OLTD 505- Open Educational Resources
As Smart as a Third Grader?
Learning outcomes met:
In the spring of 2015, I wrote a blog to my colleagues to explain the advantages and disadvantages of an O.E.R. (Open Educational Resources) using cK-12 https://www.ck12.org/ . The “c” in this kindergarten to grade 12 resource stands for open content. Those who use the site are free to use or customize any resources at their site. The title of the blog, “As Smart as a Third Grader”, was inspired by a question I found under the grade 3 math resources. Express the following as a decimal, “0.4 tenths.”
The website design is excellent. Students have a dashboard, progress charts, personal library, and the ability to chat with fellow learners or their teachers. As a teacher, you can assign work, check progress, and have class discussions (using chat). The textbooks have videos for each lesson and an assignment. The pages are somewhat visually appealing and the quality is okay too. The resources, however, are lacking in both substance and content. CK-12 is mainly limited to math, science, and technology. There are some English lessons, but only for older students. There are not enough resources for the younger grades. A search for grade 3 animals, for example, had no results. I began to wonder what a good open K-12 website would look like.
The open textbook online environment has many terms and elements directly associated with them. Relatively new terms like open content, copyleft, creative commons, and open education all have definitions that are evolving. What these terms mean to me is that they are public, free to use, modify, and redistribute for others to use.
O.E.R. and the definitions associated with terms that create free educational resources are valuable to teachers and learners alike. Having access to educational materials provides the medium for teaching. Being free from copyright allows for teaching without the worry of breaking the law or even being sued. Being able to access or add to educational resources allows for free education for all. Seeing my material modified by others gives me incite to different ways to teach and adds to my teaching resources. Having open access to teaching materials connects teachers to materials that they could not produce themselves. I do not have access to an electron microscope or a camera on the space station, yet I have access to these using O.E.R.
What is 0.4 tenths as a decimal? It is good that there are O.E.R. available to find out.
Learning outcomes met:
- Become familiar with common terms, definitions and elements related to online environments
- Critically assess and evaluate resources for best practice in online learning
In the spring of 2015, I wrote a blog to my colleagues to explain the advantages and disadvantages of an O.E.R. (Open Educational Resources) using cK-12 https://www.ck12.org/ . The “c” in this kindergarten to grade 12 resource stands for open content. Those who use the site are free to use or customize any resources at their site. The title of the blog, “As Smart as a Third Grader”, was inspired by a question I found under the grade 3 math resources. Express the following as a decimal, “0.4 tenths.”
The website design is excellent. Students have a dashboard, progress charts, personal library, and the ability to chat with fellow learners or their teachers. As a teacher, you can assign work, check progress, and have class discussions (using chat). The textbooks have videos for each lesson and an assignment. The pages are somewhat visually appealing and the quality is okay too. The resources, however, are lacking in both substance and content. CK-12 is mainly limited to math, science, and technology. There are some English lessons, but only for older students. There are not enough resources for the younger grades. A search for grade 3 animals, for example, had no results. I began to wonder what a good open K-12 website would look like.
The open textbook online environment has many terms and elements directly associated with them. Relatively new terms like open content, copyleft, creative commons, and open education all have definitions that are evolving. What these terms mean to me is that they are public, free to use, modify, and redistribute for others to use.
O.E.R. and the definitions associated with terms that create free educational resources are valuable to teachers and learners alike. Having access to educational materials provides the medium for teaching. Being free from copyright allows for teaching without the worry of breaking the law or even being sued. Being able to access or add to educational resources allows for free education for all. Seeing my material modified by others gives me incite to different ways to teach and adds to my teaching resources. Having open access to teaching materials connects teachers to materials that they could not produce themselves. I do not have access to an electron microscope or a camera on the space station, yet I have access to these using O.E.R.
What is 0.4 tenths as a decimal? It is good that there are O.E.R. available to find out.
The Heart of O.E.R.
Learning outcomes met:
The evidence that I have chosen is a song that I wrote and recorded for 505. Specifically, I started out as a skeptic and, eventually, became a believer in Open Educational Resources. The song, The Heart of O.E.R., reviews what I learned along the way.
In week one, we learnt about Open Education Resources (O.E.R.), but I had some problems with that concept. In my blog, “Sharing, what you do with other kid’s toys”, I expressed my issues for sharing. I needed it to be publishable, worried about internet safety, wondered if I was adding to the internet garbage dump, and if I would be breaking copyright laws. I was surprised to get so many responses from people I had never met.
