Digital School program with open textbooks approved by Polish government!
Today Polish Council of Ministers adopted regulation concerning the implementation of „Digital School” program for computerization of Polish schools and raising ICT competences. Pilot of the project aimed for 380 schools in Poland will equip them with hardware (tablets, computers for students, additional equipment). Also digital and free (under Creative Commons Attribution or compatible) textbooks for grades 4-6 in primary schools (K4-K6) will be created (43 millions PLN is assigned for textbooks). This is the first major government project in Poland which creates Open Educational Resources especially textbooks. Creative Commons Poland lead and director of Centrum Cyfrowe Alek Tarkowski participated in Digital School project as advisor from it’s beginning.
Photo above: Cabel Green, Director of Global Learning of Creative Commons reaction for news about open textbooks in national program in Poland.
Textbooks, which are to be built will be available under the CreativeCommons Attribution (or compatibile) and at least in one open format (which full specification is freely available technically and legally), or in the case of Web access as required Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (W3C). Textbooks will be funded partly from the treasury and operational program Human Capital (pol. PO KL). On the occasion of the Human Capital participation in the financing of the Digital School important opinion was made: the Ministry of Regional Development and the Ministry of Administration and Digitization. Works developed under this program (PO KL) must be in the original version accesiblle at no cost to all for what the best solution is to use a CC Attribution license.
Soon Ministry of Education will start webpage about Digital School Program and school heads will be able to apply for 80% of funding for ICT equipment, simultaneously work on the development of resources and study on pilot will begin. After a pilot, program will include other primary schools. „We hope the program will open not only discussion about the role and importance of open educational resources in schools, but will also widespread it’s use in schools. Free and open textbooksare what parents and teachers demanded for years, now we will be able to observe how they will work in practice” said Kamil Śliwowski education lead of Creative Commons Poland.