Mt. Hood Community College Calls on White House to Open Up Access to Federally Funded Educational Resources

T oday, Mt Hood Community College along with a broad coalition of more than 90 education, library, technology, public interest and legal organizations, called on the White House to take administrative action to ensure federally funded educational materials are made available as Open Educational Resources (OER) that are free to use, share and improve.

The call comes in response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) request for ideas to strengthen the U.S. Open Government National Action Plan, which is currently under development. The executive action envisioned by the coalition would build upon the Administration's strong leadership in advancing public access to publicly funded resources with a strong Executive Branch-wide policy for the open licensing of educational, training, and instructional materials created with federal funds.

The coalition has outlined five core principles for Administration policy on this issue:

1. Adopt a broad definition of educational materials;
2. Provide free access via the Internet;
3. Create conditions for resources that enable reuse;
4. Require prompt implementation; and
5. Regular reporting of progress and results.

The full letter can be found at: White House Letter