Open Book Project Launch

Secretary Clinton announces Educational Partnership

 with Ambassador Mohamed Al-Hussaini Al-Sharif of the League of Arab States in Washington, D.C.

 and the Arab League Education Culture and Science Organization “ALECSO”

28 January 2013

OPEN BOOK PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Open Book Project is an initiative of the U.S. Department of State, the Arab League Education, Culture and Science Organization, and leading education innovators to expand access to free, high-quality education materials in Arabic, with a focus on science and technology.  These resources will be released under open licenses that allow free use, sharing, and adaptation to local context.  Offering access to these resources will help to create educational opportunity, further scientific learning, and foster economic growth.

The partnership was officially announced by Secretary Clinton at the U.S. Department of State  on Monday, January 28, 2013.  It comes as the first implementation of the general Memorandum of Understanding signed in September 2012 at the UN in New York  by Secretary Clinton and  Dr. Nabil Al-Arabi Secretary General of the Arab League. During the announcement, she  was joined by Ambassador Mohamed Al-Hussaini Al-Sharif head of the Arab league in D.C. and officials from the Arab League, ALECSO, and State department’s other partners, including MIT, Rice University, the International Society for Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME), and Creative Commons.  Under Secretary Tara Sonenshine  hosted a partners meeting in Washington in late February or early March to plan next steps and announce commitments, as well as announce additional partners, if applicable.  It is estimated that OER practitioners from the Arab World will meet with their U.S. counterparts in early February 2014 to lay the groundwork for future collaboration.  For more information on the Open Book Project and to get involved, please visit:

http://www.state.gov/p/nea/openbook/.

For those looking for material from 28 January 2013, you can find the Secretary’s remarks in print and video and the nascent State Department webpage on the Project

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