In 2008, ISKME conducted a study to examine the feasibility of and design for an initiative that engages teachers, learners, and practitioners in the collaborative process of developing, using, and improving freely available Open Educational Resources (OER) in the arts and in social justice. That work revealed an opportunity to increase greater creative, equitable participation in teaching and learning the arts in K-12 classrooms. (more…)
What Makes Resources “travel well?” Educators are accessing and using Open Educational Resources (OER), but little is known about the reuse of resources, and what makes them localizable across multiple teaching and learning situations. In an effort to better understand user needs and OER reusability, ISKME has conducted research to explore a resource’s ability to “travel well,” meaning its ability to be used and reused in a context different from that which it may have been originally intended.
Based in South Africa, Siyavula was launched in 2008 with the purpose of offering curriculum-aligned open educational resources (OER) to teachers across all grades, subjects, and learning areas. Siyavula resources include a comprehensive set of workbooks and teacher’s guides, in English and Afrikaans, covering grades R-9 for all learning areas. Also included are advanced mathematics and physical science course materials, covering grades 10-12. (more…)
A wide range of individuals and organizations are actively involved in the development of free-to-use open educational resources (OER). Because the field is so new, there have been few opportunities to share learnings and advances across projects and boundaries. Little is known, for example, about how projects are facilitating the adaptation of open content by diverse users, what structures they are instilling to support peer production, and how they are attempting to inspire community engagement.
ISKME is conducting research for the Community College Open Textbook Collaborative (CCOTC). Open textbooks are defined as textbooks that are free for anyone to use, reuse, and redistribute. The purpose of CCOTC is to identify, organize, and support the production and use of high quality, accessible and culturally relevant open textbooks for community college students, and to develop a sustainable network of individuals and organizations engaged in advocating for the use of open textbooks in community colleges.
