In this episode of Open-Ed Mic, the hosts welcome Andrew McKinney, University Director of Research and Publishing Strategies at the City University of New York (CUNY) and a leading advocate for aligning institutional policies with open education. The conversation centers on the tension between open educational practices and traditional tenure and promotion systems, which often reward research outputs more readily than innovative teaching. McKinney reflects on his work with the DOERS (Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success) community, including a project that compiled case studies demonstrating how faculty have incorporated open educational resource (OER) work into tenure and promotion portfolios. The discussion highlights how faculty interest in OER is often tempered by concerns about whether such work will be recognized or valued within existing academic reward structures.

The conversation also addresses emerging pressures in higher education, particularly the growing focus on generative AI, and how faculty can navigate competing institutional priorities. McKinney encourages educators to pursue the work they believe best supports their students and their teaching values rather than chasing short-lived trends. Ultimately, he frames OER not only as a tool for reducing textbook costs but as a pathway toward open pedagogy, where students become active participants in creating knowledge. Looking ahead, McKinney imagines a future in which institutions more fully recognize teaching, openness, and student empowerment as central to the mission of higher education.

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Andrew McKinney is the Director of Research and Publishing Strategies and Open Educational Resources (OER) Coordinator for the City University of New York (CUNY). He leads system-wide initiatives that support open education, scholarly publishing, and innovative teaching practices across CUNY’s campuses. Andrew is a recognized advocate for aligning tenure and promotion systems with open and equitable teaching, and has contributed to national conversations through his work with the DOERS (Driving OER Sustainability for Student Success) community. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the CUNY Graduate Center.

Social media: linkedin.com/in/andrew-mckinney-39a34b198

Director of Research and Publishing Strategies and Open Educational Resources (OER) Coordinator

City University of New York (CUNY)

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.

In this episode of OpenEd Mic, the hosts welcome Dr. David Wiley, a pioneer of the open education movement and creator of the Five Rs of Openness, for a thoughtful conversation about how open education and generative AI are converging. David shares his origin story, tracing his early realization in the late 1990s that digital technologies fundamentally changed how knowledge can be shared—and why open licenses were essential to making that sharing legal, scalable, and equitable.

The discussion centers on how the Five Rs—retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute—remain highly relevant in an AI-driven world. David explains how these principles can be applied not only to open educational resources, but also to large language models themselves, from modifying model weights to fine-tuning AI with new data. The group also tackles faculty concerns around copyright, legality, and fears of displacement, with David emphasizing that AI should support—not replace—the relational, trust-based work that sits at the heart of teaching.

Looking ahead, the episode challenges educators to move beyond using AI to simply generate static, textbook-like content. Instead, David encourages a shift toward AI as a conversational learning partner that enables dialogue, exploration, and embedded assessment. The conversation ends on an optimistic note, highlighting the creativity and commitment of the open education community.

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Dr. David Wiley is an associate professor at Marshall University, co-chair of the university’s AI Steering Committee, and a founding leader of the open education movement. His work sits at the intersection of generative AI, open education, instructional design, entrepreneurship, and student success. He is the creator of the Five Rs of Openness and a co-founder of organizations including Lumen Learning and Degreed. Dr. Wiley has received numerous national recognitions for his academic and entrepreneurial work and continues to shape the future of open and AI-enabled learning.

Social Media Handles:
@opencontent on Twitter, https://www.linkedin.com/in/opencontent/ on LinkedIn and
@kalendar on Github.

Associate Professor

Marshall University

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.

In this episode of OpenEd Mic, the hosts reflect on their experiences attending the Open Education Conference 2025 in Denver, sharing insights from sessions, hallway conversations, and reconnecting with colleagues across the open education community.

The conversation explores the benefits and challenges of the conference’s hybrid format, with thoughtful discussion around accessibility, engagement, and how in-person energy shapes collaboration. The hosts identify several recurring themes from the conference, including the growing role of artificial intelligence in open education, the shift from affordability-only narratives toward demonstrating student outcomes and impact, and an increasing focus on accessibility in response to upcoming federal requirements.

They also highlight standout sessions on workforce development, data-driven storytelling, open pedagogy in STEM, and large-scale research demonstrating the impact of OER across institution types. Beyond formal sessions, the hosts emphasize the value of informal conversations—building community, sharing challenges, and welcoming new voices into the open education space.

The episode concludes with reflections on what lies ahead for open education, including global collaboration, deeper integration of OER into institutional practice, and the potential for AI-supported tools to lower barriers to creation and accessibility. Together, the discussion paints an optimistic picture of a growing, evolving, and resilient open education community.

Learn more about the conference at https://openeducationconference.org/2025.

Download Transcript: PDF

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.

In this episode of Open Ed Mic, host Dr. Michael Mills is joined by co-hosts Kevin Corcoran and Zach Klebaugh to welcome special guest Shinta Hernandez, Dean of MC Online and Academic Support at Montgomery College and recent OE Global Individual Leader of the Year award recipient. Shinta shares her origin story in open education, rooted in confronting inequities she witnessed firsthand in her sociology classrooms. Her pursuit of textbook affordability eventually led her to Montgomery College’s OER and Z-Degree initiatives, where open education is framed not just as a cost-saving measure but as a commitment to social justice, student empowerment, and high-quality instructional design.

