Session 5--What Happens When You Merge Your Curriculum and a Wiki?

Session 5---Curriki.org

Wow has time flown.  We are now almost half-way through this course, so we should take the opportunity the week before April break (4/14) to meet again f2f for our second of three meetings. There we can go over coursework expectations for the rest of the semester, practice some hands-on content creation, and collaboratively modify the mid-term assignment to best suit Chariho High School's needs. Let pragmatism prevail!

We still have over three weeks before 4/14, so don't stress out too much. Please arrive with either a solid outline of what topics you'd like to realistically cover in you digital chapter, or the beginnings of what you have already begun to create.  (For those of you that have not gotten comfortable yet with how to start, please arrive with specific goals about what would be the most practical for your setting and we'll collaboratively get you moving in the right direction.)

This shouldn't be an overly-stressful course, so please feel free to ask questions, make mistakes, and communicate your obstacles, so that we can make this the most productive learning experience possible.

I'll reach out to Jessica and see if we can schedule that same room in the CHS Library from 3:15-6 for 4/14.  Now let's get started with S5!

Let's first watch this 5 min. video on the shift to Digital and Open Textbooks.

Now, on to Curriki. I had the good fortune to be speaking at a conference in DC in the Spring of '09 and that lead to a great networking opportunity.  I was lucky enough to be asked to join a cohort of six education professors from around the nation.  We were hired by Curriki to develop a series of online PD sessions on OER's (licensed under CC) that could be integrated into any teacher preparation program.

A great place to start is to hear about the history and mission behind the site. One of the biggest names in Silicon Valley, former Sun Microsystems CEO Scott McNealy, joins Curriki CEO Kim Jones to talk about their efforts to make learning materials free and open to everyone on the Internet.

Now there's no sense in re-creating the wheel, so I'll follow a similar procedure to Session 4.  Watch the videos below, pause them regularly, and try to re-create the instructions.  When we're finished you can explore on your own.

Let's start with, "Viewing a Resource in Curriki"

Now let's look at what members can do with resources.

With all of these resources available and at your fingertips, you'll need to be assured that your access the best and highest quality information, so let's next learn about, "Reviewed Resources."

We'll skip the screencasts on how to rate and comment on resources for now, b/c that's a little more advanced, but when you're ready you can view it here.

Now it's time for the fun part---finding useful stuff.  Let's start with, "Search Basics."

There are few things more frustrating than searching endlessly for a resource and not finding what you're looking for, so our next video will walk you through the "Advanced Search" options and filters.

Most of the benefits to using OER's can be increased exponentially by working collaboratively with a group of your peers, so the last video we'll watch will be on how to access and create 'groups' in Curriki.

I've always been a big proponent of pragmatism in teacher training, so for the rest of your time this week I'd like you to spend time exploring these resources and looking for material to suit your specific educational setting.  Please keep track of your thoughts and reflections and post them under S5's entry before next Tuesday.

For those chomping at the bit for us to cover eReaders and tablets---your time will be here soon.  Here's some of the latest data:


Have fun!

PS-Here are the comments from past teachers that took this course:
Spring '13
Summer '12

Session 4-eBooks--CK12

In Session 3's 'Readings' in the syllabus, I had you read a little about CK-12. (Based upon a comment from one of you last session, you can get carried away exploring its resources.) They currently have mostly STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subject material, but have now begun adding Humanities as well.

There are a few of you taking this course that teach in the latter subject areas, but if CK-12's model holds true, then they will have textbooks and workbooks in your disciplines w/i the next year or two.

Now you won't be taking this course in a year or two, so I'd like you to spend some time this week poring through CK-12's resources and practicing with the interface, so when that day comes you'll be the first one in your school to be using this great tool.

Let's start by watching this brief intro. video that my friend Neeru put together recently to introduce herself and CK-12.





Now, in case you didn't get a chance to do the readings from last week or need a refresher, give their, 'About Us' page a skim now.  When you've finished I'd like you to read the most recent news articles about them..

You should be pretty excited and inspired about the possibilities at this point.  I was when I first learned about them in 2008.  I reached out to Neeru to explore building a collaboration and she flew me out to Silicon Valley in November '08 to meet with her, and her co-founder, about their work. I was so enthralled that I decided to add their resources to this course to help share their vision, and also to help contribute to the movement myself.

