Resource Spotlight: Cluster Learning: Open Education

Open Education centers on increasing learners’ access to knowledge and increasing their access to knowledge creation. We can increase learners’ access to knowledge by using Open Educational Resources (OER), which are free, openly-licensed learning materials; by making sure the materials we use follow accessibility guidelines set by organizations like the ADA; and by freely sharing the scholarly and teaching materials we produce whenever possible. We can increase learners’ access to knowledge creation by involving students in their scholarly and professional fields; encouraging them to do authentic research and creative work ; and helping them to share that work with their peers, their academic colleagues, and the public when they wish to do so. Open Education is about making the knowledge commons more diverse, more accessible, and more beneficial to the public good.