Saylor.org

I check in with the Saylor Foundation’s Twitter feed multiple times each day for all the latest news in education and technology. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed a flurry of updates specific to the open education community. From the announcement that our favorite Open Education guru, David Wiley, was selected to be a senior fellow with Digital Promise, to MIT offering certificates for anyone who successfully completes one of the free courses via its new MITx program, it seems as thought 2012 is starting out with a bang in terms of free education.

Within the string of news updates, there were a couple noteworthy items that I’d like to share with you here.

Congressional bills, namely SOPA and PIPA

Last month, we posted our stance on the Stop Online Piracy Act, a proposed bill in the House of Representatives that aims to prevent “foreign online criminals from stealing and selling America’s intellectual property and keeping the profits for themselves.” Of major concern was this bill’s negative impact on Open Educational Resources. We were excited to read that, on January 14^th, Congress shelved this bill after massive public pressure, including a statement of opposition from the White House.

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