The 2026 Open edX Conference is less than five weeks away – and the session lineup is ready for you.
Hosted by Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, UT, the conference runs May 19-22 with workshops, keynotes, community sessions, and an Open edX Town Hall. Whether you’re an educator, developer, operator, or just curious about the future of open-source learning, there’s something here for you.
There is a wide variety of session topics and themes, but two we want to highlight are AI in the Open edX Ecosystem and Skills-Based Learning.
AI in the Open edX Ecosystem
Artificial intelligence is reshaping how platforms are built, how courses are tested, and how learners move through content. This year’s program features sessions that go beyond the hype to explore practical architecture, community-driven adoption, and what an AI-native future could look like for Open edX learners and educators.
AI Extensions for Open edX Platform: A Community Commons for Adoptable AI in Your Courses: Felipe Montoya (CoFounder, eduNEXT) will walk through the AI Extensions project, a community-grown approach to shipping AI features in the Open edX platform without locking into a single LLM model or vendor.
Synthetic Students at Scale, As AI-Simulated Learners: David Perkinson (Senior Vice President, Program Development, Western Governors University) will show how WGU plans to use synthetic students to stress-test courses, assessments, and AI features before real learners are affected. He’ll also share a practical framework you can apply in your own environment.
From LMS to Learning Factory: Agentic AI in the Course Lifecycle: Javier Pozo (CTO, Santander Universidades) will outline a conceptual architecture for AI agents across the course lifecycle and explore how the Open edX platform could become the core infrastructure for a more dynamic, AI-native learning ecosystem.
Skills-Based Learning: Assessment, Credentials, and the Road to Employment
The shift to skills-based hiring is accelerating – and the Open edX community is building the infrastructure to support it. These sessions tackle credentials, assessment models, and what it takes to connect learners with real employment outcomes.
Sovereignty at Scale: Verifiable Credentials, Open LERs, and the Future of Learner Agency: Taylor Hansen (Principal, Achievement Wallet Strategy & Ecosystem, Western Governors University) and Kerri Lemoie (Director, Digital Credentials Consortium) will explore the intersection of Open Badges 3.0, W3C Verifiable Credentials, and decentralized identity – and what it takes to ensure learners truly own their records.
Skills, AI, and the Imperative for New Assessment Models: Meghan Raftery (Education Designer, Education Design Lab) and David McCool (President & CEO, Muzzy Lane) will focus on roleplay assessment as a proven method for evaluating applied skills, with examples from Open edX partners and a look at how AI is making these assessments easier to build and more effective.
How Can the Open edX Platform Power Job-Ready Skills Education to Employment?: Mary Gwozdz (Software Architect, Unicon) and Jenna Makowski (Senior Product Manager, Axim Collaborative) will share what CBE institutions are asking for from their LMS, how mastery tracking is taking shape in the Open edX platform, and where your feedback fits in.
See the Full Schedule
These sessions are just a sample of what’s coming. The complete program – including workshops, developer sessions, keynotes, and the Open edX Town Hall – is available now at con.openedx.org.Register for the 2026 Open edX Conference.
