Updates on Illinois Open Education: Getting and Staying Connected with ILOE
September 24, 2025
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By the Illinois Open Education (ILOE) Coordinating Team
In early April, 100 higher education stakeholders representing 44 community colleges, public universities, private colleges and universities, and state organizations participated in the 2025 Illinois Open Education Summit at Heartland Community College. All committed to the advancement of open education practices and Open Educational Resources (OER), those in attendance offered their feedback on how to build “an Open Future” in the state and what potential challenges, support needs, and opportunities for growth lie ahead. Key themes, recommendations, and next steps can be found in the Illinois Open Education Summit Report.
Expanding on the work begun at the 2025 Summit, a collective of academic library workers, faculty, students, staff, instructional designers and technologists, administrators, and members of organizations focused on higher education in the state have come together to create Illinois Open Education (ILOE). ILOE seeks to not only promote and support the use of low and no cost course materials, but to 1) inform Illinoisans about the value and possibilities of open educational materials and open pedagogy, 2) encourage the adoption and foster the creation of free, equitable, and accessible materials and participatory and collaborative assignments, and 3) vigorously advocate for cross-institutional collaboration and persistent funding to scale and maintain “open” work in the state.
On September 4, ILOE held its first general meeting, where former Summit attendees and new members of the collective came together to plan the move from aspiration to action, forming working groups focused on Centralized Information and Data Systems; Legislative Action and Sustainable Funding; and Stakeholder Engagement. And on September 12, ILOE facilitated a workshop on the Open Education Maturity Model where participants used this powerful tool for strategic planning (also deployed during the Spring Open Education Summit) to find where their institution is and where its aims to go.
ILOE is striving to make the present and future open. But it will take collective action to grow and sustain OER and open practice in Illinois. If you are interested in participating in, or leading, any of the various efforts for building Open Education capacity in Illinois, please consider joining us, and indicate your interest using this Google form.
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