Britain’s Open University has just announced an ambitious program spend £5.65 million putting its courseware on the Internet under a Creative Commons license — it joins MIT and many other institutions in adding its material to the common pool of university curriculum that can be freely used, edited, shared, and repurposed.
The provision on the internet of ‘Open Educational Resources’, free at point of use and available to everyone, reflects The Open University’s mission of promoting fair access for all. During the initial phase of this initiative, the University will select and make available educational resources from all study levels from access to postgraduate and from a full range of subject themes: arts and history, business and management, health and lifestyle, languages, science and nature, society and technology. Learners will also be able to benefit from a range of study skills development material.
The Open University was a pioneer in making learning materials freely available through its long and successful partnership with the BBC. The University’s television programmes are publicly broadcast by the BBC and many are supported by free internet activities and print materials (www.Open2.net). The University is already working with partners in Africa to make educational resources freely available under both the TESSA and Open Door projects (see notes below).
(Thanks, Ray!)