Open Policy Forum: Discussion Forum on Open Education Resources

The purpose of the Open Policy Forum project is to provide platform for ongoing interactive discussions on the policy implications of ICT in general education in countries across the world. The Open Policy Forum will provide space for discussing and explaining different opinions on such key issues as the use of open source software and provisions of open source educational materials. The discussions could also serve as basis for developing new ideas and proposals.

The Open Policy Forum, similarly to the Cape Town Declaration, currently focuses on the critical role of Open Educational Resources to improve education access and quality.

Every month we open discussions on two new topics in English and one topic in Slovak. For each topic we ask a few experts to provide their initial opinions and start a discussion. If you are interested to become an expert, please contact us.

First topics in English to discuss – January, 2009:

• Open source and global revolution in teaching and learning
  We might be entering a whole new era where also pedagogy will take a new shape – students and teachers will be creating, shaping and evolving knowledge together, learning and gaining experience, skills and understanding as they go. Is this really a reason for radical change? Can it be called a revolution?

• Benefits of open education - for students, teachers, administrators, governments
  A new world is being created, where everybody can access and contribute to the human knowledge. How exactly is this going to benefit teachers, students, administrators and governments? We would like to know your opinions on the use of open source software in education, on the methods and aspects of using open source educational materials in schools and all other issues concerning the huge and growing field of open source educational resources.

Are we ready for 21st century teaching and learning?
Please share your thoughts with us.

More info on:
www.openpolicyforum.net