David Wiley | Keynote Speaker

David with his family in West Virginia

David's Story

In high school I was a show choir kid with a dream of going to Broadway. However, "encouraged" by my parents, I studied engineering during my first semester at WVU so I could get a "real job." But music kept calling to me, and I switched to Music Education the very next semester. When I transferred to Marshall University in 1993 I continued studying music... and was introduced to email.

The internet fascinated me. First email. Then Gopher and FTP. Then the World Wide Web. I was absolutely hooked on the web. I taught myself HTML by viewing the source code of other people's websites; first, using Lynx and later, Netscape Navigator. I knew the internet was going to change everything, and created my first startup - InterSpec - to train people in the Huntington area to use the internet. Soon I was making house calls configuring people's computers to dial in to the internet, creating websites for the City of Huntington and other local businesses, and helping the county school board setup a bank of modems so teachers could call in and connect to the internet for free.

In 1997, Marshall offered me a job as the university's first webmaster. It was working in this role that my vision of how the internet could change education started to crystalize. Working on a Javascript calculator, I realized there was something powerfully different between a digital calculator embedded in a website and a physical calculator. Only one person at a time could use the physical calculator, but an almost infinite number of people could use the online calculator at the same time. This magical property of digital resources (which I would later learn economists refer to as being non-rivalrous), meant that we could create digital learning materials once and share them with everyone around the world! In early 1998, when the phrase "open source" was coined, I saw how these two forces could combine to revolutionize teaching and learning materials. While the open source community was focusing on software, I launched the Open Content Initiative, creating the world's first open source license for educational materials. (Years later, a UNESCO working group would rebrand open content as "open educational resources" or OER.) For almost 30 years now, in many roles with many organizations, I've advocated for combining the power of online resources with the power of openness to dramatically increase access to educational opportunity around the world.

In the early 2020s I saw history start to repeat itself. Generative AI began to arrive on campus - just as the internet had decades earlier - again, with the potential to transform everything. Instead of providing everyone, everywhere with access to learning materials as the internet had, generative AI is providing everyone, everywhere with real-time access to intelligence and expertise. Today, I work to combine the power of generative AI with the power of openness to both increase access to educational opportunity and increase the effectiveness and impact of those opportunities.

David currently resides in West Virginia with his wife Elaine and four of their five children, and is back in musical theater — playing John Hancock in a production of 1776. You can learn more about David at davidwiley.org.

Book David for Your Event

Two ways to work with David.

Both talks come from the same 30-year throughline — using technology to expand access and impact. Pick the one that matches your event.

Keynote

"DANCE: A Framework for Redesigning Higher Education in the Age of AI"

45-60 minutes · for institutional and organizational leaders navigating AI

A four-step method for redesigning institutional processes — teaching, assessment, research, advising — around what AI now makes possible, instead of bolting AI onto what's already broken.

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Keynote

"Open Education in the Age of Generative AI: Increasing Access and Impact"

45-60 minutes · for open education communities, faculty, instructional designers, librarians, and leaders

How traditional OER and "generative OER" — open weights models, open harnesses, open knowledge graphs, and open prompts — combine to expand access to education and deepen its impact.

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110+ keynotes. 22 countries. 6 continents.

From North America to Southeast Asia, David has spoken to campuses, associations, and organizations around the world.

Testimonials

"David Wiley has been a leading voice in open education for decades, helping shape the modern movement for open educational resources and expanding access to learning for millions of students around the world. He brings a rare combination of market knowledge, entrepreneurial experience, and a willingness to challenge conventional thinking, making him one of the most thoughtful voices on the future of higher education and AI. When David speaks, he has a way of reframing familiar debates with fresh ideas and practical insights that stay with you long after the conversation ends."

David Harris Senior Vice President, Higher Education & Program ASU+GSV Summit

"I had the opportunity to hear David speak at a statewide conference in Virginia about Open Educational Resources. In his closing remarks, he observed that an entire degree could be built using open educational resources, eliminating the cost of textbooks. That idea ignited a sense of possibility and a bold vision at Tidewater Community College. With David's guidance, we brought that vision to life. It was one of those rare moments in a career when you realize you were exactly where you needed to be—listening to exactly the right person. I remain profoundly grateful for David's vision and its lasting impact on students."

Dr. Daniel DeMarte President Jamestown Community College

"David Wiley is a clear, compelling and provocative speaker. He tackles important and timely educational issues, and I've always left his talks feeling informed and inspired. His authority builds from his own extensive and successful experience as a leader of the open educational resources movement, and his current work gives him a basis for shaping his audience's perspectives on AI, higher education, and many other pressing topics."

Dr. Jeremy Roschelle Executive Director, Learning Sciences Research Digital Promise

"David's inspiring keynote at Open Ed Live gave our global audience exactly what many educators needed: a thoughtful way to connect the rapid rise of generative AI with the long-standing goals of open education. He helped more than 900 attendees see AI not as a detriment to our work, but as a powerful opportunity to ask better questions about access, agency, affordability, ethics, and student learning."

Kevin Corcoran Assistant Vice Provost, Center for Distributed Learning University of Central Florida

"David Wiley has a rare gift for making complex, emerging ideas clear, practical, and accessible to any audience. He dives deeply into the trends, technologies, and challenges shaping education months before they reach the mainstream, helping leaders understand what matters, why it matters, and what to do next. Through engaging keynotes and presentations, David transforms uncertainty into clarity and equips audiences with actionable insights they can immediately put to work."

Dr. Cable Green Former Director of Open Education Creative Commons

Let's talk about your event

David speaks at higher education conferences, association convenings, and campus leadership events.

Planning an event? Get David's full speaker kit — bio, high-res photos, AV requirements, and sample intro.

Opportunity Has Always Been the Mission.