Open Education and OER – A guide and call to action for policy makers

ALT has produced this call to action to highlight to education policy makers and professionals how Open Education and OER can expand inclusive and equitable access to education and lifelong learning, widen participation, and create new opportunities for the next generation of teachers and learners, preparing them to become fully engaged digital citizens. 
Open Education can also promote knowledge transfer while enhancing quality and sustainability, supporting social inclusion and creating a culture of inter-institutional collaboration and sharing.
One of ALT’s three strategic aims is to increase the impact of Learning Technology for the wider community and we are issuing this call to action for policy makers to mandate that publicly funded educational resources are released under open licence to ensure that they reside in the public domain and are freely and openly available to all. 
This will be of wide benefit, but in particular will enable education providers and learning technology professionals to: 

• Keep up to date with the rapid pace of technological innovation 
• Develop critical, informed approaches to the implementation of Learning Technology and the impact on learners 
• Scale up knowledge sharing and its benefits across sectors

This document was produced by ALT with particular contributions from Lorna Campbell, Maren Deepwell, Martin Weller and Joe Wilson.
You can view the paper on the ALT website here: http://repository.alt.ac.uk/2425/