A Request for K12 OER Communities, Practices, Repositories

Sometimes humans need to be the federators, not just platforms! So over in the Fediverse (not just mastodon, but that’s where), @margreta posted a question:

Yes, it’s broad, but let’s see if we can help her out!

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I’d imagine many such resources / efforts especially in the US they are likely found at the state level

By no means exhaustive, but from one of my many spreadsheets I found:

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Hi Margreta,

ISKME has built several K-12 focused digital libraries on the OER Commons (which itself covers K-12 as well as Higher Ed) platform. You can see a few here:

Virginia DOE: https://goopenva.org/
USVI: https://goopenusvi.vide.vi/
Michigan DOE: https://goopenmichigan.org/

There are several others, as well as some K-12 specific Hubs on OER Commons (see here: Network Hubs | OER Commons) – Oregon DOE and Nebraska are a couple of my favorites.

If you would like to learn more about ISKME’s OER work in K12 please let me know!

Mindy Boland
ISKME | OER Commons

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A few more shared by @danmcguire in Mastodon:

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Thank you so much, all of you, and esp Alan! :slight_smile: I will have a look at all of the links. What I want with this, is not so much to get access to resources, although I think in the long run we really need to collaborate on that level as well to make OER even more sustainable. What I would like, is a forum/an alliance of people working at with OER at K-12 level, to exchange experiences, methods, structures, etc. I met a lot of nice people in Nantes, and almost all of them worked at university level or with adults. Of course, we can learn a lot between levels as well, but I think if we could leverage K12 it could make the Open movement even stronger. :slight_smile:

Then a good place to spend time with (although it is focused on US states) the OER policy tracker by state from SPARC, their policy playbook which has many resources to organizations and OER projects, but probably the most helpful is their Connect OER Directory (great name, they used it first :wink: )

Oh and just found more! See How are states implementing open education resources (OER) in K–12 settings, including platforms, accessibility, and standards or criteria for content inclusion? from the US Department of Education Regional Educational Laboratory Program

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Hi Margreta,

Please join us on the #GoOpen National Network. The #GoOpen Hub is now launched to facilitate a collaborative community that works to elevate and broaden participation in K-12 open education nationally.

Looking forward to having you join the conversation!

Barbara Soots
Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Washington OER Hub

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Hi Barbara! Thank you so much for the invitation! I’ll join! :slight_smile:

I stumbled across something today, Margreta, which is not OER per se, but an open source learning system built by an International School in Hong Kong and used many other places.

I honestly do not know much about it beside the fact it’s developer, Ross Parker is a colleague who invited me to his school once to visit.

I happened there by reading Ross’s post on a teaching approach he uses called “Free Learning” (which is not Free as in cost)

Free running invites participants to use creativity, skill and strength to find new ways to navigate a landscape. It is fun, engaging and highly motivating for those who participate. It takes a space (urban or otherwise) and turns it on its head, drawing new function from an existing, very fixed, form.

In much the same way, Free Learning aims to provide students with an intellectual landscape through which they can playfully discover their own path. It promotes creativity, individuality, team work, freedom and taking responsibility.