Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials in the public domain or released under an open license that permits their free use, adaptation, and redistribution. OER can be produced in any medium – digital or print. They include full courses, supplemental units and lessons, videos, and any other resource used to support access to knowledge.
Many districts are developing or adapting openly licensed resources. As a result, we have a tremendous opportunity to share resources across districts and reduce duplication of efforts. These small, competitive grants are provided to districts developing their own OER core or unit-level instructional materials.
The creation of a conceptual chemistry class and a conceptual physics class for general education students was recommended by our K-12 science curriculum review team. We have secured approval of this plan and new course from our Superintendent and School Board. The course will be ready for the 19/20 school year.
The new conceptual physics class will be primarily based on CK-12 OER materials and Next Generation Science Standard bundles. This project will bring together district teachers to collectively vet, adapt, differentiate, select, and supplement the core instructional material from CK-12. The resulting course will be openly licensed and accessible to all.
Oak Harbor District Group on OER Commons Washington Hub
There is a need for high-quality instructional materials to support implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards. The STEM Materials Center at ESD112 provides the core curriculum to hundreds of middle school teachers every year, and these materials are in need of adaptation to support student learning. It is not necessary to purchase new materials in order to implement the intent of the Framework for K–12 Science Education. This can be achieved by carefully adapting curriculum and fostering well-trained teachers and other leaders.
For the 2018-2019 school year, the project will be focused on developing integrated instructional units for early elementary (grades 1-2) that accompany science kits received by the districts in the STEM Materials Center. There will also be a focus to revise unit guides to include more explicit integrated connections with Common Core ELA and Math as well as to develop teacher support pages and assessments for the current and previous instructional units.
STEM Instructional Materials Group Website STEM Instructional Materials Group on OER Commons Washington Hub
Teachers will work in a professional learning community to inspire and promote improvement of teaching and learning about Native Americans. Participants will utilize the Spokane Tribal Lifeways curriculum, Native Knowledge 360, and adopted Central Valley School District curriculum to create engaging, rigorous, and contextually relevant learning opportunities. Project will help develop strong partnership with our tribal neighbors and motivate student learning by engaging in historical inquiry and civic engagement.
Central Valley School District Group on OER Commons Washington Hub.
The Seattle Schools Dual Language Immersion Social Studies OER project aims to identify, then translate and adapt, as needed, resources for teaching US History, Washington State History, including Since Time Immemorial, and World Geography at the middle school level in Spanish, Mandarin, and Japanese Dual Language Immersion programs. Many students in these programs are native or heritage speakers of their language and need access to appropriate academic materials in that language to meet the state’s learning standards for Social Studies. This is particularly a challenge for content in US History and Washington State History.
Social studies resources to be translated and adapted will come from existing open resources in English. They will be aligned to the state and district curriculum frameworks for Social Studies and include use of OSPI-developed Assessments for each unit in the curriculum. The materials will be housed on the OER Commons Washington Hub.
2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19
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