CT State Middlesex Hosts the 2025 CT Open Educational Resources Summit

On March 28, 2025, over a hundred educators in Connecticut’s higher education community visited CT State Community College Middlesex to attend the sixth annual Open Educational Resources (OER) Summit. Sponsored by the CT OER Coordinating Council, the event explored how OER (free, high-quality alternatives to traditional textbooks) can make a college degree a more affordable and open experience for students.

Following welcoming remarks from CT State Middlesex CEO Kimberly Hogan, the summit featured a keynote presentation by Dr. Robert A. Awkward, who discussed effects to support the adoption of OER occurring through his agency, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education. The summit also featured four lightning talks from CT faculty, updates from the CT OER Coordinating Council, and short presentations by CSCU students.

Participants included faculty in a broad array of academic disciplines plus librarians, administrators, and academic support staff from the Community College, four state universities, Charter Oak State College, University of Connecticut, and private colleges and universities. According to the council’s chair, Patrick Carr (CSCU Program Manager for Library Consortium Operations), “There’s no other event in our state that brings together such a broad cross-section of the higher education community. OER is about breaking down boundaries, and the Summit at CT State Middlesex was an inspiring example of this.”

To learn more about OER and the work of the CT OER Coordinating Council, visit the council’s website.