Imagine if our entire state began to use open education resources (OER) to 'collectively' write our own textbooks and curriculum material, and then began sharing them with each other. Sounds beyond reach doesn't it? But some systems and State Dept.'s of Education are trying just that. Read about Virginia for example. (and that was six years ago!)  There's more about their plan here as well.

Now CK-12 just really began taking off around August of '08, so as I mentioned above, they don't have every discipline yet. But, like I said, they plan to broaden to other areas soon. Here's a brief demonstration to watch.  When you're done watch this one they had an intern pull together:

Introducing CK-12 Foundation's Digital Learning Tools - #2 from CK-12 Foundation on Vimeo.

Now if this all scares you a little or you feel a little intimidated---that's justified.  Some of you mentioned in your comments from the last session that you were apprehensive about 'publishing' your material until you reached a certain comfort level.  That's to be expected.

I'm sure that you have a lot of questions. The biggest concern I hear is about the quality of the information. We'll go into more detail about that in the next few sessions, but for now think about how many teachers stray from the textbooks in their classes and instead use quality, credible information that they have screened using their professional judgment.

Now think about how much information teachers have in their heads. If they took the time to write it out, and share it freely with the world, we would have a tremendously powerful tool.  I'd like you to spend the rest of your time trying to play with CK-12's Flexbooks. See if you can find one to use in your educational setting, and as I mentioned before, don't write it off so quickly b/c they don't have anything in your discipline or grade level just yet.  The practice today, will pay off tomorrow.

To be perfectly honest, most people just access and use these Flexbooks, rather than make changes to them to personalize things for their educational setting, but Id still like you too tutorials linked here.

So, for those of you that think you have topics w/i CK12's database, please begin to experiment and collate your flexbook.  Review the video tutorials a few times if you need to and remember, you can add additional content to these over time, perpetually improving upon your eTextbook.

For those of you that can't find content here, please focus your attention back on OER Commons (from Session 3) and begin to collate material, connect the content to CCSS, that you can use for your digital chapter or book. Keith and Jack, I'm hoping that you will contact each other and find some common ground to build a collaboration. Remember, your over arching goal for taking this course is to create a digital chapter, multiple chapters, or even an entire eTextbook to support your discipline.

Good luck and as always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Past participants' comments:
Spring '13

Dave Fontaine

DaveFontaine1@gmail.com

922-Session 3-The Open Educational Resources Movement

Welcome to Session 3--"The Open Educational Resources Movement (continued)"

"OER's are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge."  William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

This week we'll stray from the usual format and work completely from this blog entry and the assignments/readings on the syllabus.

Start with this video.  I know that most of you have already gone through the OER Commons Tutorial, and that should have really given you a good overview, but watch this video.  The speaker gives you some additional 'quick' resources to gain more of a solid foundation on the concepts.  As he goes through resources, pause the video and try to recreate his steps.

Next, I'd like you to watch this video on the impact of  'open' on teaching and learning:  

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1. Now I'd like you to read a little more about "How Resources are Organized" w/i OERcommons, then pore through the rest of the instructions to help you more easily find useful and practical Digital Content.
2. Once you've finished with the dull stuff from # 1, you can then dive in and really get to use this resource.  The only realistic way to get familiar with Digital Content that is free to use is to jump right in, so for the next hour or so, I'd like you explore the OERcommons site. (Ideally to find material that is practical for your setting.) They have a new tool there called, "Open Author".  I haven't used it yet, so spend some time playing with it to see if this might me a good spot for you to begin collating your content for your discipline. Once you've had your fill, share out under the 'comments' link below the Session 3 posting.  Let us know what you found, what your impression is, and forecast what this trend will mean for your workplace setting.
3. When you are done with posting your comments,  I'd like you to begin exploring the link below.  Dozens, if not hundreds, of colleges and universities are now offering many of their courses for free. Through podcasts, videocasts, and free downloads of supplemental material a motivated person could acquire the equivalent of a degree, completely on their own and for FREE! Spend some time visiting the schools from this link and check out some of the free material available for your discipline. If you visit the MIT link you'll see that they have over 2000 courses freely accessible. It's mind-blowing and exciting, but be careful not to spend too much time there. Every time I visit this site, 2-3 hours disappear in the blink of an eye.
4. Now if this all scares you a little or you feel a little intimidated---that's justified. I'm sure that you have a lot of questions. The biggest concern I hear is about the quality of the information. We'll go into more detail about that in the next few sessions, but for now think about how many teachers stray from the textbooks in their class and instead use high-quality, credible information that they have screened using their professional judgment.

