Open Educational Resources and the Obama Administration

This session will review the inclusion of open educational resources (OER) as a key component of the Obama administration's Technology Plan and 2020 graduation goal, which is designed to ensure the United States once again has the best-educated, best-prepared workforce in the world by 2020. Topics will include general public policy considerations related to OER; a discussion of the Obama administration's view of the role of government in fostering educational innovations, learning, and student success; and a review of current opportunities to improve the quality of teaching and learning, lower costs for students, and more fully honor the professional role played by faculty through embracing practices associated with the OER movement. This session will also address how the Obama administration defines OER and why; what it is doing to support OER and why; what the future holds for OER; and what administrators, faculty, and others can do to advance the OER movement.