian, Illinois Central College
- Dee Anna Phares, Social Sciences and Humanities Librarian, Northern Illinois University
Please join and share your thoughts and experiences and learn from your Illinois library colleagues. This Community Chat will not be recorded; however, discussion points will be shared afterwards with participants, so please register to attend.
For a full list of workshops and webinars, check out the Open Education Week Global calendar of events.
