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Open Education Publishing Institute 2026

Open Pedagogy on the CUNY Academic Commons & Manifold 

Call for Participation 

The Teaching and Learning Center and the GC Digital Initiatives at the CUNY Graduate Center are pleased to invite applications from GC student instructors for the 2026 Open Education & Publishing Institute. Previous Open Education Publishing Institutes (OEPI) have supported instructors’ development of open educational resources and courses that leverage open resources to engage students in collaborative and public knowledge production. 

The goal of OEPI 2026 is to support Graduate Center student instructors in designing and teaching zero-cost courses that use open pedagogical practices and open platforms to engage undergraduates in the creation of OER and public-facing scholarship. Selected fellows will collaborate with the GC’s Open Educational Technologists and colleagues across CUNY to refine a ZTC/OER course to include a series of assignments or a public-facing project, hosted on the CUNY Academic Commons or Manifold, in which undergraduate students create or contribute to an OER or other public scholarship as part of the course.

During summer 2026, OEPI fellows will plan their course and determine how it will utilize the CUNY Academic Commons or Manifold. Courses will be taught in Fall 2026. See “Models” below to learn more about the types of projects we aim to support. 

Please consider applying if you are a GC student instructor who is: 

  • teaching with open materials and would like to expand your open pedagogical practices 
  • interested in developing assignments that engage undergraduates on the CUNY Academic Commons or Manifold 
  • currently developing an OER and would like to include undergraduates as co-developers

Eligibility 

  • Currently enrolled GC student instructors from any discipline who are teaching with zero-cost or OER materials 
  • GC student instructors who have completed the Open Knowledge Fellowship are encouraged to apply
  • Applicants should be scheduled to teach in Fall 2026
  • Applicants should have previous experience creating courses or projects with Manifold or the CUNY Academic Commons

Schedule

Four OEPI fellows will be selected and notified in March and attend a pre-institute meeting in April. In Summer 2026, fellows will attend an in-person, three-day institute on June 2-4 at the Graduate Center. During the June Institute, OEPI Fellows will learn more about the affordances of the platforms, teaching with OER/ZTC materials, leveraging open digital tools for assignments, and pedagogical strategies for working with undergraduates to develop open content and public facing projects. 

Throughout July and August, OEPI Fellows will have one-on-one, virtual check-ins with the Open Educational Technologists and attend a showcase on August 25, 2026 to share plans for Fall courses. Following the Fall semester, OEPI Fellows will write a reflection on their course, to be shared publicly on the TLC blog, Visible Pedagogy.

Compensation

OEPI fellows will receive a $2000 stipend to participate in the pre-meeting, June institute, and August showcase. Attendance is required at all events. Stipends will be paid as a financial aid award.  

Models

During the Institute, fellows will explore the affordances of teaching on an open source, community-developed platform and craft their own assignments that aim to empower students as knowledge producers. Selected OEPI Fellows can choose to work on either the CUNY Academic Commons or Manifold.

Instructors who teach on the CUNY Academic Commons build course sites to share OER materials, foster student engagement through writing and multimedia projects, and develop assignments that move beyond the course, putting students in conversation with wider publics. For example, in the course “Introduction to Language”, students explored local language practices, and for their final project, produced an oral history of the linguistic landscapes of Jackson Heights. In a Music course hosted on the Commons, students contributed to a collective “Sound Gallery” as a way to explore the soundscapes of New York City. In other courses on the Commons, students have helped create and contribute to open resources, such as the Great Salt Cove Atlas  and the Latin American and Caribbean Design glossary and multimedia project collection. 

Participants who choose to teach with Manifold will have the opportunity to explore multiple assignment possibilities and project models, that may include texts, multimedia, and interactive elements. The TheoryWise Project demonstrates an iterative assignment that can be used each time the course is taught. In Let My People Know, students worked with CUNY archives to bring them into the modern classroom. Also using archives, the South Texas Rabble Rousers project showcases student posters created for the course. In Modern Art and OER Writing Seminar students had the opportunity to publish their final essays as a contribution to art historical research. In Black Diasporic Visions: (De) Constructing Modes of Power students explored pathways for liberation through video, audio, and essays. In Multigenerational Engaged Storytelling, students worked with ideas about boundaries and crossings to produce their own multimedia stories. 

In addition to projects and courses similar to the models outlined here, we will consider other ideas for open pedagogical projects, even if they seem outside the bounds of this call. Please apply and, in your submission statement, describe how your project will enact open pedagogy using one of the open platforms.

Credits

This Institute is supported by grants from the CUNY Office of Library Services. It is administered by the Teaching and Learning Center and the GC Digital Initiatives at the CUNY Graduate Center.

How to Apply

By Monday, February 23rd, complete the application form linked below. In the form, upload a single PDF named “OEPI-lastname.pdf” with the following:

  • A brief CV of no more than 2 pages;
  • A statement of no more than 500 words that offers:
    • A brief summary of your course and plans for course design 
    • A brief summary of how undergraduates will be engaged in OER creation, a public facing project, or other open pedagogical practice
    • A description of your experience with the platform you plan to use, including links to past projects or courses  

Application Form:  https://forms.office.com/r/0eSVq0KeYK

If there are any questions, please email Laurie Hurson ([email protected]) and Robin Miller ([email protected]).