OER in K-12: Successes, Challenges, Lessons Learned (and Learning) Barbara Soots Open Educational Resources Program Manager Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction barbara.soots@k12.wa.us Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

Washington K-12 OER Project Policy Awareness and Advocacy Quality Review In 2012, Washington passed legislation directing the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) to create a library of OER and promote awareness and adoption. Over the past five years, the K-12 OER Project has evolved in response to stakeholder needs – experiencing many successes and challenges to share with the OER community. Approached from 3 different angles Policy Awareness Quality review

Policy Washington State School Directors’ Association model policy encouraged consideration of OER. Course Design, Selection, and Adoption of Instructional Materials OSPI enacted policy to require open licensing on all work by staff, contractors, and grantees. On the policy front, work with the Washington State School Directors’ Association created model Instructional Material Adoption policy that recognized OER as an option for core instructional material consideration. In addition, OSPI adopted an agency wide Copyright and Open Licensing Policy that requires that all original work by OSPI staff, contractors, or grantees be openly licensed. We hope that this will be a model for school district policy. OSPI Copyright and Open Licensing Policy

Awareness and Advocacy OER Summits OER Grants Content-specific OER Bootcamps OER Commons and #GoOpen OER Summits explored the benefits of OER Grants to groups implementing OER provided legitimacy to the work and encouraged districts to look closely at OER options as viable choices. Joining the #GoOpen initiative provided access to a large community of OER champions across the US willing to share critical expertise and resources

Quality Review Reviewed OER Library Evaluating OER quality led to an OER Library reviewed using the same procedure as traditional materials and generated a cadre of teacher OER advocates. Reviewed OER Library

Challenges Rhino by Chris Ingrassia – CC BY

Beware the glamour of free Addressing misconceptions about what OER is and is not remains an issue. Assess needs and have a firm awareness of capacity of district The cost savings argument for OER does not work for K-12 instead refocus to cost shifting Print costs, time, development expertise all cost

OER brings up conversions about many other issues. Gets tangled in conversations about a lot of other issues and sometimes its hard to tease out OER Guaranteed and viable curriculum Personalization How much adaptation is allowed before IMC review and new adoption Many school boards struggle with the adoption of adaptable resources that could impact fidelity of implementation district wide Photo by Mihai Surdu on Unsplash

Wide-scale sharing takes work Photo by Elaine Casap on Unsplash Bad habits are hard to change- especially when they are pretty consequence free Encouraging a culture of document sharing beyond the district LMS can be difficult -- OER shines light on copyright issues that have been ignored when resources are kept in-house Wide-scale sharing takes work

Lessons Learned

Start small Openly licensed images are a good lace to start Use supplemental activity as a gateway to more robust material Recognize the spectrum of use cases and don’t have educators jump into the deep end before they are ready ) Photo by Glen Carrie on Unsplash

Careful what you ask for... (Be Prepared) If you are going to require grantees and contractors to openly license work – be prepared to help them do this Licensing guidance for staff and contractors and general public version Quickstart guide to openly licensed images Photo by twintiger007 | CC BY

OER Commons Washington Hub OER Development Group OER Project Website OER Commons Washington Hub OER Development Group OSPI Interactive Copyright and Licensing Guide If you are going to require grantees and contractors to openly license work – be prepared to help them do this Licensing guidance for staff and contractors and general public version Quickstart guide to openly licensed images Photo by twintiger007 | CC BY

Find the balance Balance between comprehensive info and overwhelming participants Photo by Jonathan Pendleton on Unsplash

Pick your battles Photo by Henry Hustava on Unsplash

Get buy-in from all stakeholders Secure buy in from all stakeholders and address implementation (delivery and professional development) The team by Uitleg & tekst | CC BY

Voices from the field carry more weight Find the stars and help them shine Washington has advocated district consideration of OER. This message has been amplified by a similar push from the U.S. Department of Education. Having a dedicated program at the state level is critical to provide ongoing guidance about the inclusion of OER as an important part of the instructional materials ecosystem. However, to scale the work partners and collaborators are needed at the district, state, and national level. Photo by Jordan McQueen | Unsplash

All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. Contact Information @waOSPI_OER barbara.soots@k12.wa.us Sign up for newsletter OER Project Website Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners.