March 2009

Making publicly-funded work open

Posted by karen on March 17, 2009 in Uncategorized

The 2009 Consolidated Appropriations Act signed by Obama this week includes a provision that makes permanent the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Public Access Policy. This policy requires NIH-funded research to put electronic copies of their peer-reviewed research into a publicly accessible and searchable online database.

(Thanks to the Alliance for Taxpayer Access for this news and work in this area.)

This is a smart policy that benefits everyone and is consistent with the idea of public access to government-funded work.

This is a policy for the education community to consider emulating. There are many great publicly-funded projects in education that exist in isolation and unknown to others. If these projects were publicly accessible and sharable, the benefits would accrue to the community at large. I don’t know any educators who would object to that.

Even more interesting, if publicly-funded curriculum were open licensed and centrally housed and managed, this could be an important step to beginning a revolution in the textbook industry. If a large portion of the money that is spent on textbooks were redirected toward professional development, customization, and alternative delivery systems, the benefits for teachers and students would be great.

Tags: open | oer | curriculum | textbooks
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Open source and OER at NECC 2009

Posted by karen on March 9, 2009 in Uncategorized

I am excited to be presenting two sessions on open content at NECC in DC this summer:

Open-Licensed Content: The Missing Piece
Monday, 6/29/2009, 8:30am–9:30am (BYOL)

Open Educational Resources: Share, Remix, Learn
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 12:30pm–1:30pm in Open Source Lab

Other open source and OER related events at NECC this year include:

10 Common Pitfalls on the Road to Open Source
Wednesday, 7/1/2009, 1:30pm–2:30pm

21st-Century Classroom Applications for Linux and Open Source
Monday, 6/29/2009, 11:00am–12:00pm

An Introduction to Open Source Software and Open Technologies
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 3:30pm–4:30pm

Beyond Blogging: Content Management for Mortals Using WordPress
Wednesday, 7/1/2009, 10:30am–11:30am

Game Creation: Epistemic Learning of Art, Design, and Computer Science
Monday, 6/29/2009, 11:00am–12:00pm

Great Open Source Programs You Can Start Using Right Away
Monday, 6/29/2009, 2:00pm–3:00pm

The State of Open Source in Education
Monday, 6/29/2009, 8:30am–9:30am

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Elementary Materials
Monday, 6/29/2009, 8:30am–9:30am

Use Your Noodle–Learn Moodle: An Open Source Learning Management System
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Vodcasts and Podcasts: Transform Your Teaching Legally!
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 2:00pm–3:00pm

Open Source Venues for Course Enrichment
Monday, 6/29/2009, 2:00pm–4:00pm

SqoolTools: Free Moodle Course Space and Online Training
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 1:00pm–3:00pm

Mix ‘n MashUp: Digital Storytelling with Open Educational Resources from WGBH Boston
Wednesday, 7/1/2009, 12:00pm–1:00pm

The Promise of Open Educational Resources; Discover HippoCampus.org!
Tuesday, 6/30/2009, 1:00pm–3:00pm

Open Source Playground
Monday, June 29, 8 am–4 pm; Tuesday, June 30, 9 am–4 pm; and Wednesday, July 1, 8 am–2 pm

Many of these will be in the Open Source Lab at the conference.

Hope to see you in DC!

Tags: necc2009 | necc09 | oer | open source
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