The Promise of Open Educational
Resources
Terri Rowenhorst
NROC Membership Director
Monterey Institute for Technology and Education
October 27, 2008
Open Educational Resources
OER Providers
OER Providers
Living Up to the Promise
So, if OER is GOOD, and its FREE,
why isn’t everyone using it?
OER Check List
What you are looking for in OER . . .
 curricular
 complete
 quality
 easy to use
 teaching tool
Unique Among OERs
• Curricular content for both
secondary and postsecondary
• Complete course
foundations with a flexible
learning object structure
• Sustaining membership to
maintain and grow the
repository
NROC Library - 2008
College
Course Foundations
Advanced Placement
Course Foundations
High School
Course Foundations
US History I
US History II
American Government
Introductory Physics I (algebra-based)
Introductory Physics II (algebra-based)
General Physics I (calculus-based)
General Physics II (calculus-based)
Introductory Calculus I
Introductory Calculus II
General Calculus I
General Calculus II
Environmental Science
Religions of the World
Elementary Algebra
Psychology
Statistics for Social Sciences
Calculo General I (Spanish)
Calculo General II (Spanish)
AP Environmental Science
AP Physics B I
AP Physics B II
AP Physics C I
AP Physics C II
AP US History I
AP US History II
AP US Government and Politics
AP Calculus AB I
AP Calculus AB II
AP Calculus BC I
AP Calculus BC II
AP Biology
College Prep Physics I
College Prep Physics II
Algebra 1a
Algebra 1b
Also in Development
Non-Majors Biology
Basic Education Online
Developmental Algebra
Quality
• Media rich
• Editorially rigorous
• Instructionally sound
Curricular
Correlated
with
popular
textbooks
and state
standards
Complete
teaching
materials
HippoCampus.org
Free for Individuals!
HippoCampus.org
What People Are Saying About HippoCampus
“I have just discovered
HippoCampus and I am very
impressed with the algebra
and calculus sections.”
“I am thoroughly impressed by the
content and the presentation of the
HippoCampus site.”
Thank you for such
a wonderful tool.”
“Incredible resources!! I did not know these
were available for the general public!! Thank
you!”
“THIS IS RADICALLY AWESOME! This
program has helped me a bunch. Please make
more of these programs. It is helping me
understand concepts much better. Keep up the
good work!”
“First of all let me thank
you for your efforts in
open education! It is
really inspiring.”
Sustained by Members
Educators, designers, technologists, and administrators
working together to promote the continuous
improvement of online courses through collaborative
development of high-quality content and instruction.
NROC Network
A Sampling of our Members
Alabama Department of Education
Bambugare Network (Sub-Saharan Africa)
Bethel Covenent (Uganda)
Cal State Fullerton
Chattanooga State Technical & Community College
Clark County Virtual High School
Colorado Community Colleges Online
CORE (China)
CUDI (Mexico)
Florida Distance Learning Consortium
Georgia Department of Education
Hudson County Schools of Technology
IDEAL- NM
Idaho Digital Learning Academy
Illinois Virtual High School
Iowa Community Colleges Online Consortium
Kentucky Department of Education
Los Angeles Unified School District
Louisiana Department of Education
Lubbock Christian University
Michigan Virtual High School
Minnesota Online
Montana State University at Billings
Nebraska Partnerships for Innovation
Oregon Department of Education
South Carolina Department of Education
Teachers without Boarders
University of Texas Brownsville
Utah Electronic High School
UT System TeleCampus
University of Georgia System Board of Regents
West Virginia University at Parkersburg
Flexible
Can be used within
popular CMS’s and
repositories
Customizable by a teacher,
a department, or a system
Value of Membership
Members use NROC in a variety of ways,
• Online courses
• Traditional classroom use
• Hybrid/blended
• Select media for iPod downloads
• and to address a variety of challenges.
NROC Network Case Studies
International Outreach
CHALLENGE:
Promoting education and
development through
instructional technology.
NROC Network Case Studies
College and Career Transitions
CHALLENGE:
Bridge the gap between high school
and college to support student success.
On a statewide collaborative effort:
“We want to offer very rigorous, highly interactive and engaged
coursework in current technical education and provide a place for
secondary and postsecondary educators to come together to expand
online learning opportunities. NROC is helping us do this.”
-Erika Volker, Administrative Director, PFI
NROC Network Case Studies
Replacing Costly Textbooks
CHALLENGE:
Textbook prices are too high.
On teaching US History without a textbook:
“. . . we turned to NROC. I left my discussion questions, midterms, and finals
the same as they were when we used the textbook, so I could compare outcomes.
I was happy to find that my students are right on track with the digital
alternative . . . “
Karen Kaemmerling
Chair of Social Sciences, CCCOnline
NROC Network Case Studies
Sharing Learning Resources
CHALLENGE:
Promote content sharing and
save development costs
among 35 member colleges.
On launching a statewide repository:
"Starting a statewide digital repository is a challenge. At the core of the
project, the repository must offer sufficient rich multimedia and high
quality resources to attract and motivate faculty to use repository content.
In Florida, we are licensing the high quality NROC content library to form
that essential content core."
Susie Henderson, Director, Orange Grove
Share it---with LEARNERS!
•
•
•
•
•
•
Link to HippoCampus from your website
Make HippoCampus assignments
Incorporate links to HippoCampus in Web 2.0 apps
Find other ways to share it with students directly
Introduce faculty to HippoCampus tools
Consider other institutional uses possible through
membership
Mission Possible!
Expand Access to Educational Opportunity
Questions?
Terri Rowenhorst
trowenhorst@montereyinstitute.org
719-783-0804
OER site:
www.hippocampus.org
For more information:
www.montereyinstitute.org/nroc