Openly licensed educational resources are not an entirely new concept in education.
In fact, the fundamental ethos of openly licensed educational resources (OER) is found within the 5 Rs concept connected to Creative Commons licensing: reuse, revise, remix, redistribute, and retain. Many educators have been practicing the 5 Rs for years in their own schools, districts, and professional networks.
Today, OER are defined as teaching, learning, and research resources that are free for educators to legally reuse, modify, and share with others, according to the Hewlett Foundation. Well-designed OER hold the potential to improve student learning and promote teacher collaboration.
The OER movement has been gaining momentum over the past year with the announcement of the first Open Education Advisor by the U.S. Department of Education and the launch of #GoOpen. In the 2013 ConnectED Initiative, President Obama issued a call to connect more schools with high-speed broadband, develop improved professional learning opportunities, and provide equitable access to mobile devices and high-quality digital resources that are modifiable and shareable. The plan signaled a shift in how the U.S. Department of Education and the White House viewed openly licensed educational resources.
In October 2015, the Department of Education launched #GoOpen to support P–12 school districts in the adoption of openly licensed educational resources. #GoOpen is composed of P–12 school districts that have made the commitment to replace at least one static, traditional textbook with openly licensed educational resources within a year. Then, in 2016, the department's Office of Educational Technology published the "#GoOpen District Launch Packet" to help schools get their OER work off the ground.
This resource presents practical, step-by-step guidance for how a district can set a goal and strategy, and then select and organize an OER team. The packet also addresses how to establish an infrastructure to support openly licensed educational resources, create a quality review process, and provide professional development.
This educational model is happening all over the country in districts large and small. The Department of Education's website features 12 district stories—plus resources and points of contact—about how schools have made the transition to openly licensed educational resources.
For instance, Coronado Unified School District, located just outside San Diego, has put together a detailed plan to #GoOpen. For the past four years, the district has been using OER to create core and supplemental instructional materials. When the district needed new high school science texts, it enlisted in-district educators to design a digital textbook using OER content. Among the lessons learned: Even though the resources that the teachers curated were free, their time in doing that work was not. Projects like these require a significant and ongoing commitment to ensure alignment to current standards, best practices, and student and teacher needs.
However, the benefit to teacher-writers is the professional development inherent in this work, as well as an increased collaboration among members of the departments or grade levels who create the materials. The work has paid off for students, too. The OER science textbook has allowed for more personalized learning and has resulted in higher scores on the state science test. Making the transition to openly licensed educational resources is essentially reinvesting in the teaching profession.
The sustainability of this movement will live within the exemplary work of school districts like Coronado Unified and the materials they create. In the end, #GoOpen will allow for equitable access to high-quality digital resources that support all students—no matter their zip code.
