Doug Levin

FEBRUARY 25, 2016

I’ve established that I am a fan of open educational resources (OER) and think that K-12 educators and policymakers would benefit from thinking more deeply about the ownership of instructional materials. To that end, I present the first draft of “ #GoOpen: OER for K-12 Educators – Frequently Asked Questions.”

OER 278

OER Education Instructional Materials EdTech 278

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 12, 2019

Student: I’ll study whether students learn better with OER than with traditional course materials! ” In other words, when you read OER research that shows a difference in student learning, look harder – there’s likely more going on than just a change in materials. Me: Let’s hear it!

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OER Comparison Study Course 143

Edsurge

JANUARY 15, 2019

But fans of OER are increasingly facing a problem. While OER started off as free online textbooks, it still costs money to produce these materials, and professors often need guidance finding which ones are high quality. So OER advocates are realizing they need to change their pitch.

OER 154

OER Course Resources Libraries 154

Edsurge

JUNE 22, 2017

And that’s been the driver behind nonprofit Achieving the Dream ’s (ATD) OER Degree Initiative , where 38 U.S. community colleges are creating full degree programs that utilize open educational resources (OER) from start to finish.

OER 142

OER Course Outcomes Report 142

Doug Levin

FEBRUARY 2, 2016

While opportunities to advance technology-enabled or -enhanced school reform and improvement efforts appear throughout ESSA (and are in no way precluded as a strategy anywhere in the bill), it is Title IV that presents the most direct opportunity for state leadership.

Strategy 231

Strategy EdTech Broadband E-rate 231

Edsurge

JUNE 16, 2020

Lumen Learning, a company that sells low-cost OER textbooks and courseware, plans to start offering professional development services for faculty that can be bundled with its titles. In other words, some of its textbooks are now sold with coaching on how to teach with OER more effectively.

OER 129

OER Company Learning Course 129

Iterating Toward Openness

FEBRUARY 5, 2024

tl;dr – In order to be relevant today and in the future, a national open education strategy must (1) know exactly what it is trying to accomplish and (2) deeply integrate generative AI. WICHE is convening a series of conversations this week and next titled, “ Do We Need a National Open Education Strategy?

Strategy 133

Strategy OER Education Policies 133

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 19, 2017

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.

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OER CMS Guidelines Digital Learning 123

Edsurge

JUNE 9, 2017

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.

OER 117

OER Data Outcomes Study 117

K12 Open Ed

JUNE 9, 2015

The K-12 OER Collaborative has taken a great step forward as Karl Nelson has agreed to join the organization full-time as of later this month. Karl has been the Director of Digital Learning for Washington state’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction for five years and prior to that worked with Puget Sound ESD.

OER 100

OER Digital Learning Strategy Examples 100

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 8, 2017

The inclusive access model’s goal of reducing the cost of textbooks apparently reminded the article’s author of OER, because she includes some discussion of OER toward the end of the article. And obviously, both inclusive access and OER are about solving the cost problem. Can you see it?

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OER Accessibility Pearson MOOC 249

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 18, 2019

Two decades later, their strategy has clearly paid off: for-profit companies create and contribute to an incredible amount of open source software. 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.

OER 110

OER Advocacy Software Company 110

Iterating Toward Openness

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

The differences in rules between the many kinds of football have naturally led to the evolution of very different strategies for winning the different versions of the game. Can you imagine the result of applying strategies that have proven successful in American football to the game as it is played in Brazil? However, OER are not CPRs.

OER 103

OER Resources Groups Accessibility 103

Iterating Toward Openness

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Where Michael sees three groups with different goals, I see four groups who are trying to use OER to solve closely related – but ultimately very different – problems: The negative impact on access to education caused by the high price of traditional learning materials. a community? a discipline?)

Strategy 105

Strategy OER Analysis Groups 105

Doug Levin

MAY 16, 2016

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.

OER 170

OER Software Company Twitter 170

eSchool News

APRIL 13, 2018

As open educational resources (OER) become a more viable option for K-12 school districts that want to adopt new resources, curating these “free” and “open” educational assets has become increasingly difficult. Here are five steps districts can use to implement OER in their LMSs: 1. With the U.S. Create a centralized “hub.”

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OER LMS Digital Learning Outcomes 87

Edsurge

AUGUST 4, 2022

In May, the homework-help site that relies on student-generated content, Course Hero, dipped its toes into freely available, openly licensed alternatives known as Open Educational Resources, or OER, course materials. This was the company’s “first foray” into OER, and it is still figuring out how the OER fits, Morris says. “I

OER 160

OER Resources Education Course 160

Edsurge

NOVEMBER 30, 2017

The secret to its swift entry into publishing was OER (open education resources). In an interview with EdSurge this month, Kibby called Ferreira “brilliant,” but said that the company’s initial strategy was based on a “flawed” idea. “No Knewton’s pitch is that its mix of OER and an adaptive-learning system will set it apart.

Knewton 135

Knewton Strategy OER Pearson 135

Teacher Reboot Camp

SEPTEMBER 28, 2017

Each mission in my new book, Hacking Digital Learning Strategies: 10 Ways to Launch EdTech Missions in Your Classroom , shares an example of the Mission in Action by a teacher I admire. André is a #DigitalLeadLearner, using web media and iPads in the classroom, an OER maker and a founder of the German Twitter chat, #EDchatDE.

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OER iPad Twitter Digital Learning 231

Iterating Toward Openness

JULY 20, 2017

Is this why OER repositories (and the learning object repositories that came before them) typically fail – because the resource you find is frequently no better than the resource you could have made yourself if you had just spent the time creating instead of searching? emphasis in original).

