White House Announces Open Education Initiative in Open Government Plan | SPARC

"Yesterday President Obama announced a new initiative to promote open education as part of an update to the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan. This exciting development represents an important milestone in U.S. advocacy efforts — a national commitment to open education straight from the White House — and also adds to a growing international movement for advancing open government through openness in other areas. While the goals of the new initiative are relatively small in scale, it will contribute positively to open education both in the U.S. and abroad and also provide a significant avenue for future advocacy efforts. The National Action Plan update entitles the initiative 'Promote Open Education to Increase Awareness and Engagement' and includes three action items to be carried out in various collaborations between the Departments of Education, Labor and State and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP): Organize a workshop with stakeholders from academia, industry and government to foster international collaboration and produce best practices on open education policy Conduct three pilot programs overseas that use OER to support learning Launch an online skills academy through $25 million in competitive grants that will offer open online courses and create high-quality free or low-cost pathways to degrees and other credentials Obama announced the initiative in a speech at the 3rd anniversary meeting of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral effort to secure commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to strengthen governance ..."