The conference themes for submission this year are:

• Back to basics – asking difficult questions about open education:
  • Why open?
  • Open for whom?
  • Whose interests are served?
  • In what ways has the open agenda been appropriated, and what are the implications of this?
• The geopolitics of open education, bringing open in from the periphery
• The open ecosystem: How is open education part of the broader ecosystem of “opens”?
• What does it mean to illuminate open by considering context?
• How can historical perspectives contribute to understanding the issues faced in the open education movement today?
• Links between critical digital literacies, critical data literacies, and open
• What open business models are emerging? What are the paths to sustainability?

There differing submission formats include:

Reflective practice presentations	Reflective practice presentations offer a contribution towards the practice of open education, e.g. case studies, descriptive accounts, etc., but with a reflective and critical component.Time: 20 minutes (typically 15-minute presentation, 5 minutes Q+A)Abstract word limit: 500
Research presentations	Research presentations offer a theoretical and/or empirical contribution towards open education; located clearly in the field through, for example, a literature review.Time: 20 minutes (typically 15-minute presentation, 5 minutes Q+A)Abstract word limit: 500
Workshops and panels	Workshops may follow a variety of formats, but all are hands-on, engaged and interactive. Panels may consist of a panel discussion, interview, etc. Due to the high demand for these sessions, we have to limit the number of workshop/panel proposals to those who clearly demonstrate how participants will engage.In both cases, please specify the topic, format, chair of the session, and all participating as facilitators/panel members. Time: 60 minutes (with optional extension to 90 minutes for workshops). Abstract word limit: 500
Alt-format	[7 minutes maximum] Alternative short formats are very welcome, e.g. demos, Pecha Kucha, spoken word, TED-style talk, multimodal presentations, performance, improvisation, screening a digital story, web content, etc. This format asks you to be creative, to share an idea in a way that speaks to heart and mind.Time: 7 minutes Abstract word limit: 250
Open spaces	We’d like also to facilitate spaces for people to engage in emerging conversations. We invite experienced facilitators to offer to create a space for participants to interact and engage with issues during conference. Please provide as much information as possible regarding suggested topic/question, format, anticipated time requirements, anticipated number of participants, how participants will engage, etc.Time: 30 minutes or 60 minutes Abstract word limit: 500
Posters and videos	Posters will be displayed online and in the conference area and videos will be displayed online. These should clearly address one or more of the conference questions.Abstract word limit: 250

Deadline for submissions is 01 December 2018.