The annual Open Education Week gets underway on Monday, March 7 with online and local events around the world.  Open education encompasses resources, tools and practices that employ a framework of open sharing to improve educational access and effectiveness worldwide.  Open Education Week highlights open education efforts from around the world and provides an opportunity for educators, administrators, policy makers and learners to gain a greater understanding of open education practices and impacts.

“Open Education plays an increasingly important role in the future of education around the world”, says Mary Lou Forward, Executive Director of the Open Education Consortium. “Faculty are looking for better ways to engage their students, learners are looking for just-in-time support for their studies, individuals are looking for educational opportunities to support their careers, and educational systems are looking for increased efficiency and efficacy. Open Education plays a role in all of these goals.”

Open Education combines the traditions of knowledge creation and sharing with 21st century technology to create a vast pool of openly shared educational resources, while harnessing today’s collaborative spirit to develop educational approaches that are more responsive to learner’s needs.

Open Education Week (March 7-11, 2016) is a global event that seeks to raise awareness of free and open sharing in education and the benefits they bring to teachers and learners. Coordinated by the Open Education Consortium, the event showcases projects, resources, and ideas from around the world that demonstrate open education in practice.  The open education movement seeks to reduce barriers, increase access and drive improvements in education through open sharing and digital formats.  Open education includes free and open access to platforms, tools and resources in education, including learning materials, course materials, videos, assessment tools, research, study groups, and textbooks, all available for free use and modification under an open license.

Website: http://www.openeducationweek.org/