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Using the new OER logo is a way of creating a common identity for the global OER community of practitioners, projects and researchers. The design creates a common visual idea and allows for the name of the term 'OER' to be expressed in different languages. "

SCORE sent out a survey between 18 October and 6 December 2011 aimed to get a national perspective on institutional engagement in Open Educational Resources through their librarians.  It also sought to identify library staff engagement with OER, their understanding of licensing and OEP, and their experience in using and finding OER. 

"In Year 1 we: Created an API (OERPub) for publishing OER to remixable repositories. The API is an adaptation of the popular SWORD API. Implemented the API in Connexions, a repository anyone can use to create open textbooks and share learning materials. Developed an importer for creating and publishing remixable OER to Connexions. Formed a team of designers and developers using OERPub."

"While existing laws, business models, and outdated educational practices make it difficult for teachers and learners to leverage the full power of the Internet to access high-quality, affordable learning materials, OER can be freely copied and shared (and revised and remixed) without breaking the law."

One very useful tool for all educators is the Open Courseware Consortium search engine that allows users to search for Open Education Resources (OER) at the university level easily.

The OpenScout project invites you to a series of four webinars showing you how you can take full advantage of Business and Management Open Educational Resources (OER). Do you also recognize a growing need to improve your Business and Management skills but are confronted with a lack of time or financial resources to keep up with the latest developments? Are you a student in Business and would like to learn with high-quality, up-to-date, yet free learning materials? Are you a teacher of Business and Management and would like to re-use or adapt existing learning materials of competent peers to enhance your learning offerings? Are you a Business and Management institution looking for new distribution channels for your open learning materials?

This first story looks at the development of the Open Educational Resources area. Lou McGill talked to Phil Barker and Lorna Campbell about how the OER field has evolved in the last ten years.

"This is evident in an invitation to discussion in the Guardian, Talk point: Why don't more academics use open educational resources? It is a reflection after a seminar on OER which demonstrated the richness of resources available today and then raised the issue why they are not being sufficiently exploited."

"The legislature finds the state's recent adoption of common core K-12 standards provides an opportunity to develop high-quality, openly licensed K-12 courseware that is aligned with these standards. By developing this library of openly licensed courseware and making it available to school districts free of charge, the state and school districts will be able to provide students with curricula and texts while substantially reducing the expenses that districts would otherwise incur in purchasing these materials. In addition, this library of openly licensed courseware will provide districts and students with a broader selection of materials, and materials that are more up-to-date."

Now, with $16 million in venture capital funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the two professors officially launched Coursera, their new online education company that includes partnerships with Princeton University, Stanford University, the University of Michigan and the University of Pennsylvania to offer web-based classes on the Coursera platform for free. A total of 37 undergraduate and graduate-level courses across a broad range of disciplines will launch this spring.

"Ms. Morgan borrows the phrase "free-range learning" to describe students' behavior, and she finds that they generally shop around for content in places educators would endorse. Students seem most favorably inclined to materials from other universities. They mention lecture videos from Stanford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology far more than the widely publicized Khan Academy, she says."

"In an effort to reduce costs for students, the College of Education and Human Development has created this catalog of open textbooks to be reviewed by faculty members. Open textbooks are complete textbooks released under a Creative Commons, or similar, license. Instructors can customize open textbooks to fit their course needs by remixing, editing, and adding their own content. Students can access free digital versions or purchase low-cost print copies of open textbooks."

During his nearly four years at UC Berkeley, Lucas Zucker has gone to great lengths to find affordable textbooks. He shopped online for the best deals and often waited weeks into the semester for the books to arrive from across the country; he shared books with classmates; he bought older editions with identical content that was rearranged; and one semester he didn't buy some books because they were just too expensive.

The World Digital Library (WDL) makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from countries and cultures around the world. The principal objectives of the WDL are to: Promote international and intercultural understanding; Expand the volume and variety of cultural content on the Internet; Provide resources for educators, scholars, and general audiences; Build capacity in partner institutions to narrow the digital divide within and between countries.

"Today Polish Council of Ministers adopted regulation concerning the implementation of „Digital School" program for computerization of Polish schools and raising ICT competences. Pilot of the project aimed for 380 schools in Poland will equip them with hardware (tablets, computers for students, additional equipment). Also digital and free (under Creative Commons Attribution or compatible) textbooks for grades 4-6 in primary schools (K4-K6) will be created (43 millions PLN is assigned for textbooks). This is the first major government project in Poland which creates Open Educational Resources especially textbooks."

George Siemens article about Open Source

Article in the NYTimes about expansion of MIT ocw

The Utah State of Office of Education (USOE) today announced it will develop and support open textbooks in the key curriculum areas of secondary language arts, science, and mathematics. USOE will encourage districts and schools throughout the state to consider adopting these textbooks for use beginning this fall.

"OpenClass is completely free to use--free of licensing, hardware, or hosting fees. However, though they're using the term "open," the Pearson materials most compatible with the platform will remain copyrighted and fee-for-use."