User:Opencontent

I have dedicated much of my life to increasing access to educational opportunity.

Inspired by the free software and open source software movements, in 1998 I coined the term "open content," founded OpenContent.org, and created the first free / open licenses for content. The Open Publication License provided the framework upon which the Creative Commons licenses were organized a number of years later.

I completed my PhD in Instructional Psychology & Technology at Brigham Young University in 2000. My dissertation focused on reusable educational materials - Learning Object Design and Sequencing. I also edited a moderately influential book on this topic in 2000, The Instructional Use of Learning Objects, which was one of the first commercially available books released under an open license in full-text online.

I am currently an Associate Professor of Instructional Psychology and Technology at Brigham Young University, and until July 2008 was Associate Professor of Instructional Technology and Director of the Center for Open and Sustainable Learning at Utah State University. I also serve as the Chief Openness Officer for Flat World Knowledge, an open source textbook publishing company, and am Founder and a member of the Board of Directors of the Open High School of Utah. I blog about open content and open education at http://opencontent.org/blog/.