The conversation explores how Montgomery College has expanded its MC Open initiative, how open pedagogy fosters agency among learners, and why interdisciplinary and cross-institutional collaboration is essential for solving global challenges. Shinta and Mike discuss the creation and rapid international growth of the UNSDG Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship, now spanning multiple continents and institutional partners. They highlight the program’s unique model, which pairs faculty across disciplines—and even across countries—to design renewable assignments aligned with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Shinta shares memorable successes from the fellowship, including student projects that gained community impact and even inspired career changes.

The episode concludes with a look toward the future, examining the emerging intersection of OER and artificial intelligence, the need for continued professional development, and the importance of collaborative communities of practice prepared to navigate an evolving digital landscape.

Dr. Shinta Hernandez is the Dean of MC Online and Academic Support at Montgomery College, providing leadership in online education, open education, and the Digital Learning Center. Shinta leads efforts to advance work in open education and open pedagogy, social justice and equity, inclusive curriculum, faculty professional development, international collaborations, online education, and the social science disciplines. She leads the UNSDG Open Pedagogy Faculty Fellowship that has grown into an international collaboration across the United States and Canada. Recent partnerships have included schools in the Caribbean and in Asia.

Dean of MC Online and Academic Support

Montgomery College, Rockville, MD

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.

In this episode of Open-Ed Mic, the conversation centers around the role of open education in tribal colleges and universities (TCUs), featuring insights from Amy Chen, the program director for open education at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AHEC). The discussion highlights the unique characteristics of TCUs, the importance of culturally relevant educational resources, and the challenges faced in implementing open education initiatives. The episode emphasizes the need for community engagement, the integration of indigenous knowledge, and the future potential of open education to benefit both tribal and non-tribal communities.

Amy Chen is the Program Director for Open Education at the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), where she leads initiatives to strengthen open education across Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs). In this role, she works to expand access to culturally relevant, high-quality, and affordable learning resources through the integration of open educational resources (OER), faculty development, and collaborative networks. With a deep commitment to capacity building and community-driven approaches that honor Indigenous knowledge systems, Amy has been instrumental in connecting TCUs to national and international open education movements, ensuring their voices shape the future of equitable and inclusive learning.

Amy also serves on the CCC OER and DOERS committees and previously worked as a medical editor, project manager, and academic librarian. She earned her PhD in English from Emory University and is the author of Placing Papers: The American Literary Archives Market (2020) and 1,000+ Tips for Life Inside and Outside the Academy (2022). Her recent article, “Designing an OER Outreach Program for Tribal Colleges and Universities with Fall 2024 Commercial Book Adoption Data,” was published in the Journal of Open Educational Resources in Higher Education (JOERHE).

Program Director for Open Education

American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC)

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.

In this episode of Open-Ed Mic, hosts Zach, Brittany, and Kevin engage with Jonathan Lashley, an advocate for open education. Jonathan shares his journey from being a student to becoming an academic technology program manager, emphasizing the importance of open educational resources (OER) and practices. The conversation explores the evolution of open education, the significance of community building, and the challenges of navigating educational policies. Jonathan also discusses the intersection of AI and open education, highlighting the need for responsible integration of technology in teaching and learning.

Dr. Jonathan Lashley is an accomplished educator, strategist, and national leader in the open education community. He currently serves as the Associate Chief Academic Officer for the Idaho State Board of Education, where he advances initiatives that promote equitable access to learning through open educational resources and innovative teaching practices.

With a professional background spanning instructional design, faculty development, and systems-level leadership, Dr. Lashley has collaborated with colleges and universities across the United States to strengthen institutional capacity for open education. His work emphasizes the thoughtful integration of open resources and practices to expand opportunity, support diverse student needs, and align with a wide range of institutional missions.

Dr. Lashley brings a nuanced perspective on how open education can foster collaboration, drive innovation, and ensure long-term sustainability across higher education systems.

Senior Director of Student Success and P20 Alignment

Idaho State Board of Education

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.

In this inaugural episode of Open-Ed Mic, the hosts discuss their personal journeys into open education, highlighting the importance of accessibility and affordability in higher education. They share their experiences as students and educators, emphasizing the need for open educational resources to alleviate financial burdens on students. The conversation also touches on the evolving perspectives of faculty regarding open education and the influence of student voices in advocating for change. The episode concludes with reflections on the significance of diverse experiences in shaping the future of open education.

• Brittany emphasizes the importance of access to materials for students.
• Zach shares his struggles as a first-generation college student.
• Mike reflects on the engagement challenges he faced as a faculty member.
• Kevin highlights the shift in faculty perspectives post-2020.
• The group discusses the impact of student pressure on faculty decisions.
• Brittany notes the growing interest in academic freedom among faculty.
• Zach mentions the need for pragmatic discussions about material selection.
• The hosts agree on the importance of diverse voices in open education.
• They recognize the challenges and opportunities in higher education today.
• The episode sets the stage for future discussions on open education.

Explore our Open-Ed Mic podcast for practical guidance and inspiring stories about open education. Discover how to incorporate OER materials into your course while connecting with a community dedicated to transforming teaching and learning through openness.

Your hosts—Kevin Corcoran, Zach Claybaugh, Brittany Dudek, and Dr. Michael A. Mills—bring decades of combined expertise as prominent thought leaders in open educational resources (OER) within higher education. With extensive backgrounds spanning digital learning, library science, student success initiatives, and strategic leadership at state and national levels, they have collectively shaped policies, driven impactful initiatives, and advocated passionately for increased access to education. Their collaborative approach highlights their deep commitment to advancing open education practices, ensuring quality, affordability, and accessibility for learners everywhere.