Viewpoint Global warming toward open educational resources

The Open Educational Resources (OER) movement aims to create books and other learning materials free for all on the Web, available in low-cost printed versions, adapted to many backgrounds and learning styles, interactive and immersive, continually up to date and never out or print. The OER movement is based on a set of institutions shared by a wide range of academics. It takes the inspiration of the open source software movement, mixes in the powerful communication and visualization abilities of the Internet and the Web. OERs include text, images, audio, video, interactive simulations, problems and answers. OERs will increasingly blur the lines between the courses, grade levels, labs, and textbooks, turning the current textbook production pipeline into a vast knowledge ecosystem. It enables the development of tighter feedback loops that immerse students in interactive learning outcomes more directly into textbook development and improvement.