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States Pushing Ahead with #GoOpen and Open Education

Posted on 03/08/2019

Map of goopen states

Open educational resources (OERs) are one of the best kept secrets in the world of educational technology, and a movement known as #GoOpen  is starting to gain traction to make OERs better understood in general and more widely available in particular to school districts and states that have pledged to #GoOpen.

#GoOpen was launched in 2015 by the US Department of Education to encourage school districts and states to transition to the use of openly licensed educational resources. These resources bear Creative Commons (or a similar organization's) licensing and grant 5R permissions – that is, permission to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Educators who are a part of the #GoOpen movement believe that OERs save money, boost equity, and promote materials that are timely and culturally relevant. Teachers can quickly shift to resources that are up-to-date instead of having to wait for the next round of textbooks that will replace out-of-date materials, and they can use OERs that are more appropriate for the diversity of their students rather than traditional learning materials that are geared to the middle and often fail to include and represent the variety of communities that make up schools today.

Open education is bringing nontraditional teaching resources into classrooms and schools. A great example is the OK Go Sandbox  . OK Go is a popular rock band well-known for its distinctive music videos. While performing at the 2017 TED Conference, the lead singer spoke with the head of the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and a partnership was born. The Playful Learning Lab has developed lessons around examples of mathematical and scientific principles that are showcased in OK Go videos. All of the lessons and materials are Creative Commons licensed and freely available on the Sandbox. It is fortunate that, instead of further capitalizing on their successful videos, OK Go sees the value of sharing their works with the education field to teach concepts in new and exciting ways.

If you're interested in learning more about open education and OERs, please contact us to arrange a training for your site!

Article: #GoOpen accelerates digital curriculum buy-in and boosts equity

Website: Open Education - Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education

Article: OK Go Wants to Launch Your Students’ Art Experiment Into Space

Website: OK Go Sandbox


#GoOpen was launched in 2015 by the US Department of Education to encourage school districts and states to transition to the use of openly licensed educational resources. These resources bear Creative Commons (or a similar organization's) licensing and grant 5R permissions – that is, permission to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. Educators who are a part of the #GoOpen movement believe that OERs save money, boost equity, and promote materials that are timely and culturally relevant. Teachers can quickly shift to resources that are up-to-date instead of having to wait for the next round of textbooks that will replace out-of-date materials, and they can use OERs that are more appropriate for the diversity of their students rather than traditional learning materials that are geared to the middle and often fail to include and represent the variety of communities that make up schools today.Open educational resources (OERs) are one of the best kept secrets in the world of educational technology, and a movement known as #GoOpen  is starting to gain traction to make OERs better understood in general and more widely available in particular to school districts and states that have pledged to #GoOpen.

Open education is bringing nontraditional teaching resources into classrooms and schools. A great example is the OK Go Sandbox  . OK Go is a popular rock band well-known for its distinctive music videos. While performing at the 2017 TED Conference, the lead singer spoke with the head of the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, and a partnership was born. The Playful Learning Lab has developed lessons around examples of mathematical and scientific principles that are showcased in OK Go videos. All of the lessons and materials are Creative Commons licensed and freely available on the Sandbox. It is fortunate that, instead of further capitalizing on their successful videos, OK Go sees the value of sharing their works with the education field to teach concepts in new and exciting ways.

If you're interested in learning more about open education and OERs, please contact us to arrange a training for your site!

Article: #GoOpen accelerates digital curriculum buy-in and boosts equity

Website: Open Education - Office of Educational Technology, US Department of Education

Article: OK Go Wants to Launch Your Students’ Art Experiment Into Space

Website: OK Go Sandbox

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