Now think about how much information teachers have in their heads. If they took the time to write it out, and share it freely with the world, we would have a tremendously powerful tool.

Well, that's probably more than enough information for this week. If your eyes aren't going buggy by now then spend the rest of your time trying to exploring the different colleges linked from #3. See if you can find one to use in your educational setting.

You'll notice in the syllabus I had you read a little snippet or two on CK-12.org.  I had hoped to cover some of them this week, but I was afraid that I'd overwhelm you.  You'll notice that I have been 'polling' you to see how much time your spending going through these resources each week.  I'm trying not to overwhelm, while at the same time, I'm challenged with giving you enough information for you to gain a solid foundation.  I'll take another poll this week about the workload and will adjust each week's load accordingly.  Please keep the suggestions coming.

Good luck and as always please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.

Dave Fontaine

DaveFontaine1@gmail.com

PS--Read the comments from past participants:
Spring '13

922-Session 2-The Ultimate Tool for Collaboration

Welcome to Session 2-Where we'll get a great overview of wikis and their connection to our course curriculum and get a small taste of Open Educational Resources.

Most of you are getting the hang of using this forum and are becoming more adept at posting and downloading. Remember to post your insights and comments in the 'comment' section (demonstration video here) and also remember to return regularly to read your peers' comments.


In order to facilitate a truly collaborative setting (one in which we can begin to foster an environment where we can benefit from the 'Collective Knowledge' of all the participants here) I am asking that you make a special, concerted effort to try to respond or comment upon, at least, one other posting from w/i each session starting with Session 2. This may mean going back and revisiting the blog after you have posted because you may be the first or second person to post your thoughts. This is not a requirement, but it is a request---one that will help benefit all of us and truly foster a collaborative network of learners and educators!  The most efficient method for this is to make sure that you have signed up for a Blogger account.  If you already have a Google account with any of G's other services like gmail or Google Docs, then you may use that.  After you post your comment to our blog and before you hit the publish button, you'll see an option to have future comments emailed to you.  Choose that.  There is a tremendous font of knowledge among this group.  Don't miss out on the insights and experiences of your peers.

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This session will find us broadening the scope of our view of wikis. This information is pertinent to our discussions on digital content because as the semester unfolds we'll see our definition of user-created content evolve.  The merging and integration of e-books with additional multimedia (screencasts, interactive simulations, podcasts, videos,...) is changing so rapidly that no one can predict what our students will be using in just a few short years.  Some surveys predict eBook penetration w/i school libraries to increase 14 fold by 2016.

We will begin this session by taking a look at the benefits of wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools, for students, teachers, and the entire educational community. We'll view some screencasts and videos that give us students' perspectives, as well as hear from teachers from across the K-12 spectrum.  Each and every one will be focused upon how Web 2.0 tools have changed the way they teach and learn, and also demonstrate how teachers are becoming the authors of Digital Content shared with the world freely under an "Open" philosophy.

And lastly, we'll end by discussing the fluid definition of the word, "literacy" and try to pin it down in a 21st century classroom---a classroom where the walls have come down and the world is flat. There are lots of different interpretations out there.  And as I stated above--prior definitions are changing quickly.  Under the subject heading of Wikis there are an increasing number of sub-headings.  Google Docs has evolved to be a very wiki-like tool.

Before you download this week's session:

• Please read this article from SLJ called, "Things are Changing Fast."  It reminds us that those of us that run into technology-roadblocks are not alone (unfortunately). When you are finished reading that article, also read, "Not Just the Lucky Ones."
• Then visit: http://www.edweb.net/ebooks  and join the community if you haven't already.

Lastly, you may access and read past participants' comments about the educational uses of wikis here:
Spring '13 comments,
Summer '12 comments,
Spring '12 comments
as well as here and here.


Also, please watch this video introducing you to Google Play (now has Google's digitized books initiative integrated).

Good luck and I look forward to reading your comments, insights, and reflections.

DF
PS--You may find a back-up copy of this week's presentation here. Just search for the term: "edc922" and then choose the appropriate session to view and listen to.