Conference Reflection: “Open Education, AI and Populism – Revisited”
On the 16th of September, I joined ALT’s “Open Education, AI and Populism – Revisited” online conference. The goal was to reflect back on the topics and discussions of ALT’s Open Education Conference 2025, and identify what new information is available, what has changed, and what progress has been made. Having not had the opportunity to attend the Open Education Conference, I was excited to engage with the UK’s OER community and learn from my peers
Open Education (OER) Conference | Association for Learning Technology
The topics that should be on our lips: OERs and the UK
I was particularly interested in the presentation given by Joe Wilson who noted that in the UK we have been good at adopting GenAI, but less so when it comes to adopting OERs. I think there presents us with huge opportunities to foster “ecosystems of learning”. Asad Ghalib presented a workshop called “Global Pathways to Open Knowlege: Reimaging Universities as Ecosystems of Knowlege”. He presented examples of universities moving away from the isolated institution approach, and working more collaboratively. These examples included:
- Online University, Tuition-Free, Accredited Degrees | University of the People
- About Kolibri – Learning Equality
- EkStep
Of all of the sessions I attended, I felt this was the most motivating. Education should be available to everyone, and I firmly believe it should not be commodified. This session combined with an earlier statement from Keith Smyth, who advocated that extending higher education is a public good, was the level of energy I was looking for in registering for this conference.
Given the increasing ‘wealth gap’ in the UK (The UK’s wealth gap has grown by 50% in eight years – and poses a strategic risk to the nation – LSE Inequalities), OERs are the technology we need to continue to provide equitable access to education for the public good. It is extremely exciting, and humbling to be entrusted to work in this community.
The topic on everyone’s lips: GenAI
Can Open Education Resources (OERs) and Generative AI (GenAI) tools can exist harmoniously (and if yes, then how)?
Many of the conversations seem revolved around this question. As a professional new to the world of OERs, (but currently responsible for managing an OER service) this is the question I wanted a clear answer too. Unfortunately, and perhaps not unexpectedly, the answer was not clear cut.
The use of GenAI tools in the production of OERs, as I see it has two major issues:
- The lack of transparency, and therefore possible and likely breaches of copyright in the production of content (text, and image).Read more on this topic:
- Poor content quality, as a result of incorrect/outdated training date, and GenAI tools’ proclivity to hallucinate. Read more on this topic:
The latter issue means that every production needs to be quality assessed, and the former means that even if it passes, it is unlikely to meet the publishing requirements of OER platforms due to licensing issues.
The narrative being used to promote GenAI tools in education (and business) is one of efficiency. A tool what will save you time, save you energy, so you can focus on ‘the things that matter’. From my perspective as an (interim) OER Service Manager, the things that matter to me, are the production and promotion of high quality learning resources which can be open-licensed. From this perspective, the simple answer to my leading question is no. In it’s current form GenAI tools and OERs are not compatible.
Shelia MacNeil, who co-chaired the Open Education Conference 2025, started her keynote with asking the question “how is everyone feelings this morning?” The majority of respondents selected one of two options:
- in neutral – just doing what needs to be done
- in survival mode…
At the end of the day Kate Malloy and Clare Thompson presented “Go Rouge or Go Home” (a title I don’t think was entirely tongue-in-cheek). They referred to a LinkedIn post by Ben Williamson who stated “AI has colonised our attention”. The idea here was that recently, all of us educators have been exposed to committees, learning opportunities, conferences, policy documents and conversations relating to GenAI tools, but we have had very little opportunity to engage in the same meaningful ways with pedagogy and daily teaching and learning tasks.
I think these two responses (the emotive one from the conference delegates, and the reflective one from Mr Williamson) speak to a broader feeling that quality teaching and learning is undervalued (at a societal level); teachers are undervalued, because their word is widely misunderstood, and misrepresented. The efficiency narrative being used to sell GenAI products focuses on speed, and volume of production, not on quality. That is ultimately what is so disappointing about these tools.
Taking the next step
When I look back at the notes I took on the conference day, there is one clear action that jumps out from the page. It is time to just get on with the work. To be promoters, and leaders in OERs for education, we just need to do something: publish another OER, run a workshop on how to create an OER, speak at a conference and share the work we are doing. We might not always get it right, but it is far too easy to be dragged into circular conversations full of “ifs”, “buts” and “maybes”. Once we try an approach, then we can evaluate it. So now, is the time to keep moving forward, to keep publishing OERs, and to bring our peers, colleagues, friends, and professional networks along for the ride.
