In this presentation, we tell the story of Michigan's path towards a statewide strategy to develop and promote Open Educational Resources for K-12 schools.
Michigan’s OER efforts are underway. The initial work on OERs created by Michigan educators centers on social studies curriculum support materials through the MiOpen Books project. OERs that support other content areas, and will enhance the existing social studies materials, will be drawn from existing resources available around the nation and beyond.
As the OER movement continues, the state is now examining the use of a more robust platform to house existing and emerging resources and align the platform with the state education network (SEN) infrastructure and connect resources to student academic achievement data as we migrate to an integrated, personalized learning environment. A critical component of this enhanced approach will include how the meta-tagging of resources in ways that will allow educators to best personalize and integrate resources on behalf of student learning.
In February of 2016, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) announced that it had joined the U. S. Department of Education's (USED) #GoOpen campaign. Joining #GoOpen was an important moment in solidifying the MDE's ongoing process towards embracing OER in K12.
The MI Open Book Project is a multi-year textbook development project (http://textbooks.wmisd.org/index.html) that is funded through the MDE's Technology Infrastructure Readiness Grant (TRIG). The project has developed and continues to develop versions of open textbooks aligned to Michigan's curriculum, geography, and unique history.
In 2016, the MDE is attempting to build on this work by expanding its OER focus beyond a 1-1 replacement of publisher-produced textbooks with OER textbooks. The MDE sees OER as integral to its efforts to provide dynamic and personalized curriculum to its 1.5 million-plus students.
We specifically focus on two key strategic areas in our efforts to capitalize on the flexibility provided by the 5R permissions of OER: choosing a dynamic platform for OER delivery to students and expanding on existing meta-tagging to facilitate personalized learning options for teachers and students.
A key component in many successful community college adoption campaigns has been participating in communities of practice (CoP). Members of the CCCOER community of practice from across the US and Canada will share how participating in and leveraging the community activities supports their design of effective open educational practices and policies at their college.
Panelists:
Quill West, Open Education Project Manager, Pierce College District, CCCOER Advisory board president.
Sue Tasjian, Jody Carson, Northern Essex Community College, co-leaders of the Massachusetts Community College Go Open project.
Regina Gong, OER Project Manager, Lansing Community College
Jason Pickavance, Director of Educational Initiatives at Salt Lake Community College
Alisa Cooper, Glendale Community College Faculty, co-chair of the Maricopa Millions OER project.
Educause’s definitive Communities of Practice Design Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide for Designing & Cultivating Communities of Practice in Higher Education (Cambridge, Kaplan, Suter, 2005) identified 4 key activities that support the identified purposes of a CoP:
Develop Relationships and Build Trust
Learn and Develop Practice
Carry Out Tasks and Projects
Create New Knowledge
Develop Relationships and Build Trust
CCCOER members build community through participating in an active online discussion forum where new information and activities related to open educational practice and policy are shared. Members use this forum to get expert advice on finding and adopting OER, motivating faculty, involving students, and many other topics. Both asynchronous and synchronous online meetings are scheduled monthly to further support interactions.
Learn and Develop Practice
Monthly webinars and advisory meetings feature OER thought leaders from within the community and outside. These activities keep members tuned into new research findings, OER collaboration opportunities, and open education policy updates. Members are strongly encouraged to share their early project successes during online meetings and get feedback on various approaches. The CoP involves members in selecting specific topics for meetings and the annual member survey provides another vehicle to involve members in developing the focus for the CoP. Volunteering to serve on the executive team gives members experience in helping to build a CoP that reflects the diversity of its members.
All professional development webinars and other online meetings are recorded and provide ongoing artifacts for exchanging new knowledge. A campus OER toolkit is being revised to reflect new and evolving understanding of open educational policies and practices.
Carry Out Projects and Create New Knowledge
CCCOER panel presentations and workshops are organized at regional and national conferences to provide an opportunity for members to work together in-person, promote their OER adoption successes, and share new knowledge with colleagues throughout higher education. Panelists will describe how their participation in the CCCOER has informed and strengthened their local OER projects and helped them create and exchange knowledge with newcomers and experienced OER practitioners alike.
CCCOER works with over 250 colleges in 21 states and provinces to promote open educational practices and policies to expand access and to enhance teaching and learning at community colleges.
Last June, Achieving the Dream (ATD) announced the largest initiative of its kind to develop degree programs using high quality open educational resources (OER) at 38 community colleges in 13 states. The program is designed to help remove financial roadblocks that can derail students’ progress and to spur other changes in teaching and learning and course design that will increase the likelihood of degree and certificate completion.
Grantee colleges have been busy this summer and fall developing OER courses and planning the delivery of their OER Degree programs with cross-functional teams of stakeholders including faculty, librarians, administrators, and other staff. Grant partners Lumen Learning, the Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER), and SRI International are providing technical assistance, community of practice, and research support to grantees
Come and hear from a panel of four college leaders on their early successes, lesson learned, and challenges ahead in rolling out OER Degree programs to students over the next few years. Topics include fostering faculty and administrator engagement, effective professional development, creating awareness among students, measuring outcomes, and creating sustainable policies.
Panelists:
Clea Andreadis, Vice-Provost, Bunker Hill College, MA
Mark Johnson, Department Chair, English and Modern Languages, San Jacinto College, TX
Cynthia Lofaso, Psychology Professor, Central Virginia Community College, VA
Carlos Lopez, Vice-President of Academic Affairs, Santa Ana College, CA