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K-12 schools and districts turn to open educational resources (OER) for their flexibility. When you search for OER, you can find already-created lesson plans or other resources to add to your own class plans. Let’s look at the benefits of using an OER lesson plan and what it looks like. Why use an OER lesson plan?
This article started out with my being bothered by the fact that ‘OER adoption reliably saves students money but does not reliably improve their outcomes.’ ’ For many years OER advocates have told faculty, “When you adopt OER your students save money and get the same or better outcomes!”
This is what large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are doing to OER. Next generation OER will not be open textbooks that were created faster or more efficiently because LLMs wrote first drafts in minutes. That’s current generation OER simply made more efficiently.
These days low-cost alternatives known as Open Educational Resources, or OER, are getting a boost as a potential solution. Last week, for example, Lumen Learning, a company that sells low-cost OER textbooks and courseware, announced it received a $5 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Has your school district started to use open educational resources (OER) yet? But has your school district considered K-12 OER textbooks? Printed textbooks have been used for centuries, and while they still work, there are many reasons why school districts are transitioning to OER versions. .
Given the rise of OER (of which I am a fan ), an increasing array of business models, questions about the degree of alignment to state standards and assessments, claims of effectiveness, and interoperability concerns, the instructional materials procurement decisions facing school districts have never been more complicated. Image credits.
There’s great news out of the recent UNESCO meeting in Paris, where member states unanimously adopted the draft Recommendation on Open Educational Resources (OER). This dramatically simplifies understanding what is and isn’t OER. This dramatically simplifies understanding what is and isn’t OER. emphasis added).
At some point over the last decade, open educational resources (OER) advocacy in US higher education became zero textbook costs (ZTC) advocacy. But OER / ZTC advocates have had a fundamental problem simmering for many years now, and the recent advent of large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4 will quickly bring that simmer to a boil.
tl ;dr – If a resource is licensed in a way that grants you permission to engage in the 5R activities, and grants you those permissions for free, it’s an open educational resource (OER) – no matter where you find it or how it’s being used. I have an obsession with definitions. It’s been true for decades.
I recently wrote a brief essay about the wonderful new UNESCO OER Recommendation. For those of you who don’t want to read the full analysis below, here’s the key takeaway: Imagine what would happen if making copies of OER was illegal. Under the definition of OER now adopted unanimously by UNESCO member states, it can be.
At OpenEd18 I gave a presentation titled “Questioning the OER Orthodoxy: Is the Commons the Right Metaphor for our Work?” After this brief discussion, I asked “what if the commons is the wrong metaphor for our work with OER?” During the presentation, I shared the following contrasts between a commons and OER.
Yesterday IHE published an article about the “ inclusive access ” programs offered by most major textbook publishers. ” What problem does the inclusive access model purport to solve? . And obviously, both inclusive access and OER are about solving the cost problem. Can you see it?
Open educational resources (OER) have long been touted as “the next big thing” in higher education, but the drawn-out hype has led many educators and administrators to wonder if it would ever live up to its expectations. Those days are over: 2017 was OER’s breakthrough year. That happened in 2017. Ohio University is doing the same.
David Wiley, a pioneer of open education resources who co-founded Lumen Learning , a for-profit company that supports OER efforts, sees one place where textbooks could actually be vanquished by openly licensed alternatives: community colleges. Why create a for-profit to push for things to be open and accessible? We publish in journals.
Recently I’ve been doing both more thinking and more roll-up-your-sleeves working on continuous improvement of OER. And this process of making OER more effective every semester – also known as “continuous improvement” – is where we see some of the most exciting opportunities to collaborate with faculty.
Open educational resources have gone global and may help make learning more accessible, equitable and inclusive around the world. OER was one of six “emerging technologies and practices” the panelists highlighted as most likely to significantly influence postsecondary teaching and learning in the future. In the U.S.,
It also helps schools reach goals like higher student success, better data analysis, more robust cybersecurity and easier access to education technology, the report’s authors explain. SETDA gives the example of “Bobby,” a sophomore in high school who transferred to a new school after his first semester. by Eli Zimmerman.
As momentum for digital learning builds, some districts—80 percent according to the 2017 Consortium for School Networking’s (CoSN) K12 IT Leadership Survey Report —are using open educational resources (OER), which the U.S. But while many benefits of OER are visible on the surface, we must notice the fine print.
.” Stephen’s fears of conversion are possible in part because his definition of OER begins with access: Access is most frequently left off the definition of OERs, and yet is the most important. Fundamental to a resource being open, in my mind, is the ability of anyone to access it.
The initiative intends to create degree pathways with courses that only use open educational resources, known as OER, so students don’t have to spend money on class materials. College of the Canyons’ history with OER starts before Anagnonson’s dabble, however. Using OER in those courses, she added, “really started out of necessity.”
Open Educational Resources (OER) have yet to cozy up with the more orthodox academics and pushy print publishers of the world. Advocates praise their accessible low-prices and ability to meet students on digital devices. On its own, the OER company partners with nearly 150 campuses.
