By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Open Educational Resources: American Ideals, Global Questions
Steven Weiland, Global Education Review, 2016/06/28

This article talks about "the American led movement on behalf of the MOOC" though what it really should say is something like "the MOOC movement as seen through American eyes". More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Of OER and Free Riders
David Wiley, iterating toward openness, 2016/06/23
David Annand writes, "Incentives need to discourage ‘free-riders’. Otherwise, a valid competitive strategy for institutions... would be to wait and merely use without cost the OER resources produced by others." Heather Ross asks, "Is the idea of 'free-riders' really a concern in OER?" David Wiley replies with an emphatic "no" and then, more usefully, takes Annand to task for his presumed model of OER production. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Canada’s New Plan on Open Government 2016-2018
Government of Canada, 2016/06/20

The area of most interest to me is in regard to open access of scientific data and publications. This is addressed in Commitment 14, and recommends that we:

• Increase engagement with Canadians on federal S&T activities, including, as appropriate:
  • Enhanced communication of scientific participation opportunities in support of federal S&T activities; and
  • Targeted consultations on best practices for increasing the impact of federal S&T activities.
• Develop and implement an open access policy for scientific research funded through grants and contributions.
• Work toward the development of policies on digital data management for research funded through the Granting Councils. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The Second Power of Open
David Wiley, iterating toward openness, 2016/06/13

The second power of open, says David Wiley, is the use of open materials to support a better pedagogy. "Perhaps we should start talking about open pedagogy as the 'second power of open,'" he writes. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Virtually Connecting the OER Conspiracy Dots
Jim Groom, bavatuesdays, 2016/06/16

There are times I think a lot of OER advocates doesn't really comprehend the benefits of OERs. This is especially the same when OERs are being used in a traditional education setting. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. Canada’s Draft Open Government Plan — The Promise and Problems Reviewed
David Eaves, eaves.ca, 2016/06/22

David Eaves posts an interesting and fairly detailed analysis and review of Canada's open data plan. More...

By Stephen Downes - Stephen's Web. The OA Interviews: Michaël Bon, Founder of the Self-Journal of Science
Richard Poynder, Open and Shut?, 2016/06/01
"Right now," says Richard Poynder, "the open access revolution is stalling, and before it will be able to move forward again it will be necessary to recover territory that OA advocates are currently giving away to publishers." Hence this interview (28 page PDF) with Michaël Bon, who launched a new open-access publishing service called the Self-Journal of Science (SJS). More...

By Ashley A. Smith. Achieving the Dream announced Tuesday that it was launching a $9.8 million initiative to develop degree programs at 38 community colleges that use open educational resources. Read more...