Commons-based Cases in EM-K12

Research Questions

• Identify commons-based cases (the cases that we know will appear in the right part of the quadrants)
• Correlate them with their main outputs (Data, Narratives, Tools)
• How and to what extent they are “experimenting” or “adopting” commons-based approaches. Are they adopting OA policies, for instance? Are they adopting Socially Responsible License approaches?
• Identify these cases and treat them as entities that will also be placed in our mapping device (the quadrants)
• Identify what actors are participating on this and what actors are just observers. (Use the questionnaire to guide your research when appropriate - Carol will select specific relevant and helpful questions)

OER

See Commons-based Cases in EM#Definition for definition.

Cases

• California Free Digital Textbook Initiative

  California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an initiative in May 2009 to “make California the first state in the nation to offer schools free, open-source digital textbooks for high school students” (http://gov.ca.gov/press-release/12225/). The initiative was a response to California’s recent budget crisis, and the hope is to cut costs on expensive math and science textbooks across the K-12 public school system. Gov. Schwarzenegger believes "It's nonsensical — and expensive — to look to traditional hard-bound books when information today is so readily available in electronic form. Especially now, when our school districts are strapped for cash and our state budget deficit is forcing further cuts to classrooms, we must do everything we can to untie educators' hands and free up dollars so that schools can do more with fewer resources." (Schwarzenegger 2009) This action comes along with many that try to improve Californian students’ performance on national and international math and science exams (see next case).

• California Open Source Textbook Project

  Started in 2002, "the California Open Source Textbook Project (COSTP) [...] aimed to produce a digital K-12 history textbook under an open license in collaboration with the Wikibooks project. COSTP claimed that it could help California save over $200 million per year. The program never gained traction and failed to produce a complete textbook" (Paul 2009).

• CK-12

  The CK-12 Foundation is a non-profit organization offering "an open-content, web-based collaborative model" called "Flexbook", aimed at distributing "high quality educational content that will serve both as core text as well as provide an adaptive environment for learning" (CK-12 Foundation). Initial OER content focuses on K-12 level STEM books commissioned "through a combination of author donations, licensing partnerships, incentives for community-based authorship, and university collaborations" (ibid.). Future content is planned to be commons-based peer-produced and moderated by CK-12 to align with "an expanding base of learning standards like McREL Compendium" (ibid.). Content will be available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licenses with any on-demand printing costs born by users (print on home computer or through on-demand company). Users are encouraged to customize the downloadable content as well, i.e. "Rip, mix and burn".

  Recently, CK-12 earned the opportunity to author a Physics Flexbook for use in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Thirteen scientists, teachers, and professors volunteered to write the book with CK-12's support. The book was written in 2.5 months, including diagrams in high resolution (added to the CK-12 reposition, "keeping in line with the philosophy of open content"), "with another two weeks for quality assurance". (Park 2008)

• FreeReading

  "FreeReading is an open-source instructional program that helps educators teach early [(K-3)] literacy. Because it is open-source, it represents the collective wisdom of a wide community of teachers and researchers. FreeReading contains a 40-week scope and sequence of phonological awareness and phonics activities that can support and supplement a typical kindergarten or first grade core or basal program."

  NEWS: 'Florida adopts open-content reading platform: State officials add FreeReading.net to their approved list of reading curriculum resources'

• National Repository of Online Courses (NROC)

  NROC is a non-profit OER project of the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education to build a library of "high-quality online course content for students and faculty in higher education, high school and Advanced Placement", sponsored by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation ('What is NROC?'). Courses in the repository are contributed by developers at academic institutions across the country and are Creative Commons non-commercial licensed. Individual educators and institutions serving underprivileged children can access the content in the NROC Network commons for free, while other institutions are asked to pay a membership fee. Users can access complete courses through the flash-based HippoCampus website.

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