USED Goes Open Source, Stabs Pearson in the Back for a Change
The United States Department of Education announced at the end of last month its new #GoOpen campaign, a program in support of using "openly licensed" aka open source materials for schools. Word of this is only slowly leaking into the media, which is odd, because unless I'm missing something here, this is kind of huge. Open sourced material does not have traditional copyright restrictions and so can be shared by anybody and modified by anybody (to really drive that point home, I'll link to Wikipedia).
Is the USED just dropping hints that we are potentially reading too much into? I don't think so. Here'sthe second paragraph from the USED's own press release:
“In order to ensure that all students – no matter their zip code – have access to high-quality learning resources, we are encouraging districts and states to move away from traditional textbooks and toward freely accessible, openly-licensed materials,” U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. “Districts across the country are transforming learning by using materials that can be constantly updated and adjusted to meet students’ needs.”
Yeah, that message is pretty unambiguous-- stop buying your textbooks from Pearson and grab a nice online open-source free text instead.
And if that still seems ambiguous, here's something that isn't-- a proposed rules change for competitive grants.
In plain English, the proposed rule "would require intellectual property created with Department of CURMUDGUCATION: USED Goes Open Source, Stabs Pearson in the Back for a Change: