Kelly Arispe, professor of Spanish in the Department of World Languages, community-engaged scholar in Open Educational Practices and teacher educator, recently presented two sessions at the Open Education Global Conference in Brisbane, Australia.
Open Education Global is the leading international conference dedicated to advancing open education and implementing the UNESCO Open Educational Resources Recommendation, bringing together educators, policymakers and researchers from across the globe to discuss open education policy, practices and sustainability.
Arispe delivered two presentations focused on the transformative potential of open educational practices to bridge the divide between primary, secondary and tertiary education sectors:
- Research presentation: “Breaking Barriers to Bridge Open Practices Across Sectors”
This session examined disparities in how open educational practices are supported and implemented across educational levels, addressing structural barriers such as differences in governance, funding and material adoption. Arispe and co-presenters proposed a framework for collaboration through boundary-spanning initiatives, emphasizing the need for cross-sector partnerships to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal of equitable quality education.
- Panel discussion: “Strategies for Bridging Educational Sectors”
Arispe served as the discussant for a panel featuring leaders from primary, secondary, tertiary and government sectors. The panel explored challenges such as copyright fears, inequities in compensation, and gaps in open educational practices awareness while sharing successful examples of cross-sector collaboration. Arispe highlighted strategies to create sustainable open educational practices partnerships, including shared policy, empowering educators as leaders and fostering a common language to recognize contributions across sectors.