#GoOpen Initiative and Collaboration - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education)

#GoOpen Initiative and Collaboration - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):

State Schools Superintendent Tom Torlakson Announces Launch of #GoOpen Initiative and Collaboration in Common Professional Learning Community

SACRAMENTO—California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced the launch of both a new statewide #GoOpen initiative and Collaboration in Common, an online professional learning community and resource exchange platform for all California educators.

In joining the #GoOpen initiative, California becomes the sixteenth state recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for its commitment to support school districts and educators transitioning to the use of high-quality, openly licensed educational resources.

California was recognized for its commitment to a statewide technology strategy that includes the use of openly licensed resources as a central component, developing and maintaining a statewide repository, and participating in a community of practice with other #GoOpen states and districts to share learning and professional development resources. More information on #GoOpen can be found at the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Educational Technology Web site .

Collaboration in Common resulted from a public-private partnership among the California Department of Education (CDE), the Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation, and the Palo Alto-based technology company Declara. Collaboration in Common runs on Declara's artificial intelligence engine to combine machine learning and crowd curation to allow teachers to find, consume, share resources, and gain insights from peer educators.

Torlakson urged all California teachers to visit Collaboration In Common  and sign up to become early adopters in the digital community. Early adopters will be among the first to gain access to Collaboration in Common's tools and resources as the Web site is developed.

"Collaboration in Common is a great example of how California looks for innovative ways to improve teaching and learning throughout our diverse state," Torlakson said. "We are leveraging technology and our talented teaching workforce to create a first-of-its-kind professional learning community and resource exchange that will offer professional development and access to new ideas and resources to benefit all of our schools."

Collaboration in Common builds upon the CDE's participation in the federal #GoOpen campaign, which encourages states and school districts to share educational resources and materials without cost and without violating copyright laws.

"We wholeheartedly embrace the #GoOpen spirit and initiative," Torlakson said. "This is a critical effort to provide schools with high-quality instructional resources and the ability to easily share these resources and ideas with teachers and schools across the state and the country."

Many California school districts have already joined the #GoOpen initiative, including Coachella Valley Unified, Coronado Unified, Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, Grossmont Union High School District, Huntington Beach Union High School District, Madera Unified, Mountain Empire Unified, Panama Buena Vista Unified, Riverside Unified, San Diego Unified, and Vista Unified.

"Vista Unified School District values collaboration at every level, and we have found that open educational resources are imperative to accelerate learning as we connect and work with one another across districts and across states," said Vista Unified Superintendent Devin Vodicka.

The Vista Unified School District, which serves northern San Diego County, will host California's first #GoOpen Regional Summit on October 7. The #GoOpen Regional Summit will provide an opportunity for teachers, librarians, instructional coaches, and district and state leaders to explore opportunities to expand the use of high-quality, openly licensed educational resources in classrooms. More information on the summit is available by contacting Erin English aterinenglish@vistausd.org.

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Tom Torlakson — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

 #GoOpen Initiative and Collaboration - Year 2016 (CA Dept of Education):