Education has the power to transform lives but too often access is restricted.  Among those excluded are those who lack the right qualifications, who cannot pay the fees or who are unable to accommodate a fixed schedule.  The Open Education movement seeks to remove barriers to education by freely sharing educational resources and adopting open educational practices.  

By publishing resources with Creative Commons licences[1], rights owners and authors are explicitly encouraging use and adaptation by both educators and learners.  By seeking out Open Educational Resources in preference to copyrighted materials teachers and lecturers are helping more learners to benefit from them.

National organisations such as the Higher Education Academy[2] and the Joint Information Systems Committee[3] in the UK and international agencies such as UNESCO[4] have recognised the importance of Open Education.  This Statement of Commitment is intended for individuals to publically pledge their support for Open Education.  It has been drawn up by the newly formed Open Education SIG which aims to support, develop, sustain and influence policy in Open Education.

Sign the commitment

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 1. For details of Creative Commons licences visit creativecommons.org

 2. www.heacademy.ac.uk/oer

 3. www.jisc.ac.uk/oer

 4. www.unesco.org/new/en/communication-and-information/access-to-knowledge/open-educational-resources/ and the Cape Town Open Education Declaration at www.capetowndeclaration.org/read-the-declaration