OPEN offers original stand-alone and co-produced events of an intellectual nature to stimulate community dialogue. These include:

OPEN Microevents OPEN leverages its resources to elevate the reach of individuals and dedicated groups around localized events – encompassing not only discussions, but hands on demonstrations, film screenings and more.
OPEN Speaker Series For next-level intellectual engagement, the OPEN Speaker Series brings leading thinkers from across the country—and perhaps world—into a community's midst. OPEN Speakers are embedded as keynotes into existing conferences, mini-conferences, or festivals. Likewise, multiple partners may join forces to co-produce a stand-alone OPEN events.
Conferences and Festivals - OPEN is a strategic partner to festivals and conferences, responsible for jointly planning speakers and other interactive programming. OPEN helps curate conversations with outside experts and local leaders through presentations, panel discussions and interactive in-person experiences, including solution demonstrations.

The OPEN platform offers a Learning Management System (LMS) where a single event can transition into eLearning and become an open source, community-based repository for continued learning on any topic. Additional links and resources, such as books and articles, are embedded into prior experiences to provide more context, depth, and perspectives. Based on demand and co-creative energy, events may evolve into mini/nano courses with learning modules, assessments, and badges--all developed via open source and disseminated through the learnOPEN platform.

Commencing in 2022, OPEN Member Learners can receive credit for participating in community conversations, conferences, and other experiences that translate into verifiable microcredentials. Verified experiences may be transferred for personal enrichment or for professional purposes, such as the to a member's Learner Employment Record (LER) and LinkedIn profile.

Yes, even if you sign up for a FREE account the OPEN team will offer basic support to get you started building your own course. If you need additional support, such as help with Instructional Design or Media/video, you can upgrade to other membership levels at any time.

You can get started by registering for a new account here

Instructional Design, or ID, is the formal term for best practices in eLearning. For example if you have a series of youtube videos or PDFs and other documents for a course, you will need to transition these to a Learning Management System, or LMS. In the LMS you can structure content neatly, and you can keep track of students, offer assessments, documents, media, and much more. There are many tools to help you become a professional grade instructional designer in short order. If you would like to get professional instructional design support you can sign up for the Luminary Account.

OPEN works with creators to help produce media that meets your learning objectives. This includes onsite filming, short-form video or studio time to develop a series. The OPEN Media channel supports local filmmakers and creators while also syndicating valuable locally-sourced media that can be shared and integrated in other cultural-intellectual contexts.

You can find out more by visiting the Explain Page or by reading the OPEN Whitepaper

Yes, when you create a course you can choose how many seats to offer and the price for each seat. You can also have wait lists.

For EMERITUS accounts Instructional Design includes one hour per week of webinar support to help organize your course, upload and curate existing materials, and launch your point of sale. For LUMINARY accounts Instructional Design includes two hours per week of webinar support to help organize your course, upload and curate existing materials, and launch your point of sale.