As Wikipedia, itself a partner in an Open Education project called Wikiversity, defines them, "Open educational resources [OER] are educational materials and resources offered freely and openly for anyone to use and under some licenses to re-mix, improve and redistribute. Open educational resources include:

• Learning content: full courses, course materials, content modules, learning objects, collections, and journals.
• Tools: Software to support the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content including searching and organization of content, content and learning management systems, content development tools, and on-line learning communities.
• Implementation resources: Intellectual property licenses to promote open publishing of materials, design-principles, and localization of content."

Click here for an informative overview of OER--or, if you'd like to experience this type of free online learning, take a self-paced tutorial.
Click here for a list of upcoming meetings and trainings about OER.

The Los Angeles Community College District is a member of The Community College Consortium for Open Educational Resources (CCCOER), "a joint effort by the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, the League for Innovation in the Community College and many other community colleges and university partners to develop and use open educational resources (OER) in community college courses" (cccoer.wordpress.com).

The most recent focus for the CCCOER is the Community College Open Textbook Project, which is seeking the support of faculty to identify, review, evaluate, and make available high quality, accessible and culturally relevant model Open Textbooks.

To do this, we are calling upon the faculty of the LACCD to pursue a common goal of identifying, creating, and/or repurposing existing OER as Open Textbooks and make them available for use by community college students and faculty.

To join the effort now underway in the LACCD through its membership in the CCCOER, please contact Deborah L. Harrington, Dean of Institutional Effectiveness/Student Success via email at dharrington@email.laccd.edu or via phone at 213. 891. 2115. You can also sign the national Open Textbooks Faculty Statement of intent of the Campaign to Reduce College Textbook Costs.

There are lots of links providing OER learning content, tools, and implementation resources. Here are a few to explore:

http://www.hewlett.org/Programs/Education/OER/
http://www.oercommons.org/
http://cnx.org/
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/minisite/
http://www.wikibooks.org/
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
http://www.montereyinstitute.org/index.html
80 OER Tools for Publishing and Development Initiatives
http://www.edu20.org/
http://globaltext.terry.uga.edu/?q=node/1
http://www.ucopenaccess.org/
http://creativecommons.org/
http://www.iskme.org/
http://wikieducator.org/Main_Page


SuccessNet Event Alert!
On April 11, 2008, LATTC's own Dr. Bradley Vaden presented a hands-on workshop session focused on creating a "Classroom 2.0" environment for students during our very first SuccessNet event. Many of his suggestions incorporate OER; please click here for an overview of the session and links to many valuable learning tool sites.


Share and Discuss

As noted on YouTube:
"This video explores the changes in the way we find, store, create, critique, and share information. This video was created as a conversation starter, and works especially well when brainstorming with people about the near future and the skills needed in order to harness, evaluate, and create information effectively."

What implications does this video and your response to it suggest in regards to the future of teaching and learning both inside and outside the traditional classroom? Start a thread below or create a new discussion forum.