This paper outlines our collective approach to the design and development of a new Open Course, “Open Educational Resources (OER) and Open Educational Practices (OEP)”, recently funded by the HEA National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Building on previously established open education initiatives, such as the “Using OER and OEP for Teaching and Learning” resource, this project mobilises a wide collective of open, inclusive, and digitally-critical practitioners who aim to develop a professional development course for those who aspire to more sustainable educational futures.

Responding to the 2025 call for a pre-specified course in Open Education, the course will support participants across Irish higher education to develop their capacity in using Open Educational Resources (OER) and enacting Open Educational Practices (OEP). Participants will develop a clear understanding of OER and OEP and their relevance to quality, equity, and sustainability, while critically evaluating open approaches for teaching, learning, and assessment, including social justice, accessibility and emerging technology (e.g., GenAI) considerations. The target audience includes academic staff, librarians, instructional designers, learning technologists, and programme administrators—recognising that sustainable openness requires cross-functional collaboration and shared leadership. The course will both model and support participants to integrate openness strategically into their own contexts and to contribute to a culture of critical openness, using a social-justice lens, to advance institutional and sectoral practice and initiatives. While the development of both OER and OEP rely on digital tools and platforms for development and dissemination, our approach also assesses the inequalities exacerbated by the digital divide and wider global crises (Affouneh & Khlaif, 2020; Bali et al., 2020; Hodgkinson-Williams & Trotter, 2018).

Leveraging a previously adapted ABC Learning Design approach, underpinned by Universal Design for learning, the design process will be informed by our collective experience in developing and facilitating Open Courses and staff development initiatives more broadly (Gormley, C., Lowney, R., & Stone, S. 2023). The team utilised a systematic mapping process to match appropriate content and activities to the intended learning outcomes using appropriate frameworks such as DigComp 3.0, the Digital Competence Framework for Educators (DigCompEdu), and the Dubai Declaration on Open Educational Resources (OER).

The first facilitated national rollout will commence in October 2026, and it is the aim of the development team to create both a self-study offering, and low-bandwidth options that can easily be translated or remixed for wider uptake and culturally-relevant sustainability.