Colorado Rises Transforming Education Practices Through Open Educational Resources

Containing costs for students in higher education is paramount to the Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and the State of Colorado. Although data suggest that earning a postsecondary credential improves individual earning potential and offers robust return on investment, the cost of college or technical school remains a barrier for many Coloradans. To this end, CDHE is building capacity for wide-scale implementation of open educational resources (OER), free or very low-cost teaching and learning materials that live in the open domain.

The Colorado Commission on Higher Education presents its master plan as an urgent call to action. If the state of Colorado is to prepare its students for changing workforce demands and maintain its high quality of life and vibrant economy, it must invest more in the educational attainment of all its citizens. Today Colorado faces a critical decision: Invest in expanded access in order to mitigate affordability and equity gap challenges or bear the weight and financial burden of an undereducated citizenry. In this plan, the CCHE reaffirms a statewide credential attainment goal of 66 percent by 2025 for our adult population. Our economy demands it.

Education is the key to economic, social and environmental progress, and governments around the world are looking to improve their education systems.

Education systems today face two major challenges: expanding the reach of education and improving its quality. Traditional solutions will not suffice, especially in the context of today's knowledge-intensive societies. The Open Educational Resources movement offers one solution for extending the reach of education and expanding learning opportunities. The goal of the movement is to equalise access to knowledge worldwide through openly and freely available online high-quality content. UNESCO has contributed to building global awareness about Open Educational Resources, through facilitating an extended conversation in cyberspace. Over the course of two years, a large and diverse international community came together in a series of online discussion forums to discuss the concept of Open Educational Resources and its potential. In making the background papers and reports from those discussions available for the first time in print, this publication seeks to share even more widely the contributions made by so many. It is intended for all who may be intrigued by the Open Educational Resources movement - its promise and its progress.

Education is the key to America's economic growth and prosperity and to our ability to compete in the global economy. It is the path to higher earning power for Americans and is necessary for our democracy to work. It fosters the cross-border, cross-cultural collaboration required to solve the most challenging problems of our time. The National Education Technology Plan 2010 calls for revolutionary transformation. Specifically, we must embrace innovation and technology which is at the core of virtually every aspect of our daily lives and work. This book explores the National Education Technology Plan which presents a model of learning powered by technology, with goals and recommendations in five essential areas: learning, assessment, teaching, infrastructure and productivity.

The Colorado Department of Education developed this resource guide to support schools and districts that engage external service providers as part of their school improvement process. A number of schools and districts are incorporating external expertise into their turnaround or transformation strategies with support from School Improvement Grants or Tiered Intervention Grant. Regardless of whether services are purchased with grant funds or per pupil revenue, spending public money requires the highest level of transparency and prudent decision-making when it comes to purchasing processes. This guide is designed to inform best practice when it comes to identifying potential providers, issuing a request for proposal based on identified needs, evaluating potential providers and their proposals, contracting with an external provider, and evaluating and monitoring the provider’s ongoing performance.

Provides cost effective and sustainable learning procedures vital to ensuring long term success for both teacher and student; covers the latest research and findings in relation to best practice examples and case studies.