3.+Areas+of+Impact



**Areas of Impact **

It is clear that as a larger share of educational materials become available through the Internet, the availability of Open Content will help to reduce the educational divide worldwide. One of the leading Open Content advocate groups is Creative Commons, whose mission is to provide "Universal access to research, education and full participation in culture and driving a new era of development, growth and productivity." (16)

Open Content is having an enormous impact on colleges and universities: as more and more are choosing to make textbooks and classroom materials available for free or at very affordable prices. This area alone has had a real impact on the number of students staying in school and keeping up with their coursework. With easier and more affordable access to the required texts through Open Content, students find it easier to stay on task and stay in school. As stated earlier, Open Content has become almost a political movement with some seeing equal access to educational materials as a right and not a privilege. Many universities and colleges feel a kind of social responsibility or obligation to share these materials with the rest of the world. Before Open Content, the world was divided into the educational haves and have nots. Now you just need an internet connection and a computer. The area most impacted by Open Content is in the more equitable distribution of educational resources around the world. The teacher that never had ready access to materials for his or her students, through Open Content now can access thousands of textbooks and teaching aids online for free. The student that before couldn't afford the textbooks and course materials can access them for free. Groups like [|Teachers without Borders] have emerged alongside Open Content to bring teachers together from around the world to share resources they know work. Open Content caused the growth of groups such as [|Folksemantic] which provides over 110,000 Open Education Resources to anyone in the world with an internet connection. (17)

Ultimately, the greater access to Open Content materials will impact how we teach and what we teach. Imagine rather than teaching your class a lesson on the Underground Railroad that you access the Academic Earth lectures at Yale University and for free your students virtually learn from a leading expert on the Underground Railroad. Perhaps the biggest impact will be seen in the areas of our country and the world that have been deprived of equal access to educational materials. In the Appalachian Region, the Deep South, or the Bronx, students and teachers will now have equal access to many of the same resources that wealthier school districts do. In the developing world, in places where an internet connection exists, teachers that have never been able to afford instructional materials can access them. The vision is that Open Content will level the playing field bringing textbooks or remixed versions of them to the far reaches of the planet.