ERIC Number: EJ1333472
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2021
Pages: 15
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-1923-1857
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Addressing the K-12 Open Educational Resources Awareness Niche: A Virtual Conference Response
Blomgren, Connie; Henderson, Serena
Alberta Journal of Educational Research, v67 n1 p68-82 Spr 2021
Since the 2002 UNESCO forum, raising awareness of the benefits and challenges to Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education have been integral to the broader Open Education (OE) movement. In the K-12 sector, however, an understanding of OER has been less advanced, although there are pockets of K-12 OER innovators throughout Canada and the United States. The 2015 U.S. Department of Education #GoOpen initiative, had over 20 American states move toward the use of K-12 OER, and within Canada, various provinces have begun investigating OER for both financial and pedagogical reasons. Because the use of K-12 OER inheres curricular decisions from the classroom teacher to all levels of governance, the move toward OER additionally involves a variety of sophisticated and complex digital and system-wide supports. This shift from the legacy educational system to the emerging practices where educators employ participatory technologies to curate, share out, and use studentgenerated curricular content requires awareness-building of these pedagogical and technological changes. Despite these impending shifts, the awareness, use, and the advocacy for K-12 OER as a nascent topic for professional learning, at present there are no dedicated specialist councils or professional organizations to support Canadian K-12 OER educators. To address this professional learning need, a virtual satellite conference was offered for in-service teachers as part of a network supported through the Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition (SPARC), the Right to Research coalition, and the OpenCon platform. The OpenCon 2018 K-12 Athabasca virtual conference offered free professional learning regarding these changes in resource sourcing, creating, licensing, and sharing. Through meeting software, K-12 educators from Canada and beyond were able to learn about OER, Open Pedagogy, and the implications these changes bring to the teaching and learning processes. The virtual conference concluded with the Remix Panel that catalyzed topics from an OpenCon17 Berlin higher education discussion, remixing them for the K-12 context. Because this virtual conference has no precedent within Canada, the organizers of this inaugural event summarize its planning and execution, and explicate the significance of offering and archiving the presentations as part of the initiative to build a stronger awareness and understanding of K-12 OER current practices.
Descriptors: Elementary Secondary Education, Open Educational Resources, Foreign Countries, Conferences (Gatherings), Professional Associations, Instructional Material Evaluation, Media Selection
University of Alberta, Faculty of Education. 845 Education Centre South, Edmonton, AB T6G 2G5, Canada. Tel: 780-492-7941; Fax: 780-492-0236; Web site: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/ajer/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Canada
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A