Open Education Declaration

This, which I learned about from one of my favorite science communicators, Bora Zivkovic (A Blog Around the Clock), excites me on several levels. But principly, I see a group of educators, who have met, discussed, taught, and learned, and then have come to agreement and published, globally, a document of demand for the sake of a peaceful and secure future through our children. It is The Cape Town Open Education Declaration, which demands the development and use of open content and open education tools for use in education world wide, wiping out the boundaries of income that prevent learning.

Here is the introduction from the web site and you can click here to read the declaration:

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration:

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration arises from a small but lively meeting convened in Cape Town in September 2007. The aim of this meeting was to accelerate efforts to promote open resources, technology and teaching practices in education.Convened by the Open Society Institute and the Shuttleworth Foundation, the meeting gathered participants with many points of view from many nations. This group discussed ways to broaden and deepen their open education efforts by working together.

The first concrete outcome of this meeting is the Cape Town Open Education Declaration. It is at once a statement of principle, a statement of strategy and a statement of commitment. It meant to spark dialogue, to inspire action and to help the open education movement grow.

Open education is a living idea. As the movement grows, this idea will continue to evolve. There will be other visions initiatives and declarations beyond Cape Town. This is exactly the point. The Cape Town signatories have committed to developing further strategies, especially around open technology and teaching practices.

A certain amount of irony here, does not escape me. I write and sell books and write for publishers. I sell my consulting and speaking services, and I do these largely for the developed world. I’m trying to make a living (without a job), and it is impossible for me to overstate the challenge of this. However, I have some things to think about here — because this declaration excites me. It’s about all of our futures!

“Home.” The Cape Town Open Education Declaration. Shuttleworth Foundation and Open Society Institute. 23 Jan 2008 <http://www.capetowndeclaration.org/>.

6 thoughts on “Open Education Declaration”

  1. This may indeed be worthy, but the focus is largely economic (redirect textbook spending). Since I suspect that very little money is spent on textbooks in South Africa, I do not imagine that this statement will make much of an impact.

    Too bad they are using the term, “open classroom,” without the meaning given to it by Herbert Kohl, Charles Silberman, Jonathan Kozol and other truly progressive educators.

  2. Hey, Dave,

    I’m following you on twitter but don’t think yr following me but i desperately need to reply to your twit a few min. ago calling for if you could as a question of a teacher 10 years in the future, what would it be? 18 minutes ago”

    I was doing some serious self-questioning about what it is that makes me think I have anything to say about education and our children’s well-being and their future. I think I finally have the essential comment I want to contribute that I don’t hear, though its meaning runs through everything I am so drawn to in your own “evangelism.” I’m going to be distilling it over the next day or so, but basically (expanded a little from twitter’s character count constraints:

    scottmerrick @dwarlick “Has schooling changed so kids don’t _suffer_ it for so many important years of their lives? Is there Hope in our children’s hearts as they learn to learn? Or is there still only Accomodation to System, Resignation, and Rote?

  3. Stephen Downes was critical of it (http://halfanhour.blogspot.com/2007/11/criticizing-cape-town-declaration.html), me less so (http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/no_good_reason/2007/11/the-cape-town-d.html). I think there is a bit of a content focus here (get over content!), but as I understand it they aim to focus on three strands: open content, open technology, and for want of a better term, open pedagogy. It’s the combination of the three that will be powerful.

  4. Thanks for sharing the blog around the clock. It’ll be great to follow and learn from. Thanks also for the link to the declaration. Their model adds to learning and broadens thoughts on future educational possibilites which rightly lead to questions about the consequences for educators trying to earn a crust. Having those questions early help us to be proactive in having a say as to how we can fit in tomorrow’s world.

    I look forward to watching for more signs of what could be the proliferation of open education, how this affects the teaching profession and how qualifications gained shape future industry in the world today and in the future.

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