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and I am merely a fan – not a fanboy – of open educational resources (OER).** Others surely see me as some sort of OER fanatic. K-12 context, including issues of accessibility , the copyright that should get assigned to teacher-created materials , and interoperability gaps and needs. I beg to disagree. Image credits.
In a post of nearly two years ago (“ OERwashing: Beyond the Elephant Test “), I argued that the OER community lacked a reliable way to assess new entrants to the OER field, especially for-profit organizations, in terms of their support for openness and OER community values. Petrides, L., and Watson, C.E.
K-12 educational technology policy. educational technology policy should be over the coming four years (when the law will next come due to be reauthorized). provide students access to technology resources they may be lacking by virtue of being located in rural, remote or underserved areas.
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.
Indeed, the often unspoken relationship between OER and educational technology can be fraught with misplaced assumptions, red flags, value conflicts, and licensing complications. That the U.S. You can read some of the highlights of this work in my interview (“ How can technology advance open educational resources?
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.
In response, open educational materials, or OER, have emerged as an alternative to expensive textbooks that disproportionately affect low-income students. But as more open materials become accessible, advocates for open education still see room for improvement. Those are prohibitive, and really create a barrier for access for learners.
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.
With course materials averaging around $1,200 per year , many colleges over the past decade have adopted open educational resources (OER) to cut costs for students. One review offers evidence that students using OER as their primary course material sometimes perform better.) This isn’t uncommon.
What Rasmussen didn’t have at the beginning of her political career, however, was much knowledge about how to turn her ideas into effective policies. “I Over the past two years, the consortium has created open-access materials intended to make it easy for universities to start offering coursework on the topic of early childhood policy.
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. SIGN UP: Get more news from the EdTech newsletter in your inbox every two weeks! Transfer Student Data Seamlessly Across Academic Careers.
What I do want to comment on (in greater than 140 characters) is the practice of ‘openwashing:’ what it is, why I believe not being able to go beyond a pro-OER elephant test for organizations and service providers is untenable in practice, and some thoughts on what we can do about it. The Pro-OER Elephant Test.
I recently attended one of the community meetings discussing whether or not a national open education policy is needed in the US. But here are my quick takeaways from the meeting I did attend: There will likely be an effort to create a national open education policy. No one knows what the purpose of such a policy would be.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Commit to Ensuring Equity in Access and Opportunity. Equity in access, from broadband to devices is a concern and something that districts need to work to meet head on. “ Equity in access, from broadband to devices is a concern and something that districts need to work to meet head on. “
Among them, I’ve updated my site to include a dedicated FAQ on open educational resources (OER). The FAQ is a collaboration of many involved with the movement and includes an OER infographic , suitable for downloading and re-sharing. My thanks to EdSurge for highlighting its availability. Strong opinions may be weakly held.
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. You can focus on any of the elements, no matter what age your learners are.
The Digital Learning Specialists will work closely as a team with the Coordinator for Education Technology, and the Learning Through Technology Policy Director, to design and implement our efforts to support schools leveraging technology for learning. Increasing access with a focus on learning.
Earlier this week I read an op-ed – sponsored by Pearson – titled “If OER is the answer, what is the question?” OER often shine in their variety and ability to deepen resources for niche topics. ” The article poses three questions and answers them. Below I share some thoughts prompted by the article.
Among them, I’ve updated my site to include a dedicated FAQ on open educational resources (OER). The FAQ is a collaboration of many involved with the movement and includes an OER infographic , suitable for downloading and re-sharing. My thanks to EdSurge for highlighting its availability. Strong opinions may be weakly held.
Be explicit with districts about expectations for access to technology in schools and classrooms. It should not be controversial in 2016 that there is a baseline expectation of access to technology in schools, just as there are baseline expectations for access to textbooks and desks. Encouraging a shift to digital textbooks?
After three years of utilizing a BYOD (bring your own device) policy with my classes at Nassau Community College, I have seen how tools like tablets and laptops can lead to better academic engagement. It’s why mobile access has been one of the most important means of connecting students to their academic resources.
Rich shares the power of Open Educational Resources (OER)–what they are, where to find them, and how to get started. Stop buying lesson plans and worksheets and access the wonderful free resources available to you! para, where he explains how PBL and OER go hand-in-hand. . What are Open Educational Resources (OER)?
