Teachers can find and use Open Educational Resources (OER) using the internet. I like how Roberts and Noble summarize their article by stating that teachers understand and emphasize the importance of “sharing is caring”. I have learned throughout this program that teaching is a team job and you really do work together with your colleagues and administrators quite closely. If you are looking for good OER you can ask your colleagues, coworkers, administrators or reach out to professionals in the field to find new sources.
I already believed that OER can be more beneficial for learners than using textbooks. I think Kimmons provides excellent examples of possible limitations of textbooks “1) It may not be written at a reading level appropriate for classroom students; 2) It may not be organized in a manner that aligns with state standards or with scaffolded learning in the subject area; 3) It may not include supplementary resources that can be useful for students and teachers, such as meaningful practices, quizzes, lesson plans, classroom activities, rubrics, and so forth; 4) It may not be written in a manner that allows teachers to easily integrate the material into  diverse  classrooms  in  response  to  cultural,  community,  or  geographic considerations or to individual student needs “ (Kimmons, in press).
I learned from the Wiley reading that the copyright licenses of OER allow everyone to retain, reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute. These are otherwise known as the 5 R’s.
I hope to compile a list of OER incase I need them one day as a teacher. This week I have seen the value of OER and learned ways to find them.
Reflective summary:Â I believe I have covered all the learning outcomes in my optional activities and by doing this blog post as my final activity it really brings them all together. The act of blogging and sharing my learning online with others connects to “Develop an awareness of the potential of human-centered learning in online and open learning contexts”. Â From the weekly reading I can check off “Explore and engage with current literature on the distributed and open education movement”. I wrote about alternatives to hard copy textbooks which related to the outcome “Critically reflect on and articulate concepts around modality, pedagogy, and access, including distributed and open learning theory, online and open learning history, privacy laws, online learning communities, open research, and open data.” and also touched on how OER can be more inclusive which relates to “Examine and reflect upon the potential for equitable access for all learners in online and open learning contexts.” Blogging is also a form of digital networking so this activity also connects to “Practice digital, networked, and open literacies in support of learning about distributed and open learning”.
Sources:
Kimmons, R. (2015). OER quality and adaptation in K-12: Comparing teacher evaluations of copyright-restricted, open, and open/adapted textbooks. The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning. 16(5), 39–57. https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v16i5.2341
Roberts, V. & Noble, S. (2020). Developing a Creative Commons Mindset: The Practical Aspects of OER from a K-12 Alberta School District Perspective. [Weblog]. Retrieved fromhttp://verenaroberts.ucalgaryblogs.ca/2020/06/25/deve loping-a-creative-commons-mindset-the-practical-aspe cts-of-oer-from-an-k-12-alberta-school-district-perspect ive/
Wiley, D. & Hilton, J. (2018). ​Defining OER-enabled Pedagogy​. ​International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, 19(​ 4). http://dx.doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v19i4.3601
July 27, 2020 at 5:43 pm
I’m really glad you chose to do the blog post 4, as I am also doing it and love to see others’ perspectives. I thought Kimmons’ study on traditional textbooks, open resources, and open/adapted resources shone a light on the reality that one size really doesn’t fit all, and in fact that open/adapted offers the highest quality results in comparison to copyright-restricted textbooks that cannot be remixed/revised for personalization of learning.