Cape Town Open Education Declaration 10th Anniversary
Ten Directions to Move Open Education Forward
The Cape Town Open Education Declaration was published on January 22, 2008, sparking a global call to action that has grown into the vibrant open education movement that exists today. In honor of the ten year anniversary, we took a look back at the last decade and identified ten key directions to move open education forward. Click on the cards below to read more about each topic, or consider suggesting your own.
Empowering the Next Generation
The open education movement must put the next generation at its core.
Connecting with Other Open Movements
Open education can grow stronger through collaboration with allied movements.
Open Education for Development
Unlocking new opportunities for education in support of development.
Opening Up Publicly Funded Resources
Publicly funded educational resources should be openly licensed by default.
Copyright Reform for Education
Copyright reform and open education advocacy are two sides of the same coin.
X Card
What's missing? We want your ideas for other directions to help move open education forward.
Cape Town Open Education Declaration
In celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Cape Town Open Education Declaration, a group of open education activists met in Cape Town in March 2017 to reflect on progress made by the community over the last ten years, celebrate our accomplishments, understand the challenges, and inspire and focus the movement for the next ten years. The energy and enthusiasm at the meeting inspired the participants and leaders of the community to collaboratively produce a new set of recommendations which highlight ten directions to move open education forward.
The meeting in Cape Town and the collaborative development of the new recommendations were supported by the William and Flora Hewlett, Mozilla, Open Society, and Shuttleworth Foundations. The collaborative development process was coordinated by Centrum Cyfrowe, SPARC, the MIT Media Lab, the Open Education Consortium, and Creative Commons, working with a broad group of contributors who are leading open education in their communities.
We are on the cusp of a global revolution in teaching and learning. Educators worldwide are developing a vast pool of educational resources on the Internet, open and free for all to use. These educators are creating a world where each and every person on earth can access and contribute to the sum of all human knowledge. They are also planting the seeds of a new pedagogy where educators and learners create, shape and evolve knowledge together, deepening their skills and understanding as they go.
This emerging open education movement combines the established tradition of sharing good ideas with fellow educators and the collaborative, interactive culture of the Internet. It is built on the belief that everyone should have the freedom to use, customize, improve and redistribute educational resources without constraint. Educators, learners and others who share this belief are gathering together as part of a worldwide effort to make education both more accessible and more effective.