As reported by the Creative Commons blog, two very important conferences were held in Warsaw earlier this month (and late last month): “Open Educational Resources in Poland” (23 April) and “Open Science in Poland” (5 May).
The conference, “Open Educational Resources in Poland”, was organized on the 23rd of April, 2009 in the Column Hall of the Parliament of the Republic of Poland by the Coalition for Open Education (KOED):
The aim of the conference was to present the open education movement and the model of open educational materials for all levels of the educational process, to argue for the importance of open education in Poland, and to increase broad interest and involvement. This first-in-its-kind event, organized as a parliamentary conference, drew the attention of both government members and Parliament members to the issue of open education.
The Polish Minister of Education,Katarzyna Hall, declared Ministry’s interest in open educational models as means of creating modern and effective education. She said during the opening ceremony:
Especially in small towns and villages [...] internet makes education more democratic, more accessible, so that important resources are available at any time.
The focus of the conference varied from policy issues, to complementary educational resources and textbooks. The cost of textbooks in Poland is one of the central point of difficuties regarding access to education in that country.
