The U.S. Department of Education is standing behind the use of open educational resources (OERs) in education through its newly announced #GoOpen campaign.

Department of Education officials believe OERs are the answer to providing equal resources to all students despite their zip code.

"'Districts across the country are transforming learning by using materials that can be constantly updated and adjusted to meet students’ needs,’” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said of OERs.

As part of the campaign, 10 districts have taken on the #GoOpen challenge and will replace at least one textbook with open education resources by next year.

"These districts are just beginning the transition process, and will work closely with tool providers and mentor districts to build capacity to sustainably implement openly licensed educational resources in their districts,” the Education Department said in a statement.

Aside from these districts, many companies also joined in on the #GoOpen commitment to announce updated resources to facilitate OER awareness and use

Such companies include Creative Commons, ASCD, Microsoft, Edmodo and more.

In addition to its campaign to raise awareness for the benefits of OERs, the Education Department also recently hired its first open education adviser, Andrew Marcinek, who will dedicate his time to seeking out how to best implement and promote OERs in PreK-12.

Read more about #GoOpen here and find out how to best use OERs in your classroom here.

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

10/30/2015