Rapidly Responding with Relevant OER Over the Past Year
It has been a year since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization and schools around the globe began closing. As we at ISKME reflect on the past year of educators and learners adapting to the many challenges that have arisen with school closures, we wanted to showcase how our community has been rapidly responding with relevant Open Educational Resources (OER) to meet the needs of the moment. Below are a few examples of how educators have collaborated to create and share OER to help respond to these unprecedented times:
K-12 Remote Learning Hub ISKME librarians worked diligently to pull together a K-12 OER Hub to support schools transition to remote learning with collections organized by grade, subject area, and provider.
Anthropology Mini-Lecture Project responded to the need faculty had to transition their courses online by coordinating 10 faculty that recorded mini-lectures where they presented their research and shared additional supplemental resources such as slides, lecture notes, readings, and more.
Continuous Learning Collections Washington State’s Office of Public Instruction created and curated collections of remote learning resources that you can browse by either content area or target audience, such as families, youngest learners, students with disabilities, multilingual / English learners, and more.
Coronavirus Simulator Thomas Riisgaard Hansen, Kite Invent og Aarhus Universite designed and developed a simulator that visualizes how a virus like the COVID-19 spreads and what we can do to contain it.
Appalachia IU Lessons Virtual Learning Specialist Tracy Rains created various lessons to analyze bias, media literacy, civil rights, and more.
2020 OER Hub Summit ISKME hosted a virtual Summit for OER Hub Leads to make connections across OER Hub Projects and provide opportunities for participants to learn from each other, share best practices and explore how OER Leaders have designed innovative solutions to meet the specific needs of their communities.
School Counsel(l)ors from Across the World Group is collaborating to create and share resources to support the Social Emotional Learning needs of educators and learners.
Remote Learning Plans Nebraska educators created over 200 Remote Learning Lesson Plans to support teaching and learning during school closures.
We The People Hub The U.S. Capitol Historical Society led a consortium of organizations in Washington, D.C. including the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, the National Archives and Records Administration, the White House Historical Association, the White House Visitor Center, and the George Mason Memorial to share and curate resources for civics education about the Constitution and the three branches of government.
Engaging Students Regarding Events at U.S. Capitol Washington State’s Office of Public Instruction’s Social Studies and Social Emotional Learning teams put together resources for educators, families, and students to help facilitate conversations around the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Lesson Plan: Discuss Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb” Colorado educator Kate Stevens created this lesson for High School students to examine the poetry of Amanda Gorman.
This year has presented many moments of uncertainty and adversity, where we have all been tested and challenged in different ways. It has been heartwarming to see people show their willingness to share what’s working and collaborate for the betterment of all learners around the world. We are extremely grateful to our global OER community for all of your contributions and look forward to better days ahead.
