Posted on 02/10/12
Last week, Creative Commons and the OpenCourseWare Consortium announced the formation of a task force to help bring open educational resources to women and girls seeking to advance themselves in STEM education. This task force will support the Equal Futures Partnership to expand women’s political participation and economic opportunity. The Equal Futures Partnership was launched last week by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Equal Futures Partnership is committed to having women fully participate in public life and in having women benefit from economic growth. Opening opportunities to better paying jobs in the science and technology fields is where STEM education comes in. Open educational resources are high quality learning materials that are available for free online; these materials will be key for learners and educators to advance the skill and knowledge levels of girls in science, technology, engineering and math.
In a statement released last week, Mary Lou Forward, the Executive Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, explained the following, “We are seeking innovative support solutions for girls to succeed in STEM subjects using shared educational resources. Since OER can be accessed freely by anyone, anywhere, and modified to fit different cultural contexts and learning needs around the world, we are looking at this issue from a global perspective.”
More information can be found on whitehouse.gov.
