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Winners of Open Education Awards for Excellence 2022

Open Education Global (OEGlobal) is honored to announce the 2022 winners of the Open Education Awards for Excellence.

The 12-member strong Open Education Awards Committee, comprised of educators and open education advocates from around the world, has reviewed the 89 nominations from across 22 countries.

The sky is shining with open education luminaries from around the world! From Canada to Ukraine, we are celebrating new OER created by students, awesome adaptations of open textbooks and an amazing platform that allows the curation, customization, and remixing of digital bookshelves.  And if that wasn’t enough, wait to be dazzled by the outstanding examples of teamwork, collaboration and solidarity beaming through all the open practices categories —from regional networks helping each other, to opposite continents joining forces to save the world’s forests. Expect to be moved by the resilience of a brave network of librarians determined to continue to support students and teachers even in extreme conditions. I’m sure you’ll be inspired by all of them as much as I am.”

Marcela Morales, OEGlobal Director of Community Relations and OEAwards Liaison

OEGlobal is pleased to congratulate the fifteen Open Education Awards for Excellence winners across 15 categories in 2022. In addition to the usual 13 categories, in 2022 we celebrate the contributions to two special categories: 1) The Open Resilience Award, which recognizes and celebrates efforts to overcome adversity, pivot quickly and thrive in the face of unprecedented challenges or crises, and 2) The Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award to foreground efforts focused on creating diverse, inclusive and equitable opportunities in learning environments. 

The 2022 winners are ….

OPEN INDIVIDUAL Winners

Open Education is a human movement that is only possible due to the work and passion of extraordinary people. Every year, Open Education Global is honored to recognize these individuals in the Open Education Awards for Excellence. The 2022 Open Individual winners are:

  • Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Robert Schuwer at Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
  • Open Leadership is awarded to Ebba Ossiannilsson at Swedish Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Education, Lund, Sweden
  • Open Educator is awarded to Giovanni Zimotti at The University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
  • Emerging Open Leader is awarded to Sarah Kresh for her work at CUNY School of Professional Studies, New York, USA
  • The Support Specialist Award goes to Ewan McAndrew for his work at the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

OPEN ASSETS Winners

Open assets are digital or printed materials that open education initiatives produce and use to add purpose and value to their education in their sector. Open assets are produced, curated, and distributed in ways that make them freely accessible, usable, and improvable by others. The 2022 Open Assets of excellence in 2022 are:

  • Best OER award goes to Liberated Learners is co-designed and co-created by staff and students at Trent University, Brock University, Seneca College, University of Windsor, McMaster University, Cambrian College, and Nipissing University, Canada
  • Open Curation / Repository is awarded to LibreTexts, a powerful OER curation/repository supported by the University of California-Davis, USA
  • Open Reuse / Remix / Adaptation goes to Open Technical Communication textbook by Tiffani Tijerina, Tamara Powell, Jonathan Arnett, Monique Logan, Cassandra Race, and multiple contributors at Kennesaw State University, USA
  • Open Infrastructure award goes to LibreTexts for the LibreText platform, supported by UCDavis University of California, USA

OPEN PRACTICES Winners

The Open Practices Awards categories celebrate the collective behaviors and techniques that ensure open access to educational opportunities. These practices promote and support the use of open educational resources, technologies, and social networks to facilitate collaborative and flexible teaching and learning. The Open Practices being celebrated in 2022 are:

  • Open Collaboration is awarded to the European Network of Open Education Librarians created and supported by SPARC Europe, The Netherlands.
  • Open Innovation for the Innovative Sustainable Forest Management Education Online Course at the Asia-Pacific Region: Asia Forest Research Centre, Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, Canada
  • Open Pedagogy is awarded to the Open Pedagogy Project Roadmap, compiled by Riehman-Murphy and McGeary at Pennsylvania State University, USA.
  • Open Policy Award goes to the OERTX Initiative implemented by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas, USA.

SPECIAL AWARDS Winners

The Open Education Awards for Excellence provides annual recognition for outstanding open education contributions from the Open Education community. Each year, the core categories (individual, assets & practices) remain the same each year. However, the OEAwards are always looking for ways to celebrate new trends and emerging innovation within the Open Education Movement. The Special Awards this year shine the spotlight on:

  • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award goes to OpenLearn’s Race and Ethnicity Hub from the OpenLearn Team at The Open University, UK
  • Open Resilience Award goes to the advocacy work of the Scientific Library to advance Open Education in Ukraine spearheaded by Tetiana Kolesnykova, Ukrainian State University of Science and Technologies, Ukraine

Read about the OEAward Winners in more detail on this page.


Congratulate the winners on OEG Connect

What do you think of the winners? Add to the discussions below and share your experiences of these people and platforms by clicking on reply on OEG Connect below.

OEG Voices – Latest Podcasts

OE Global Voices

Welcome to the home of podcasts produced by Open Education Global. These shows bring you insight and connection to the application of open education practices from around the world. Listen at podcast.oeglobal.org

OEG Voices 082: Amanda Coolidge, Marcela Morales, and Maren Deepwell on “The Small Things”

Our newest episode features the voices of three experienced leaders of open education organizations who also do most of this work online. In a session recorded live during Open Education Week 2025, Amanda Coolidge, Marcela Morales, and Maren Deepwell reflect on now, more than even before, the importance of finding small things of joy in our practice. 

How this came about is an example of small things in action. After listening to one of Maren Deepwell’s podcasts with OE Global’s Alan Levine, Amanda did a small act of gratitude by sending them both an email of appreciation.

