Invite to Nov. 3 briefing with Martha Kanter at ED: Open Educational Resources: Improving Teaching and Learning with Free Next Generation High-Quality Digital Resources
Cable Green
Forwarding at the request of Hal Plotkin in US Department of Education. See below.
Cable Green, PhD
Director of Global Learning
Sent: Friday, October 28, 2011 4:32 PM
Subject: Invite to Nov. 3 briefing with Martha Kanter at ED: Open Educational Resources: Improving Teaching and Learning with Free Next Generation High-Quality Digital Resources
Please join colleagues at the U.S. Department of Education
for an Education Policy Briefing about:
Open Educational Resources:
Improving the Quality of Teaching and Learning
with Free Next Generation High-Quality Digital Resources
presented by Under Secretary Martha Kanter and key advisors
Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011, 10 to 11 a.m.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building, Barnard Auditorium
400 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20202
You are invited to learn about how ED is working with leading foundations and scholars in educational institutions around the globe to develop, use and improve Open Educational Resources (OER) to help meet President Obama's 2020 college graduation goal.
Panelists will include:
Under Secretary Martha Kanter
Hal Plotkin, Senior Policy Advisor, Office of the Under Secretary (OUS)
Joel Thierstein, Senior Advisor and Counsel, OUS
Joining the panel for the Q&A, Karen Cator, Director, Office of Educational Technology
OER are teaching and learning resources released with an intellectual property license (unlike regular copyright) that allows for their free use, modification and re-purposing by others. OER includes courses, lectures, textbooks, simulations, games and other materials that contribute to teaching and learning. Examples include the Kahn Academy and MIT’s OpenCourseWare project.
OER make world-class online K-12, high school, college and job-training opportunities available to all, 24/7/365, free of charge. What’s more, these digital resources are increasingly being used in conventional classroom settings, as well, as part of newly evolving “hybrid” models of education.
Many experts say that OER will result in the most profound equalization of access to cutting-edge knowledge and information since the creation of the public library. By opening up the digital doorway to free, high-quality learning opportunities millions of Americans will be able to obtain the knowledge and skills they need to advance their education and succeed in our global society.
Colleges, universities, publishers, and others are working with ED and the Department of Labor to compete to create state-of-the-art online courses that combine high-quality subject matter expertise with the latest advances in cognitive and computer sciences. These courses will allow students to move through the material at their own pace, use carefully designed assessments to identify learning gaps and accelerate learning.
Join us for this presentation to learn how ED is working to support OER to win the future for America’s students, while saving them money at the same time.
To RSVP, please contact Taylor Stanek via e-mail at taylor...@ed.gov by Tuesday, Oct. 31, COB. You must bring a photo ID in order to enter the Department as an expected guest for the briefing.
The Department is located at 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., across Independence Avenue from the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Our building is bordered by 4th and 6th Streets, S.W., as well as C Street and Independence Avenue. You should enter via the Visitors’ Entrance on C St., East end.
There is metered parking near the building.
The nearest Metro station is L’Enfant Plaza. Exit at 7th Street and Maryland Avenue.