By week two, I began to realize that I have always used other people’s ideas and made them work for me. For example, I cannot seem to find a sandal that feels comfortable on my feet. Yet I can wear runners all day. Runners + Sandal = Randal (Photo). When Canucks traded Luongo, I wondered what to do with my Luongo jersey (photo). Other examples are the gum ball machine, $5.00 Walmart clock, jewelry holder, pencil holder, and used windows outside on my deck. These ideas did not come originally from me, but rather began with someone else. I began to question in my blog, “Teachers pay Teachers: An Online Craft Fair”, if teachers could do the same thing for free under the creative commons banner?
Then, in week three, we were going to find some quality O.E.R. to use in our classrooms! What I found was free is not always a good price. Quality is lacking at the elementary level, so you can waste a lot of time looking when you would have been better off making it yourself. I evaluated CK-12 Foundation in my blog “As Smart as a Third Grader”.
Week four, I was encouraged by Dean Shareski’s “Sharing: The Moral Imperative” and “Obvious to you, Amazing to others” video by Derek Sivers. How do we share our ideas? I wondered while I blogged, “Did I bury your gem?” if great ideas were being lost (buried in the ever growing pile of internet information) and if I was part of the problem? How can I be change if I’m part of the problem? We need to get organized!
Finally, in week five, I shared my solution to all our problems. “Why don’t we write a textbook?” In that blog I shared how we would save the tax payers millions of dollars, get teachers great O.E.R., and students would have a up-to-date textbook with inspiring lessons.
Knowing that resources are available to revise, reuse, remix, and redistribute aids me as a teacher in two main ways. First, I have resources available to me that are current and at no cost. This lets me do my job well. Secondly, and more importantly, students have access to this information allowing me to become a facilitator of information. Becoming more involved in sharing of information is a future goal of mine.
Learning outcomes met:
- engage in building learning communities and communities of practice
The evidence that I have chosen is a song that I wrote and recorded for 505. Specifically, I started out as a skeptic and, eventually, became a believer in Open Educational Resources. The song, The Heart of O.E.R., reviews what I learned along the way.
In week one, we learnt about Open Education Resources (O.E.R.), but I had some problems with that concept. In my blog, “Sharing, what you do with other kid’s toys”, I expressed my issues for sharing. I needed it to be publishable, worried about internet safety, wondered if I was adding to the internet garbage dump, and if I would be breaking copyright laws. I was surprised to get so many responses from people I had never met.
By week two, I began to realize that I have always used other people’s ideas and made them work for me. For example, I cannot seem to find a sandal that feels comfortable on my feet. Yet I can wear runners all day. Runners + Sandal = Randal (Photo). When Canucks traded Luongo, I wondered what to do with my Luongo jersey (photo). Other examples are the gum ball machine, $5.00 Walmart clock, jewelry holder, pencil holder, and used windows outside on my deck. These ideas did not come originally from me, but rather began with someone else. I began to question in my blog, “Teachers pay Teachers: An Online Craft Fair”, if teachers could do the same thing for free under the creative commons banner?
Then, in week three, we were going to find some quality O.E.R. to use in our classrooms! What I found was free is not always a good price. Quality is lacking at the elementary level, so you can waste a lot of time looking when you would have been better off making it yourself. I evaluated CK-12 Foundation in my blog “As Smart as a Third Grader”.
Week four, I was encouraged by Dean Shareski’s “Sharing: The Moral Imperative” and “Obvious to you, Amazing to others” video by Derek Sivers. How do we share our ideas? I wondered while I blogged, “Did I bury your gem?” if great ideas were being lost (buried in the ever growing pile of internet information) and if I was part of the problem? How can I be change if I’m part of the problem? We need to get organized!
Finally, in week five, I shared my solution to all our problems. “Why don’t we write a textbook?” In that blog I shared how we would save the tax payers millions of dollars, get teachers great O.E.R., and students would have a up-to-date textbook with inspiring lessons.
Knowing that resources are available to revise, reuse, remix, and redistribute aids me as a teacher in two main ways. First, I have resources available to me that are current and at no cost. This lets me do my job well. Secondly, and more importantly, students have access to this information allowing me to become a facilitator of information. Becoming more involved in sharing of information is a future goal of mine.