K-12’s 4 Biggest Challenges That Are Driving OER Adoption

Open educational resources (OER) is growing in use worldwide. In the U.S., the #GoOpen initiative started by the Education Dept. led to 19 states and 40 school districts making the transition – and now more than 35 states have created grants and policies to support OER adoption in the coming years. A 2016 survey revealed the vast majority of teachers are choosing OER over textbooks in their classrooms. What caused this phenomenon? Let’s take a look at four of the biggest challenges in K-12 education that has led to more schools and states making OER a priority. In Some Places,…
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Open Education Week: 5 Successful Projects That Are Expanding Student Access

This week, educators, learners, and advocates are gathering to celebrate National Open Education Week (March 27-31). The OER (open educational resources) movement has been expanding over the past decade, driven by the critical goal of increasing equity and access to learning. And the data continues to show that OER is gaining real traction, empowering teachers and schools to improve educational access in more than 50 different countries. In today’s post, we’ve highlighted a few examples of OER projects in the U.S. that are making a big impact. If you’re looking for ways to participate online in Open Education Week, we’ve…
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Can the Value of Open Educational Resources Be Measured?

Early in February, the Department of Education announced that 14 states and 40 K-12 school districts were transitioning to the use of open-educational resources (OER) in their schools, a new model of learning with the potential to increase equity and access in education as well as repurpose funding typically spent on textbooks. It’s expected that the OER market will triple or quadruple in the next five years, as more schools are starting to integrate open-educational resources into their classrooms.[1] However education administrators still need to be persuaded of the value of replacing traditional textbooks with open-educational resources. Can OER deliver…
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Driving Down Costs, Driving Up Quality in Higher Ed

What are colleges doing to cut costs, amid budget constraints and public concerns over skyrocketing student debt in America? For years, colleges have looked to a number of options to contain the costs, rather than bumping up tuition prices. In many cases, departments have put a freeze on hiring, which in turn increases general faculty workloads and without an increase in pay. The programs with the lowest performance get cut. College administrators have also squeezed IT budgets, outsourced apps and storage technologies, and pushed some of the costs onto students. To continue from our last post about the “iron triangle,”…
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Teaching without Textbooks: The Rise of Open Educational Resources

Higher education faces a serious problem over rising costs, with Americans owing $1.3 trillion in student loan debt.[1] Over the recent years, colleges have experimented with ways to relieve some of the financial pressure, such as instituting tuition freezes or cuts. However, many have struggled with maintaining their new price tag and returned to the same price within a couple of years. Cost cutting has been an obstacle in the classroom, as educators try to stretch their budgets. “Open educational resources” (also known as OER) is a movement on the rise, rooted in the belief that anyone can learn, with…
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Columbus Saves $800k in Textbooks with New Teaching Framework

As K-12 school districts face stagnant and shrinking state budgets, there’s a greater need to find creative solutions to ensure the success of every student. Like many other districts, the Columbus Municipal School District (CMSD) have continued to employ traditional teaching models, relying on textbooks to drive learning. By partnering with Fishtree, CMSD was able to implement a new K-16 Instruction and Technology Integration Model that contributed to $800,000 in savings and increased the  district’s graduation rates by 20 percent. Their Innovative Approach Eliminating textbooks and integrating technology into the classroom doesn’t happen overnight. The K-16 Instruction and Technology Integration…
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