U.S. Department of Education Announces Final Regulation on Open Licensing Requirement for Competitive Grant Programs - ED.gov Blog

"The rule we have announced today supports our commitment in the Third U.S. Open Government National Action Plan to expand access to educational resources through open licensing. In doing so, we join other federal agencies, including the Departments of Labor, State (including USAID), and the National Science Foundation, that currently administer programs with open licensing requirements.

Regarding the final regulations:

1. The open licenses will give the public permission to use and reuse deliverables created in whole or in part with Department competitive grants funds provided by the Department.
2. The requirement applies both to grant deliverables (e.g. teacher professional development training modules) and any final version of program support materials necessary to the use or reuse of the deliverables.
3. Grantees or subgrantees will provide a dissemination plan and may select the open license appropriate to their grant deliverables.
4. Based on feedback from public comments and input from other federal agencies, the Department has added certain categorical exceptions, such as for the Ready to Learn Television grant program.
5. The Department will fully implement this rule for all applicable competitive grant programs in FY 2018.

The final regulation can be found here: https://tech.ed.gov/files/2017/01/ED-Open-Licensing-Rule-1.11.17-Public.pdf

I am pleased that many more instructors and students will be able to access learning resources paid for with public funds.  By sharing our work openly with each other, we can all benefit."