Hi Maren and Alan

I just finished listening to your podcast episode together and I absolutely loved it. It brought a smile to my face listening to your stories Alan. It was so refreshing to hear you say that it’s gotta be fun. I needed this reminder. There are days when being the ED of an org is far from fun and it’s important for me to not let that drag me down.

Loved the conversation and just wanted to let you both know.

email from Amanda Coolidge

Maren replied noting “how important it is for us to rediscover the joy in small things in our practice” leading Amanda to share “It truly feels like this ‘rediscover the joy in small things in our practice is more important than ever in our contexts (globally and nationally).” This was how we came to plan an open podcast recording for OEWeek and bringing Marcela in to expand the conversation. And as we learned since recording, the connection continues as Maren will be publishing a new podcast soon from a followup conversation she had with Amanda and Marcela.

In the OEGlobal Voices Podcast Studio with clockwise from top left, Amanda Coolidge (BCcampus), Marcela Morales (OE Global), Maren Deepwell (Maren Deepwell Coaching), and Alan Levine (OE Global). Not pictured, but listening in live were Shira Segal (MIT), Manisha Khetarpal (Maskwacis Cultural College), and Beck Pitt (The Open University).

In This Episode

FYI: For the sake of experimentation and the spirit of transparency, this set of show notes alone was generated by the AI “Underlord” in the Descript editor we use to produce OEGlobal Voices.

In this episode of OE Global Voices, Alan Levine hosts a dynamic conversation during Open Education Week 2025 with Amanda Coolidge, Maren Deepwell, and Marcela Morales. They discuss leading open organizations, the importance of self-care, and finding joy in the small things amid the challenges of managing teams and building relationships. The conversation is filled with heartfelt insights, practical examples, and touching personal stories.

  • Introduction to OEWeek Podcast
  • Amanda’s Perspective on Leadership
  • Marcela’s Views on Team Dynamics
  • Maren’s Insights on Virtual Team Leading
  • Story Behind the Conversation
  • Connection Amid Critiques
  • Exploration of Relationship Building
  • AI and Thoughtful Leadership
  • Concluding Thoughts and Personal Joys

(end of AI generated show notes)

Additional Links and Quotes for Episode 82

 It’s been something that I have intentionally been really working towards, which is, sending snail mail notes to staff after they’ve done something, if it’s bringing people together or potentially asking a really awesome question that sort of got people thinking.

And then when I listened to that podcast, I just thought, oh, that really, inspired me. And it just reminded me of the importance of play in our work and how sometimes when you lead an organization, there’s so much operational day-to-day that you forget the reason why you started in this work to begin with. Yeah, that’s why I really wanted to give you both a shout out and a note of appreciation because it truly impacted, not just how I went about that day, but how I’ve proceeded to think about my own work.

Amanda Coolidge

 I’ve been creating walking OERs you can go for a walk and listen to. It’s really open available recording, like as a reflective practice or as a leadership practice. And it’s been making me think a lot about, how long do you really need to do certain things?

To me, having a half an hour walk, even if it’s just for me, for myself, can be much more productive than reading summarized reports. So I’ve been thinking a lot about that sort of reclaiming of pace and cadence.

Maren Deepwell

 In our case, it’s very interesting that many of our staff members together, with Igor and I, we have not met in person many times. So I can count the times that we have been in the same room in person on the fingers of my hands. So it’s amazing that we have been able to create these relationships only online.

And whenever we have the opportunity to be in the same room, it’s the opposite, like a different way of connecting. Like I’m so used to seeing you in your little box. And having the very few opportunities to share a space in person, it just magnifies the relationship.

So we have had this opportunity of creating the relationship that we have with staff, mainly online and have them be amplified in person.

Marcela Morales

New Feature: The “Aftercast”

In all episodes of OEGlobal Voices, we close with an invitation to join us for followup conversation in our OEG Connect community space A new topic there is created every time we publish an episode, and you can find the conversations also included at the bottom of this post.

As a new idea invented since our recording, we are also going to ask our guests to close with a question or call for response related to the episode. This was added to this episode after the recording, but consider the following questions:

 What are some of the small things that you find effective to get outta the focus on productivity and time crunches? What are the ways your colleagues achieve more relationship building through actions like the BC Campus Health and Safety Committee videos that Amanda shared, the reflective walks that Maren describes or the life outside work sharing that Marcela talked about carving time out for in our OE Global staff meetings?

The OEGlobal Voices Episode 82 “Aftercast”

But wait, there is more! From Episode 80’s conversation with Bryan Mathers, he created a new Remixer Machine template– the Hat Tip, which completely fits with what Amanda, Maren, and Marcela talked about in terms of small acts of appreciation.

Remix this hat tip, publish as a new one, and send as a link to someone else as a small act of joyful appreciation.

Alan remixed a digital hat tip to all three guests that are being sent privately aling with a request to “hat tip it forward” by starting with the basic template, changing the colors, the hat style, the message, to send forward (not to me!) to another person they wish to share appreciation.

Just imagine what would happen if this spread…


Our open licensed music for this episode is a track called Small Wonder by Steve Combs shared under a Creative Commons Attribution License. Like most of our podcast music, it was found at the Free Music Archive (see our full FMA playlist).

Finally, this was another episode we are recording on the web in Squadcast, part of the Descript platform for AI enabled transcribing and editing audio in text– this has greatly enhanced our ability to produce our showsWe have been exploring some of the other AI features in Descriptbut our posts remain human authored except where indicated otherwise.