k-12 open textbooks

OPEN SUNY, among other things, calls for the expansion of open and online initiatives, networking students and faculty with peers around the world and for providing students with affordable, innovative and flexible education in a full range of instructional formats, both online and onsite.

President of Empire State College Alan Davis on their unique focus on open education: "One of the reasons why we have positioned and described ourselves as an "open university" is to grab prospective learners' and others' attention, and then be ready to describe what we mean by "open" education, and vice versa. There is a whole philosophy behind it, and it is reinforced in many ways by the impact of technology, with open source software and systems, open education resources, and so on. We are a leader in the state and in the country in exploring these areas too. But even without technology, our approach is truly open in all its dimensions, striving always to overcome the barriers of the "closed" traditional system that restrict so many from getting a university education."

SUNY Empire State College's commitment to open education/ WikiEducator

NYU's Open Education project

UMass Amherst Gide to OER

UMass Amherst: "The Provost's Office and the University Libraries have launched the Open Education Initiative at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Currently underway, this initiative incentivizes the use of textbook alternatives through ten $1,000 grants to faculty."

David Wiley on definining OER: "Below, I work from the position that "an ideal OER would help every person in the world attain all the education they desire." In this specific context, I believe the ideal OER would have three characteristics. It would: 1. Be always, immediately, and freely accessible by every person in the world 2. Grant the user the legal permissions necessary to engage in each and every possible usage of the resource with no restrictions whatsoever 3. Effectively support the educational goals of the user"

"This course will introduce participants to the major contributions being made to the field of instructional technology by researchers today. Each week, a new professor or researcher will introduce his or her central contribution to the field." Facilitated by Dave Cormier, George Siemens & Stephen Downe

Slides by Tom Caswell

"Below are more than 20 articles, websites, projects or other resources discussing OERs or free learning resources:"

Toolbar allows you to gather course resources, add comments & interaction and create a course

A new report 'The value of reuse of open educational resources' produced by the HEA and JISC, highlights the need to support learners and academic staff alike in the referencing and the reuse of online resources.