There would be huge benefits to the OER ecosystem if we made similar arguments with commercial publishers, helping them understand why switching to an OER model would be good for their business. Why Commercial Publishers Should Switch to an OER Model. And a switch to OER would help publishers solve both of them.
Open educational resources, also known as OER, provide a great way to supplement curriculum to differentiate instruction and better meet each learner’s needs in your classroom. For example, a traditional anthology of literature might provide vocabulary far above the current reading level of one or more students.
Next week I hope to post the first section of the presentation, which outlines the reasons why people who care deeply about affordability, access, and improving outcomes should consider shifting their focus away from OER (as we have understood it for the last 25+ years) and toward generative AI.
Like: What would happen if students had access to a catalog of free and?this The funds will cover financial support and mentorship for faculty who create new open educational resources (OER for short) or adapt existing open textbooks. Her experiences couldn’t be further away from the examples her elementary school books centered on?farming.
However, inclusive access and equitable access aren’t the only models that automatically charge students a fee for their course materials. Many institutions charge students a fee associated with their OER courses as a way of funding the institutions’ OER efforts.
Last week I posted the middle section of the presentation, How Generative AI Affects Open Educational Resources , in which I described how we need to move beyond narrow thinking about how generative AI impacts our work with traditional OER and begin thinking more broadly about the power generative OER.
Have you ever considered creating your own open educational resources (OER)? Because these resources are open to use, when you share an OER, other educators across the globe can access it and use it in their classrooms. Types of OER you can develop for K-12. Why you should develop OER for K-12.
I’m interested in solving problems of access and effectiveness in education. Below is my current best thinking about how open education and generative AI can come together to help us make progress on problems of access and effectiveness. As they say, you should fall in love with your problem , not your solution.
My recent post about the cost trap and inclusive access prompted responses by Jim Groom and Stephen Downes. Back in 2012 – 2013] I was impressed (like many others I’m sure) with how Wiley was able to frame the cost-savings argument around open textbooks to build broader interest for OERs. I fear it is OER wanting it both ways.
To hear some OER advocates describe it today in 2024, the same format that was being used in the late 2000s – traditional-looking textbooks published under open licenses – is the state of the art when it comes to open educational resources. OER have also been used as part of personalized, interactive courseware systems, too.
A commitment to using, creating, and sharing open educational resources (OER) allows teachers to contribute their expertise to support the entire field and receive feedback on their work that can help their own professional growth. What you can do to make your classroom more collaborative and connected. Get started with Powerful Learning.
The most recent issue of IRRODL included an article titled Effectiveness of OER Use in First-Year Higher Education Students’ Mathematical Course Performance: A Case Study , by Juan I. This was justified by the fact that there is a lack of empirical evidence to support expanding the use of OER. Venegas-Muggli and Werner Westermann.
The six-week long MOOC will touch on topics including open educational resources (OER), open pedagogy and practice, open knowledge and open research. The six-week long MOOC will touch on topics including open educational resources (OER), open pedagogy and practice, open knowledge and open research. What won’t it cover? David Wiley.
This gap between the need and available educational services has prompted calls for innovative ways to improve access to quality educational resources.
I spend most of my time doing fairly tactical thinking and working focused on moving OER adoption forward in the US higher education space. For example, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about the future of learning materials writ large. Now, make no mistake – OER is a means, not an end.
Digital textbooks are textbooks that teachers and learners can access online or download to their devices. In addition, educators and learners can access them on multiple devices at any time. . For example, under “Math” you’ll find digital textbooks covering algebra, pre-calculus and calculus. OER Commons. LibreTexts.
Open educational resources (OER) are gaining increasing popularity. To answer this question, I have to examine my own experience with OER and its advocates. Therefore, I had the simple mission of writing an openly-licensed textbook that not only addressed my students’ learning needs, but would be accessible to anyone.
Because I can’t stop thinking about open, I’ve been pondering the relationship between solar power and OER. ”, “How can you sell OER if they’re free? ”, and “If OER are free, why would anyone pay you?” Let me explain… Sunlight is perhaps the ultimate example of a public good.
What are examples of digital citizenship? Digital access : Advocating for learners, families and staff members to have equitable access to technology, digital resources and the internet. Hāpara can help your school or district easily build and distribute a digital OER textbook collection.
Using OER is hard. Over sandwiches and iced tea, we talked about the challenges of OER. Leveled readings —Each of the articles in the course is provided at multiple reading levels to ensure that all students can access and understand the material, enabling them to participate in the class. Full size image here. Source: BHP.
For example, learners can quickly click on a word to bring up the online dictionary. Your school or district can also use digital textbooks that are part of open educational resource (OER) repositories. There are several high-quality OER sites that feature digital textbooks for K-12. You can keep students from getting injured.
It’s been a good year for open educational resources (OER). made commitments this year to establish entire degree programs based solely on OER. Governor Jerry Brown set aside $5 million for OER degree programs in California community colleges. But “free” is not the only important characteristic of OER.
The tl;dr: Supporting effective OER adoption at scale has its problems. If OER adoption were to become widespread among the majority of faculty, it became clear that someone would need to do something more than create OER, post it on a website, and give conference talks about it. Background and Some Problems.
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