Events

Plenary Session: Building Advocacy Capacity for OER

Since its inception, the open education movement has spread worldwide and recruited countless advocates to its cause. In order to ensure that this progress can continue, it is critical that advocates are equipped with the skills they need to drive forward open education initiatives in their local context. This session will equip attendees with foundational advocacy skills that can be used to drive change at their institutions and beyond. Attendees will learn how to "think like an advocate", including how to frame problems, set goals, develop strategies, and pitch solutions.

Attendees of this session will be able to:

●  Use problem and solution frameworks to set advocacy goals.

●  Assess stakeholders and understand their motivations with respect to an issue.

●  Analyze decision-making processes and develop strategies to influence decision-makers.

●  Effectively pitch an “ask” to decision-makers and respond to challenging questions.

●  Start an advocacy plan on an issue of importance to capacity building efforts in their local context. 

Plenary Speaker: Hailey Babb, Open Education Program Manager, SPARC

Hailey Babb is the Open Education Program Manager at SPARC and is currently based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. In her role, she supports the SPARC Open Education Program’s policy and advocacy development and community organizing. Hailey was an active student leader at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada where she co-organized the province of Alberta’s inaugural #TextbookBrokeAB campaign. At SPARC, Hailey plays a key role in the open education team's major projects.