Learning resources are often considered key intellectual property in a competitive higher education world. However, more and more institutions and individuals are sharing their digital learning resources over the Internet, openly and for free, as Open Educational Resources (OER). This study, building on previous OECD work on e-learning, asks why this is happening, who is involved and what the most important implications of this development are.

The report offers a comprehensive overview of the rapidly changing phenomenon of Open Educational Resources and the challenges it poses for higher education. It examines reasons for individuals and institutions to share resources for free, and looks at copyright issues, sustainability and business models as well as policy implications. It will be of particular interest to those involved in e-learning or strategic decision making within higher education, to researchers and to students of new technologies.

Once a year, about 300 people from over 50 countries come together to celebrate and strategise around a free Internet for all.

Leaders of the Creative Commons, free software, open education and access to knowledge communities talk about their vision for the future and discuss strategies for building a free global culture that is rich - both in terms of economic viability and geographic diversity.

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Una vez al año, casi 300 personas de más de 50 países se reúnen a celebrar y a armar estrategias acerca de una Internet libre para todos.

Líderes de los Creative Commons, del software libre, educación abierta y comunidades de acceso al conocimiento conversan respecto de su visión del futuro y discuten estrategias para constrir una cultura libre global que se enriquece en términos de viabilidad económica y diversidad geográfica.

Rising Voices, the outreach arm of Global Voices, is now accepting project proposals for the first round of microgrant funding of up to $5,000 for new media outreach projects. Ideal applicants will present innovative and detailed proposals to teach citizen media techniques to communities that are poorly positioned to discover and take advantage of tools like blogging, video-blogging, and podcasting on their own.

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Voces Alzándose, la rama de promoción y alcance comunitario de Global Voices (Voces Globales), está ahora aceptando propuestas de proyectos para la primera ronda de microbecas de hasta $5000 (USD) para proyectos de promoción y alcance comunitario a través de los nuevos medios. Los solicitantes ideales presentarán propuestas detalladas e innovadoras para enseñar técnicas de medios de comunicación ciudadana a comunidades pobremente posicionadas para descubrir y aprovechar por sus propios medios herramientas como los blogs, video blogs y “podcasts” o archivos digitales de distribución automática.