How “conventional” do open textbooks need to be?
I’m working on some product plans and business models for open textbooks in K-12 and have been thinking a lot about how “textbook-like” they need to be to get broad adoption. A lot of the work in OER...
View ArticleOpenness, technology, state politics, and the challenges of poverty
There was a fascinating article in the Texas Tribune this week about the recent legislation in Texas that, among other things, appears to allow textbook money to be directed toward technology, calls...
View ArticleThinking about platforms for open learning
This is a different kind of post for me… I’m really thinking out loud and looking for folks more knowledgeable than me to make suggestions. I’m working on an OER project plan to develop open...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Shareable media sets
Awhile back, I was thinking about the idea of shareable media sets — collections of open-licensed photos, diagrams, maps, audio, video, etc. that could be used by teachers or students in word-processed...
View ArticleGoogle Docs: A case study in K-12 adoption of innovation
When considering how to advance the adoption of OER by K-12, I often come down on the side of advocating for more traditional, comfortable formats, including open textbooks and fairly linear online...
View ArticleDon’t forget the teachers
It is an exciting time for OER in K-12. The value proposition for K-12 education is high. There is a perfect storm of circumstances with the Common Core standards and forthcoming assessments, calls for...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tags for new Common Core standards
With several different groups (districts, states, publishers, etc.) working on tagging content assets — especially open ones — for the new Common Core standards, a group of us thought it might be...
View ArticleHow Do Cultures Change? (part 1)
The culture of K-12 education in America is very staid. It is dominated by hierarchical structures and influenced by powerful lobbies. It is a huge, slow-moving bureaucracy generally not influenced by...
View ArticleClik here to view.
OER at ISTE
Are you interested in OER in K-12? If you’re coming to ISTE, please join us at the Birds of a Feature session “Open Education and Open Educational Resources” on Tuesday, June 28 from 5:00pm–6:15pm....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Positioning “open”– Free
Credit: Alan Levine, CC BY In my continuing thoughts on ways to position open educational resources for the K-12 market, I now turn to the issue of “free.” I have two concerns about using the term...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Where we become a commercial publisher (to take commercial publishing down?)
Much of my research to date on the adoption and implementation of K-12 OER core curriculum in ELA and math has led me to the realization that, to schools, price is not a significant factor in adoption....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Adoption and implementation of K-12 core instructional materials – final report
As many of you know, I’ve spent much of this year working on a project to explore the adoption and implementation of K-12 core instructional materials and to explore business models for the successful...
View Article
