Ralph Ortiz's Blog: ECM #149 OER: Teaching Without Traditional Textbooks

Award Winning Science Teacher Amy Pace Shares How She Uses OER Textbooks

Amy Pace is a Presidential Award winning science teacher. She is using “free” OER textbooks for all her courses. OER stands for Open Education Resources which are often curated by experts via grants and other means. Of course, nothing is free. These textbooks take time, curation, and customization. Visionary states, districts, and schools might find a money-saving resource with OERs.

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Amy is on the textbook approval committee in Utah. The Utah Open Textbook project teams up top teachers to curate and create OER textbooks. These textbooks meet state standards. You can print them for $5 a piece. Amy says,

“Teachers across the state appreciate the work that was put in by the team of teachers to create a high quality product that is ready for them to use.”

There are limitations, however. Those who like a “classroom in a box” or want every single ancillary created and done for them, may not find a good fit in OER. But for those of us who take the teacherpreneurship approach, OER can be perfect.

Amy Pace is a nationally recognized science teacher who is getting excellent results from OER textbooks.

Revision is the key success factor for standards, textbooks, and practices that will succeed in the 21st century.

If you don’t revise, it dies.

MY MESSAGE ON STANDARDS & TEXTBOOKS: If you don’t revise, it dies. Vicki Davis

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Notice how the State of Utah had the teachers create the textbook and then revise it just one year later. Teachers give feedback and it is fixed. A five to ten-year textbook revision cycle is no longer acceptable.

Today’s show is an incredible collection of best practices and thoughts around Open Education Resources. Using OERs will help many struggling districts if they’ll take the time to understand and use them properly.

If students are learning the information they need using OER, there’s no argument about quality. Amy Pace

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Take Aways from Today’s Show

@apaceMHAcad
CK12.org http://www.ck12.org/ – The nonprofit textbook organization that Amy uses to customize her textbooks
OER Commons – Index of OER Resources
OER Resource Roundup by Edutopia
Utah’s Open Textbook Project – for states or district who want to follow this model

Thanks for listening to Every Classroom Matters! We’re now running over 50,000 downloads per month! Thank you. You’ll notice a few changes in the next weeks as we’ve got sponsors who will be supporting the show. If you believe in the show and what we’re doing, contact errol@coolcatteacher.com for more information on how you can become a sponsor. Thanks for listening. Remember – level up a little every day! -Vicki

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