Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/859531
"at's exactly what it is," says Oxnard Educators Association member Karen Sher, a seventh-grade teacher who is on special assignment as an instructional coach. "[OER] gives teachers more freedom, but it puts a lot on them in terms of research." Sher became a specialist in the Library of Congress's OER after attend- ing its summer institute several years ago, and vouches for the primary sources it makes avail- able to teachers. While the Library of Congress may not be as well known as other OER sources, it offers a wealth of resources for educators, according to Sher. Sher asserts that regardless of the quality resources available online, "where the real magic happens is when teachers collaborate." Pia VanMeter, co-chair of the Curriculum and Instruction Committee of CTA's State Council of Education and high school science teacher, would agree. When her district rolled out an open source math curriculum, it was a disaster because there was not adequate staff development. "Teachers were working on the curriculum while trying to teach the curriculum," says the Riverside City Teachers Association member. "Open source as an idea is great but you need to critically look at it and make sure it is aligned to standards." Collaboration and staff development are key The Cajon Valley Education Association (CVEA) has a joint curriculum committee with the Cajon Va l l e y Un i f i e d S c h o o l D i st r i c t t o d e t e r m i n e , among other curriculum decisions, the selection and uses of OER . The district is among those selected by the U.S. Department of Education as part of its #GoOpen initiative. The committee's work began two years ago when teachers started to question the superintendent's "all in" campaign to include OER as part of its curriculum. "Our association began to ask, ' What is that going to look like? Are we going to meet the requirements of Common Core? What about English learners? Who is going to create the curriculum?' " says CVEA President Christopher Prokop. "We became the adults in the room." Despite the early issues, teachers and the dis- trict are working together, and Prokop credits the district for wanting to "get off the textbook adoption merry-go-round" that is driven by big publishing companies. Teachers districtwide now have a modified Monday schedule that allows time for collaboration and staff development (including on OER) in teacher-driven meetings. 21 A U G U S T / S E P T E M B E R 2 017 Karen Sher Pia VanMeter Christopher Prokop Where to Find OER F I N D I N G A N D V E T T I N G high- quality, standards-aligned Open Educational Resources (OER) can be challenging. Here are some expert recommendations: ck12.org — An established resource offering full lesson plans easily incorporated into classrooms. edmodo.com — An OER pioneer with a time-saving "Spotlight" search to find specific elements. opened.com — This OER has an enormous range of assessments. gooru.org — Provides both lesson plans and full courses that can be downloaded and used for free. curriki.org — Another early OER resource that lets teachers easily share their own lessons. collaborationincommon.org — An OER hub, along with many other resources for educators. Source: Elliot Soloway, International Society for Technology in Education CK-12