Open Access and the Classrooms of Today

    Lately I have been delving into the idea of open education and all that it entails, especially in relation to the classrooms of today and tomorrow.   It seems that the idea of open education is one that is only growing in popularity, and for solid reasons.  Open classrooms provide current, easily accessible, easily adaptable digital resources to classrooms worldwide.  They save schools money by removing the need for textbooks, and by having multiple resources at the fingertips of students and teachers alike.   OERs may soon replace textbooks as they are superior in many ways.  The cost is minimal, they provide more student interaction, and are current with information.  A good summary of open education and it's benefits can be found here.  

     One of the aspects of OERs that I find most appealing is the opportunity for collaboration among educators.  I can borrow and adapt another teacher's lesson or activity, use it, and then share my work with others.  Even textbooks with online extras can't provide this sort of interaction between educators.  And this collaboration helps educators bring the very best, most current information into their classrooms.  Often this collaboration means that entire units, with formative and summative assessments, activities, and ideas for differentiation are already available to teachers, saving them time and energy.  This means they have more time dedicated to reflection and being as effective as possible, rather than wrung out from spending hours and hours outside of the school day searching for extras to engage their students when textbooks leave much to be desired.  

     As teachers, by utilizing OERs in our classrooms and by encouraging our students to collaborate with others via safe online forums, we can continue building open classrooms and participatory culture.  Our students already spend a great deal of their time in the digital world as they are digital natives.  They are constantly creating, publishing, and sharing information.  They are equal parts consumer and producer.   Teaching them how to safely and responsibly publish and share information, as well as making them aware of how to tell good sources from those masquerading as such will enhance their learning experience and increase their engagement with subject matter while increasing their awareness of the dangers the internet and it's connectivity pose.  

      Open learning is already being implemented in different fashions.  Many school districts offer online K-12 courses for free as part of a public school education.  While many of these have real time face-to-face interactions scheduled as part of the course, much of the course is taught whenever the student decides to sit in front of a screen.  I see this becoming more mainstream.  Parents who prefer to homeschool can do so more effectively, as the resources are at their fingertips.  And while I think that these open courses will increase in popularity, I think there is still a necessity for the structure the brick and mortal schools provide.  These schools often provide more than simply education, they provide social services such as counseling, free breakfast and/or lunch, free childcare, and true social interaction.  I think in most cases OER's will be used to enhance the education experience rather than replace it entirely.  

If you are currently looking for good OERs, I highly recommend you check this out.