The OpenCourseWare Consortium has announced the first Open Education Week, from March 5 to 12, which aims “to raise awareness of the open education movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. Participation in all events and use of all resources is free and open to anyone.” A schedule of online events is here.

Openeducationweek.org states that “Open education is about sharing, reducing barriers and increasing access in education.  It includes free and open access to platforms, tools and resources in education (such as learning materials, course materials, videos of lectures, assessment tools, research, study groups, textbooks, etc.).  Open education seeks to create a world in which the desire to learn is fully met by the opportunity to do so, where everyone, everywhere is able to access affordable, educationally and culturally appropriate opportunities to gain whatever knowledge or training they desire.”