Oklahoma launches statewide #GoOpen initiative

In a letter (above) dated February 26, 2016, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Joy Hofmeister, announced that Oklahoma was joining the "inaugural cohort" of states across the country committing to support districts and educators "transitioning to the use of high-quality, openly licensed educational resources. If successfully implemented, this could:

• reduce costs for items like textbooks
• promote regular updates of resources
• introduce a paradigm shift in educational publishing
• improve equity and access for students
• accelerate transition to digital learning

Announced in October, 2015, the USDE describes the Open Education campaign as "making learning materials, data, and educational opportunities available without restrictions imposed by copyright laws, access barriers, or exclusive proprietary systems that lack interoperability and limit the free exchange of information." As you may imagine, the commercial publishers are not too thrilled at the prospect of Open Education, describing current resources as "oversimplified or lacking". The Open Data Policy is readily available, however it still seems to be a little difficult to find resources described by the #GoOpen campaign.

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