Open Educational Resources (OER) are defined as “materials used to support education that may be freely accessed, reused, modified and shared by anyone” (Downes, 2011). Open Educational Practices (OEP) are practices which “support the production, use and reuse of high quality OER through institutional policies, which promote innovative pedagogical models, and respect and empower learners as co-producers on their lifelong learning path.” (ICDE, 2011). Open Communication is reciprocal and respectful exchange which contributes to social presence in online learning (Gunawardena & Zittle, 1997), and the development of intercultural awareness and competence in language learning.

“A culture of sharing resources and practices will help facilitate change and innovation in education” (OER Commons, 2011).

Open access initiatives to make research publications freely available online or the adoption of open source software solutions, such as Moodle or Mahara, are already having a big impact on education.

In thinking about the next evolution of open learning, TRU Open Learning has conceptualized a new model for open education. In keeping with our outcomes based philosophy of higher education we can envision a truly open model for higher education. Judith Murray refers to this new model as "Open Education 2.0". The conceptual framework for "Open Education 2.0" requires us to think not only in terms of the "Traditional Model", but in addition to envision a parallel model where we can have Any learner, using Any material, and being supported (taught, instructed, facilitated, mentored, tutored) by Anyone, to achieve learning which is then subjected to Our assessment, in order to receive Our credit, which can be applied towards Our credential.

And she noted that the department and the Obama Administration’s commitment to OER began “at the top,” with President Obama highlighting his support for “the creation of a new online and open source clearinghouse of courses” to help higher education achieve the goal of making the United States first in the world in the proportion of students graduating from college by 2020.

all the new intellectual property produced as a result of those grants, whether it’s a new open course or modules, or new kinds of learning materials,… would be released with a Creative Commons CC-BY license

Tämän kurssin pääasiallisena lähteinä ovat toimineet Vapaiden ja avointen oppiresurssien tuottaminen -kurssi ja Wikieducator_tutorial