Gooru Learning recently posed the question, "What are your thoughts on OER?", and given our role in OER systems development and research over the last 15 years, generating a comprehensive answer seemed like a valid exercise. Diagram of OER Providers OER can be an emerging key ingredient in helping all schools and all teachers formulate a more rich [...]
California has been experimenting with an online model that blends professional development with collaborative curriculum design to help promote improved instruction and use of digital open educational resources. And in an era when current data shows billions of dollars annually spent on professional development has yielded little measurable improvement, California has instead been wrestling with the accelerated success of their program statewide. What [...]
Navigation North is proud to receive recognition for the research-based work we have conducted with our colleagues at the Smithsonian in developing and shaping the Smithsonian Learning Lab. Digital Promise convened experts at Teachers College, Columbia University to review and selected one exemplary company and two honorable mentions in each category. EdSurge reported on the findings, identifying Smithsonian Learning Lab for its work [...]
The seeds all looked more or less the same as did the work to plant them. Now there are tomatoes, wildflowers, peppers, sunflowers, and corn well on its way. A convergence of exquisite and diverse flora from a common environment of soil and water, experience and effort. We have been involved in some interesting conversations around what's working for schools and districts and what's [...]
The phrase was coined by French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose. Aside from writing a number of novels and serving as the editor of Le Figaro, he was a former teacher, known for his keenly satirical tone and bitter wit, and loved educational reform and going fishing. Go figure. I was recently sent a folder of instructional documents that [...]
OER sometimes looks like millions of random musical notes at its most granular level. They can be organized in many different ways by different practitioners to create entirely different songs...and at times, some projects choose to do a bit of assembly and organize the notes into certain kinds of songs or sheets of pre-constructed music to lend more structure and focus. I find this [...]
We were only two hours in, yet Sarah and I had already hustled through the exhibitor floor, meandered in the Playground, created LED-light up clouds in a Makers Space session, and caught half a panel discussion on Competency-Based assessment. Now on the hunt for coffee, my 4th grade teacher companion, sporting a Canvas LMS tattoo sleeve, and Kahoot stickers proclaimed, "Wow, this is so different than any other conference." [...]