In conversations with edtech investors, some reported that the K-12 market has seen an influx of instructional content, particularly in the form of open educational resources (OERs). OERs are openly-licensed educational materials that can be downloaded, modified and shared with others to help support student learning. Source: EdSurge.
Now something similar may be happening with textbooks, as publishing giants start to broker campuswide deals with colleges that give students unlimited access to a publisher’s digital textbooks at cut-rate prices. Inclusive access has already gotten up to acronym status,” he said.
In this ever-dynamic landscape, “common” standards for education seemingly get a bad rap, but they’re useful, particularly for the development and distribution of open education resources (OER). When OER curation was in its infancy, there were few common standards in place for vetting and cataloging this content.
It is the newest addition to SETDA’s Cybersecurity & Privacy Collection , available for access in their OER Commons site. “As Microsoft is committed to increasing access to cybersecurity tools to help schools address this challenge.
In a letter sent earlier this month, a group of ed-tech stakeholders urged the Obama administration to make federally-funded educational materials available as Open Educational Resources (OER). The letter was a response to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy’s request for suggestions around how to strengthen the U.S.
Otherwise, here’s what caught my eye this past week – news, tools, and reports about education, public policy, technology, and innovation – including a little bit about why. A paper and pencil version of the SAT will continue to be available in order to make the test as accessible as possible to all students.
That’s right, the identified nouns can give you keywords that will allow you to search a wonderful world of OER (Open Education Resources) on the internet. It is also important to gauge students’ age and ability while aligning it with the district AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) and the each tool’s Terms of Use.
She began developing the concept for CommonLit while studying education policy at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. CommonLit is a fine example of OER curation and OER creation that belongs in every librarian’s toolkit. All the instructional resources are created by teachers for teachers. Registration is free.
In summary, their results suggested “no noticeable improvement” in standardized test scores (PISA) for reading, mathematics, or science in countries that heavily invested in classroom technology; thus, they do not believe expanding access to high-tech devices (1:1 Chromebook programs) will abate falling test scores. .
After learning about open educational resources (OER) at the HEeD Think Tank last spring (now. UPCEA’s eDesign Collaborative ), I spent hours doing my own personal research on my university’s open accesspolicy and scouring the library website. To be clear, I didn’t just stumble upon it either. According to.
I’ll be writing a range of essays this year reflecting on two decades of work toward opening the core intellectual infrastructure of education (textbooks and other educational materials, assessments, and outcomes / objectives / competency statements) in order to increase access to and improve the effectiveness of education. Freeriders!
Back in February, an EdWeek brief reported that Amazon Education was beta-testing a new platform with educators, helping teachers navigate the jungles of open educational resources (OER). It’s important to know which vendors are handling privacy policies well and which aren’t. A bit scary, right?
In my recent post I asked us each to consider what “what is the real goal of our OER advocacy?” ” Stephen answers that his goal is access for all, and takes me to task for wanting more. Stephen’s goal is access for all. To me, access for all is a waypoint and not the end point.
If the workday of an adult typically requires seamless broadband access, then it’s reasonable that today’s students need the same access during their school day. The key is the state leadership to make broadband accessible to all. More important, states are starting to recognize the need for equitable access off site.
As explained by Christine Fox, Deputy Executive Director of SETDA, during a recent edWebinar , this searchable information will help educational leaders ensure that the materials they purchase are high-quality, aligned with their standards and goals, and accessible to all students. Join the Community.
Now that the book is appearing in print, I’m publishing the full-text chapter here so that there will be an easier-to-access open access version of the chapter available online. Educational materials published under an open license are called open educational resources (OER). Pearson agreed. Education is Sharing.
ConnectED Digital Content E-Rate Equity of Access FCC In the News OERPolicy Professional Learning' As the calendar year draws to a close and we take time to celebrate family and the holiday season, all of us at SETDA.
Say, for example, that I want all my students to have access to the learning materials for my course, forever. Say, for example, that I have adopted OER instead of a commercial textbook for my class. I want all my students to have access to the learning materials for the course, forever. If I am, please do so!
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