Foundations, Teachers, Web Gurus Launch Campaign to Promote Free, Online Educational Materials
Foundations, Teachers, Web Gurus Launch Campaign to Promote Free, Online Educational Materials
A coalition of foundations, educators, and Internet pioneers has launched a campaign to encourage governments and publishers to make publicly funded educational materials freely available over the Internet.
The the Cape Town Open Education Declaration grew out of a 2007 meeting organized by the New York City-based Open Society Institute and the Shuttleworth Foundation in Durbanville, South Africa. The resulting declaration urges teachers and students around the world to join the growing movement and use the Web to share, remix, and translate classroom materials in ways that make education more accessible, effective, and flexible.
According to the document — which already bears the
signatures of more than five hundred individuals and fifty organizations — "open sourcing" education has the potential to provide students with unlimited access to high quality, constantly improving course materials. Open education is particularly suited to developing and emerging economies, where it allows textbooks and learning materials to be created affordably and enables small scale, local-content producers to create more diverse offerings than those typically provided by large multinational publishing houses.
"Open education allows every person on earth to access and contribute to the vast pool of knowledge on the Web," said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and an author of the declaration. "Everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn."
“Teachers, Students, Web Gurus, and Foundations Launch Campaign to Transform Education, Call for Free, Adaptable Learning Materials Online.”
Open Society Institute Press Release
1/22/08.
Primary Subject: Education
Secondary Subject(s): International Affairs/Development
Location(s): New York, New York City, South Africa
FC011470
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