[Open-education] OER highlighted in U.S. Open Government Partnership: National Action Plan

Thu Sep 25 03:15:44 UTC 2014

Good news!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2014/09/24/celebrating-open-government-around-globe

   - Our Open Government National Action Plan
   <http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/us_national_action_plan_6p.pdf>
   is an evolving, living document — and today President Obama announced
   <http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/new_nap_commitments_report_092314.pdf>
   that in addition to the commitments outlined in our current National Action
   Plan, the United States will take additional steps to make our government
   more open, transparent, and accessible for all Americans. We will:

   - *Promote open educational resources*, to help teachers and students
      everywhere.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/new_nap_commitments_report_092314.pdf

   - *Promote Open Education to Increase Awareness and Engagement *

   - Open education is the open sharing of digital learning materials,
   tools, and practices that ensures free access to and legal adoption of
   learning resources. There is a growing body of evidence that the use of
   open education resources improves the quality of teaching and learning,
   including by accelerating student comprehension and by fostering more
   opportunities for affordable cross-border and cross-cultural educational
   experiences. The United States is committed to open education and will:

   - Raise open education awareness and identify new partnerships. The U.S.
   Department of State, the U.S. Department of Education, and the Office of
   Science and Technology Policy will jointly host a workshop on challenges
   and opportunities in open education internationally with stakeholders from
   academia, industry, and government. The session will foster collaboration
   among OGP members and other interested governments and will produce best
   practices to inform good policies in open education.

   - Pilot new models for using open educational resources to support
   learning. The State Department will conduct three pilots overseas by
   December 2015 that use open educational resources to support learning in
   formal and informal learning contexts. The pilots’ results, including best
   practices, will be made publicly available for interested educators.

   - Launch an online skills academy. The Department of Labor (DOL), with
   cooperation from the Department of Education, will award $25 million
   through competitive grants to launch an online skills academy in 2015 that
   will offer open online courses of study, using technology to create
   high-quality, free, or low-cost pathways to degrees, certificates, and
   other employer-recognized credentials. This academy will help students
   prepare for in-demand careers. Courses will be free for all to access on an
   open learning platform, although limited costs may be incurred for students
   seeking college credit that can be counted toward a degree. Leveraging
   emerging public and private models, the investments will help students earn
   credentials online through participating accredited institutions, and
   expand the open access to curriculum designed to speed the time to credit
   and completion. The online skills academy will also leverage the burgeoning
   marketplace of free and open-licensed learning resources, including content
   developed through DOL’s community college grant program, to ensure that
   workers can get the education and training they need to advance their
   careers, particularly in key areas of the economy.

ACTION: Have we all talked with our respective governments about updating
their OGP National Action Plans with OER, OA and/or Open Policy
initiatives?  Let's do so.

Well done, President Obama!

Cable

-- 

Cable Green, PhD
Director of Global Learning
Creative Commons
@cgreen <http://twitter.com/cgreen>
http://creativecommons.org/education
*reuse, revise, remix, redistribute** & retain*

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