We are on the cusp of a global revolution in teaching and learning. Educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all. These educators are creating a world where every person on earth can access and contribute the sum of human knowledge. They are also planting the seeds of a new pedagogy in which teachers and students create together, giving shape and develop the knowledge, deepening their skills and their understanding as they work.
This emerging movement for open education combines the established tradition of sharing good ideas among fellow teachers, with interactive and collaborative culture of the Internet. It is based on the principle that everyone should be free to use, adapt to their needs, improve and redistribute resources without restriction. Teachers, students and others who share this concept, are coming together to take part in a worldwide effort to make education more accessible and more effective.
The growth of global collection of open educational resources has created fertile ground for this initiative. These resources include openly licensed course materials, curricula, textbooks, games, software and other materials to support teaching and learning. All this helps to make education more accessible, especially where the funds for teaching materials are scarce. Also fueling a participatory way to learn, create, share and work together that is needed in the society in which knowledge is evolving rapidly.
open education is not limited to open educational resources but is also based on open technologies that facilitate collaborative learning and flexible, and of the open sharing of teaching techniques that allow teachers to take advantage of the best ideas of their colleagues. All this can grow to include new approaches to assessment, recognition of merit and collaborative learning. Understand and adopt innovations such as these is essential to a long-term perspective of the movement.
There are many obstacles to achieving this vision. The majority of teachers remain unaware of the increasing amount of open educational resources. Many governments and educational institutions do not know or are not convinced of the benefits of open education. The differences between the types of licenses for open resources create confusion and incompatibility. And, of course, most of the world still lack access to computers and networks that are an integral part of current efforts in the direction of open education.
These obstacles can be overcome, but only by working together. We invite students, teachers, educators, authors, schools, colleges, universities, publishers, unions, professional associations, regulators, governments, foundations, and others who share our vision to strive for and promote open education and, in particular, invite you to follow these three strategies to increase the spread and impact of educational resources Open:
- Teachers and students: First, we encourage teachers and students to participate in the nascent movement for free education. This includes: creating, using, adapting and improving open educational resources, adopt the teaching techniques developed on collaboration, discovery and knowledge creation, and inviting peers and colleagues to participate. Creating and using open resources should be considered an integral part of the educational process and should be supported and rewarded accordingly.
- Open Educational Resources: Secondly, we invite teachers, authors, publishers and institutions licensed under free their resources. These open educational resources should be released under licenses that facilitate the use, modification, translation, improvement and sharing by anyone. Resources should be published in formats that facilitate both use and publication and are compatible with different technical platforms. To the extent possible, should also be available in formats accessible to disabled people and people who do not have access to the Internet.
- open education policies: Thirdly, governments, schools, colleges and universities should give top priority to open education. Ideally, educational resources funded public should be open educational resources. The procedures for the adoption and recognition should give preference to open educational resources. The collection of educational resources should take steps to include and highlight open educational resources within them.
These strategies are not only the right thing to do but are a wise investment for education and learning in the twenty-first century. Will shift investments now turned to expensive books to better learning. Will help teachers excel in their work and open up new opportunities for visibility and global impact. Accelerate innovation in education. Give greater control on learning students themselves. These strategies are reasonable for everyone.
Thousands of teachers, students, writers, actors and legislators are already involved in open education initiatives. Now we have the opportunity to grow this movement to include millions of teachers and institutions from all corners of the earth, rich and poor. We have the opportunity to meet legislators, working together to make concrete the perspectives that we now face. We have the opportunity to engage entrepreneurs and publishers who are developing innovative business models open. We have the ability to support a new generation of students are measured with the open learning materials, facilitated learning from sharing their new knowledge and awareness with others. But before anything else, we have an opportunity to significantly improve the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world through educational opportunities and learning freely available, high quality and tailored to local realities.
We, the undersigned, invite all individuals and all institutions to join us in signing the Declaration of Cape Town for open education and, in doing so, a commitment to implement the three strategies listed above. We also encourage the signatories to follow additional strategies for educational technology open, for the sharing of open educational practices and other methods that promote the broader cause of education open. With any person or institution that makes this commitment - and with every effort to further articulate our vision - we move to a world of open education, flexible and effective for everyone.
September 15, 2007 Cape Town, South Africa
http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration
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