Current Projects
Explore the ways in which our collaboratory is advancing educational access through opened cultures of collaboration, innovation, and community engagement.
Tennesse State University Affordable Learning Solutions Initiative
How might we expand and sustain access to quality education at HBCUs through the unique affordances of an opened culture?
Funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and in partnership with MERLOT and SkillsCommons, this project led by Tennessee State University brings together over 30 HBCUs into hubs that engage in professional development focused on open educational practices and culturally-affirming pedagogies. Addressing the critical need for accessible educational materials, the initiative empowers educators and students at HBCUs and other MSIs to enhance learning through open resources. By supporting these institutions in embedding and sustaining open practices, Opened Culture helps ensure that education is not only accessible but also culturally affirming and reflective of the diverse communities it serves.
UNESCO IITE Initiative on AI Literacies
How might we identify the competencies and skills employed by educators internationally as they integrate AI into teaching and learning?
Sponsored by UNESCO IITE and Shanghai Open University (SOU), this initiative features the voices of academic leaders and innovators sharing their perspectives, practices, challenges, and vision for the ubiquitous use of AI in education. Entering into its second year, this project has produced a series of open knowledge products, including findings from two qualitative research studies, and the development of open courses on generative AI in education. The first MOOC, which was released by SOU in 2021 and subsequently expanded in 2023 by Opened Culture, has been accessed by 16,000+ individuals from all over the world.
The 100 Year Ed Tech Project
How might we use the levers of an opened culture to envision, design, and implement innovative solutions that will shape the future of learning as we know it?
Born of the collaborative ideation of Lev Gonick, CIO at Arizona State University, and led by ASU’s Enterprise Technology, SAB Creative and Consulting, and The StoryCenter, Opened Culture is providing strategic guidance, advocacy, and community engagement in support of the mission of this collective—to advance access and equity so that every learner gets the education they need to thrive. OEC was honored to be featured in the 2074 Guide in their spotlight on Future Scenarios: Influential Work, and is one of the leading planners of the next 100 Year Ed Tech Project Design Summit hosted at the University of Texas at San Antonio (March 19-21, 2025).
How might we move from a harmful binary of AI literacy (literacy vs. illiteracy) into a plurality of competencies, skills, and capabilities within a spectrum of AI literacies?
Influenced by the work of Doug Belshaw’s Eight Essential Elements of Digital Literacies, this project seeks to advance the field’s understanding of AI literacies as culturally-contextualized and socially negotiated across formal and informal digital environments. This work brings together collaborators from multiple institutions across the country, including The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and The University of Arizona, in creating a rich resource to spotlight competencies and skills needed for the future of education, work, and society. The authors of the framework will be leading a series of community engagement events to guide educators in exploring the concept of AI literacies, including a free webinar for EDUCAUSE titled AI Literacies for a New Era of Learning.
Career Services
AI Co-Pilot
How might we leverage the power of generative AI to illuminate more diverse pathways to instructional design leadership and advancement?
Working in partnership with faculty at The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, this research study seeks to surface ubiquitous challenges that instructional designers face in locating comprehensive support for designing their future career. From clearly and compellingly demonstrating the competencies and durable skills that employers are looking for in instructional designers to leveraging narrative practices for understanding one’s unqiue value proposition and brand identity as an ID professional, this study interrogates the ways in which generative AI might make the process of career planning a more impactful and empowering experience.
The Art and Science of Open Remix
How might we leverage the practices and perspectives of open remixers to drive greater access to education around the globe?
With origins in a research study on the insights and work of educators engaging in the open educational practice of remix, this series of publications and professional development offerings documents the resituating of open remix as a sociocultural construction that can drive communities to expand access to education through open pedagogy. Inspired by a series of portraits of open remixers from around the world, this thought leadership series introduces the “open turn,” which is the movement from a transactional view of open education as product creation into a socioculturally situated view oriented towards the people, perspectives, and practices of open remix.
HBCUs and the Advancement of AI in Education
How might we support educators, leaders, and students at HBCUs in leading the advancement of AI in education?
Inspired by Opened Culture’s HBCU AI Action Guides for Educators, Students, and Leaders, this series of professional development offerings was developed to provide action steps and calls to actions for educators and learners at HBCUs to harness the power of generative AI in teaching and learning contexts. With a focus on empowering the 100+ HBCUs serving over 220,000 students across the US in leading digital learning transformation for an AI-enabled world, these courses were developed for educators of differentiated roles and skill levels to complement emerging and established AI initiatives and strategic plans at the institutional, departmental, and course levels.
Want to Collaborate?
Reach out with your driving questions and your opportunities needing support from a thriving community of thought leaders and advocates for increasing access to education through the collaborative, innovative, and engaged facets of an opened culture.