OER 74

OER Resources Strategy Data 74

eSchool News

MAY 28, 2018

Open educational resources (OER) have been promoted as a solution to the rising costs and scalability needs in education. In looking to OER as a potential solution, it is helpful to consider—beyond the “free” price tag—the actual cost of implementing a comprehensive OER program. Is OER the right fit?

OER 69

OER Policies Strategy Resources 69

Iterating Toward Openness

MARCH 11, 2020

In the first installment on Monday, I explained how a fundamental failure to understand copyright makes the definition of OER in the new UNESCO recommendation nonsensical. In the second installment yesterday, I described how it appears that many in the OER community have taken their eye off the ball of student learning.

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OER Case Study System Strategy 78

Edsurge

JUNE 13, 2022

Secondly, through digital delivery of open educational resources (OER), teachers can modify lessons to reflect student interest and context by choosing different texts, materials and videos aligned to standards.

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OER Personalized Learning Data Meeting 169

Edsurge

APRIL 12, 2018

New and traditional publishers are trying to offer alternatives such as open educational resources (OER), or freely downloadable and adaptable learning materials. But some providers of OER still ask for fees in return, and that has advocates concerned. Edward Watson.

OER 80

OER Company Adaptive Learning Resources 80

A Principal's Reflections

MAY 20, 2018

Emerging technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, open education resources (OER), coding, and adaptive learning tools are moving more into the mainstream in some schools. I hope to flesh out each of these pillars more than I did the first time while also including many more strategies to aid in practical implementation.

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OER Personal Learning Network Outcomes Blended Learning 298

Iterating Toward Openness

JULY 7, 2016

A change of this magnitude – and really, any change in assessment strategy – deserves to be well understood. My colleagues in the Open Education Group and I like to say that when you’re considering the outcomes of research on OER adoption, there are “two ways to win.” . “You promise learn.

Assessment 139

Assessment OER Outcomes Examples 139

EdTech4Beginners

APRIL 2, 2017

BLearning – Blended Learning (using a range of multimedia and strategies). OER – Open Educational Resource (this can be any online materials that are free to use). But have a look and get familiar with what they stand for: 1:1 – One to one (usually talking about the ratio of devices in a class per child).

EdTech 189

EdTech VLE CMS OER 189

Digital Promise

JANUARY 22, 2019

Peer teaching strategies give students the opportunity to learn from one another and contribute to a culture of collaboration. Students learn even more when they learn 3 from and teach each other 4. Powerful learning gives students a voice in the classroom by empowering them as experts in their own rights.

Learning 300

Learning OER Digital Learning Analysis 300

Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 12, 2015

He writes, “While to an OER advocate faculty are mere pawns to their agenda, to publishers, faculty are critical partners in academic success.” ” The overwhelming majority of OER advocates are faculty, and they have become OER advocates for two reasons.

OER 60

OER Course Examples Outcomes 60

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

Populating the search engine is a collection of more than 1,000 OERs—from sources such as Achieve, UnboundED and statewide orgs like EngageNY—hand-selected by math experts assisting the program. When teachers search a particular concept, such as fractions or place value, they get a targeted lesson, standard, recommended activity and strategy.

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OER Elementary Video Tools 167

Iterating Toward Openness

SEPTEMBER 10, 2024

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.

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OER Accessibility Education Broadband 68

Iterating Toward Openness

MARCH 24, 2025

This might include an understanding that a range of tools exists for a particular task, the ability to choose a tool based on its fitness, strategies for using the tools affordances, and knowledge of pedagogical strategies and the ability to apply those strategies for use of technologies. Lets Hear Some Other Ideas!

Training 88

Training OER Blackboard Strategy 88

Edsurge

OCTOBER 30, 2017

Using OER is hard. Over sandwiches and iced tea, we talked about the challenges of OER. As Freddy is wont to say, “No one gets good at anything without practicing the skill or strategy.” Working across so many disparate texts, it would be nearly impossible for a teacher to create anything like this when using OER.

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OER Common Core Video Assessment 143

Iterating Toward Openness

OCTOBER 14, 2015

Implementation Strategies. I’ll address this at greater length in a future post, but perhaps the best thing Pearson does in this report is to include a discussion of implementation strategies. I believe we’re seeing this same effect across OER adoptions, and have labeled it the Remix Hypothesis.

Pearson 60

Pearson OER Comparison Case Study 60

Edsurge

SEPTEMBER 4, 2019

For example, biology professor Peggy Brickman worked with OpenStax, a nonprofit OER publisher, to create a “UGA Concepts of Biology” textbook. One lesson learned in Georgia is the importance of preserving academic freedom by encouraging instructors to select and adopt their own materials.

Report 165

Report EdTech Tools OER 165

Iterating Toward Openness

DECEMBER 13, 2024

Large OER publishers like OpenStax, Lumen, and CMU OLI spend a significant amount of time and money creating open content. These OER are significantly more affordable than the proprietary alternatives and, because of their open licensing, can serve as the foundation for a wide range of innovations in teaching and learning.

Meeting 148

Meeting OER Education Pearson 148

Tom Murray

JUNE 3, 2016

Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Andy Marcinek , Chief Open Education Advisor at the US Department of Education (ED), to explore how schools can benefit from Open Educational Resources (OERs) and what is being done in this area nationwide. So, where should district leaders interested in open education begin?

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OER Future Ready Edmodo Education 100