OEC Announces the Year of Open

CONCORD, Mass. - Jan. 17, 2017 - PRLog -- The Open Education Consortium (OEC) announces the launch of the Year of Open to celebrate the positive impacts that open practices have brought to education, government, research and business.   In education, the Year of Open marks significant milestones for the Open Education Movement worldwide, including:

15 years ago the term "Open Educational Resources" was created, the Budapest Open Access Initiative was launched, and the first Creative Commons licenses were released;

10 years ago the Cape Town Open Education Declaration was written;

5 years ago the first Open Education Week took place and the first OER World Congress was held, resulting in the Paris OER Declaration.

Communities around the world are bringing open practices to many different fields, such as open source software, open government, open data, and of course open education. Open represents freedom, transparency, equity and participation. When something is openly created and released, the intent is for others to use it, contribute to its development and make it better for everyone, whether that's adding more features or information, or finding errors and fixing them.

About The Year of Open (https://www.yearofopen.org/)

The Year of Open is a global focus on open processes, systems, and tools, created through collaborative approaches, that enhance our education, businesses, governments, and organizations. At its core, open is a mindset about the way we should meet collective needs and address challenges.

About The Open Education Consortium (http://www.oeconsortium.org/):

The Open Education Consortium is a global network of educational institutions, individuals and organizations that support an approach to education based on openness, including collaboration, innovation and collective development and use of open educational materials. OEC is a non-profit, social benefit organization registered in the United States and operating worldwide.