On September 14 and 15, 2026, ORCA.nrw and Fachhochschule Dortmund are hosting the second ORCAthon—this time under the theme “Digital Sustainability.” Lecturers are cordially invited to develop or optimize so-called Open Educational Resources (OER) in a collaborative setting and thereby shape their teaching in a conceptual way.
What is the ORCAthon?
The ORCAthon is a hands-on event format that brings together lecturers, projects, and networks to design or further develop OER teaching materials in (interdisciplinary) small groups.
Over the course of two half-days, ORCA.nrw, Bibliothek⁺, and IDiAL provide a framework for
- professional exchange with colleagues from one’s own or other disciplines,
- hands-on work on real-world teaching scenarios and digital tools,
- creative solutions for sustainable, open educational resources—inspired by the hackathon format.
What can you expect?
You bring with you a curiosity about the format and OER, and perhaps also specific teaching ideas, modules, or questions. We provide expertise, infrastructure, and networking opportunities. You’ll receive on-site support from
- the team at the State Portal’s administrative office: OER,
- the CSR Office(Opens in a new tab) at Fachhochschule Dortmund: sustainability and resource efficiency,
- the LMS teams (Moodle and ILIAS): diverse LMS methodologies, integration of OER content into the LMS,
- the Legal Information Center(Opens in a new tab) : copyright law, data protection, privacy and trademark law, AI in teaching, internet and media law, examination law,
- the Center of Excellence for Digital Accessibility(Opens in a new tab) : technical and pedagogical support for discoverability, accessibility, and usability without barriers,
- the Video Lab(Opens in a new tab) at Fachhochschule Dortmund: potential uses of instructional videos, methods and tools for video production—including with home equipment.
Who might be interested in the ORCAthon?
The ORCAthon is aimed at lecturers from all faculties who are already using OER in their teaching or are exploring them for the first time, and who would like to develop and test innovative teaching formats. Feel free to work in an interdisciplinary manner if you wish, and network with colleagues. Find suitable, creative solutions for your teaching in the area of “digital sustainability” and help shape the future of education.
Whether as an individual or as a group—you can register with your own topic or join a team on-site. Work will be conducted in small groups to achieve concrete results.
Information & Registration
You can find a preview of the first ORCAthon 2025, detailed information about this year’s event, and the registration form on the ORCA.nrw website(Opens in a new tab) .
Since guests from the International Summer Convention (ISC)(Opens in a new tab) will also be participating in the ORCAthon, we will be conducting the event bilingually (German/English).
