Open Education Consortium
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| Open Education Consortium | |
|---|---|
| Name | Open Education Consortium |
| Formation | 2005 |
| Type | Non-profit network |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Region served | Global |
Open Education Consortium The Open Education Consortium is a global network of institutions and organizations that promote open access to educational resources and open licensing practices. Founded in 2005, the Consortium brings together universities, libraries, foundations, and governments to advance sharing of curricula, courseware, and scholarly materials. Members include institutions active in digital learning initiatives, open licensing, and international development projects.
History
The Consortium was founded in 2005 amid rising interest in online learning platforms such as MIT OpenCourseWare, Wikipedia, Moodle, Open University (United Kingdom), and Harvard University initiatives. Early activities intersected with efforts by Creative Commons, UNESCO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Saylor Academy, and Johns Hopkins University to expand access to learning. Over time the Consortium engaged with regional consortia like European Association of Distance Teaching Universities, policy actors including OECD, and technology partners such as Google and Microsoft. Milestones in its chronology include participation in conferences alongside Open Education Resources (OER) Global gatherings, contributions to standards discussions involving IEEE, and collaborations with library networks like Association of Research Libraries.
Mission and Activities
The Consortium's mission centers on promoting open educational resources and open licensing to reduce barriers to learning. Activities have included advocacy at venues like UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education, standards work with Creative Commons communities, and professional development in partnership with Coursera and edX. The organization supports repositories such as MERLOT and OER Commons, organizes conferences linked to Open Education Week, and advises policymakers from bodies like European Commission and United States Department of Education on open policy frameworks. It also works with accreditation bodies including Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business and regional quality assurance agencies.
Membership and Governance
Membership spans tertiary institutions like University of Cape Town, University of British Columbia, University of Melbourne, Stanford University, and University of Oxford; libraries such as British Library and Library of Congress; and nonprofits including Khan Academy and Wikimedia Foundation. Governance has typically involved an international board with representatives from member institutions, advisory groups with experts from Open Knowledge Foundation and SPARC, and staff coordinating programs similar to networks run by International Council for Open and Distance Education. Funding models have included grants from foundations like William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and partnerships with corporate donors such as IBM.
Programs and Initiatives
The Consortium has run initiatives to curate and promote open textbooks, open courses, and pedagogical toolkits. Programmatic efforts mirror projects like OpenStax and edX MicroMasters by supporting curriculum sharing, translation projects comparable to Global North–South collaborations, and capacity building workshops modeled after Carnegie Mellon University open learning labs. Initiatives have included thematic collections in areas linked to institutions including Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley, mentorship schemes akin to Mozilla Foundation fellowships, and regional hubs inspired by networks such as African Virtual University.
Partnerships and Collaborations
The Consortium has partnered with academic publishers, technology firms, nongovernmental organizations, and intergovernmental agencies. Collaborative partners have included Creative Commons for licensing guidance, UNESCO for global advocacy, IEEE for standards conversations, and platform providers like Canvas (software), Blackboard Inc., and Google for Education. It has worked with development agencies such as United States Agency for International Development and European Commission programs to expand access in regions represented by organizations like African Union and ASEAN.
Impact and Criticism
Impact has been measured in increased availability of open textbooks and course materials across member institutions, citation in policy documents from UNESCO and OECD, and adoption of open licensing practices at universities like University of Cape Town and Open University (United Kingdom). Critics have raised concerns similar to critiques of projects like Massive Open Online Courses regarding sustainability, equity of access in low-bandwidth regions represented by United Nations Development Programme reports, and reliance on volunteer labor as observed in Wikipedia governance debates. Discussions also note tensions with commercial publishers such as Elsevier and Pearson PLC around intellectual property and revenue models.