Building OER Capacity in the Midwest: Supporting Grassroots Efforts and Statewide Collaboration

In this session, panelists will describe efforts led by the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) under a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and in collaboration with the National Consortium for OER (NCOER), a partnership between the four higher education regional compacts to increase access, affordability, and equity using OER. MHEC’s focus has been to expand and strengthen capacity in the 12 MHEC states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin) to scale up and implement a sustainable OER infrastructure and open education practices. Attendees will learn about promising practices in organizing and supporting grassroots regional and statewide collaboration, as well as gain insights from the research underway.