On Sept. 18, 2026, the Opening Pathways Summit brought together educators to explore the future of open educational resources (OER). Co-sponsored by Boise State University and the College of Western Idaho, the virtual event hosted over 133 registrants from the United States and Canada, with the majority coming from Idaho. The core focus was fostering collaboration between Idaho’s community colleges and four-year institutions to explore OER. Instructors who have written OER created a showcase of the OER used in general education around Idaho.
The event was interactive and featured welcoming remarks from Liza Long, director of digital learning and AI at the Idaho State Board of Education. Long stressed the importance of collaboration around OER, “This work that you all are doing really has transformative power within education.”
Faculty spotlights included Susan Aydelotte (College of Western Idaho, mathematics), Shelly Volsche (Boise State, anthropology) and Megan Workman (Boise State, biological sciences). These faculty members shared their hands-on experiences creating and adopting OER.
Aydelotte shared how much more she appreciates her open textbook for her math courses. She stated that OER are “very easy to read and an improvement for student learning compared to the textbooks that I had been using.”
Workman reported that when implementing OER alongside other evidence-based practices, the drop, fail, and withdrawal rates for her courses decreased. In all online sections of Biology 227, this rate reduced by 67%.
Long stressed how important creating an online nursing zero-textbook-cost degree, or Z-Degree, would be, “[Boise State] is now working on a Z degree RN to BS program. That’s a really exciting thing for the nurses of Idaho.” A Z-Degree is a complete college or certificate program where all required learning materials are completely free for students.
Attendees also gathered in targeted breakout sessions centered around general education matriculation categories, nursing and career technical education to discuss course alignment, current instructional materials and opportunities for cross-institutional partnership.
Participants explored cutting-edge practices in interactive “Show + Do” demos, covering topics such as:
- Finding Creative Commons OER materials (Reed Hepler, College of Southern Idaho)
- AI integration in OER (Joel Gladd, College of Western Idaho)
- Pressbooks accessibility using Editoria11y, an open-source accessibility checker (Ryan Randall, Boise State)
- Open pedagogy, Z-degrees and administrative support (Amy Vecchione and Patrick Lowenthal, Boise State)
The summit concluded with actionable momentum as attendees created 90-day action plans to adopt, remix or author OER materials for their upcoming courses. After the event, participants shared that they enjoyed hearing what other colleagues and institutions are doing and found that the list of resources helped them feel less overwhelmed as they worked towards their own OER development.
Get involved in OER collaboration
Take a moment to find out who is collaborating on OER within your discipline. Reach out to colleagues or partner institutions across Idaho to see what open materials are already being used, or schedule a quick coffee chat to discuss remixing OER for your next course. Connect with Hans Aagard, research and innovation consultant for Boise State’s eCampus, at HANSAAGARD@boisestate.edu to consult on OER for your discipline and to learn more.
The eCampus Center Research and Innovation Team played a major role in coordinating the Pathways Summit. This team is dedicated to supporting faculty success by providing faculty with evidence-based practices and cutting-edge technologies to deliver high-quality online learning experiences. Through collaboration, we integrate innovative strategies into online courses and programs, as well as support faculty in utilizing and conducting high-impact research and evaluation related to the online learning experience. Visit the Research and Innovation website to learn more.