Course Design Using Open
Educational Resources
Bob Currie
Michigan Virtual School
Gary Lopez
Monterey Institute for Technology and Education
Mary Schlegelmilch
Omaha Public Schools
Who
MITE?
Who IsisMITE?
Mission
To help meet society’s need for access to effective, highquality educational opportunities in an era of rapid
economic, social, and personal change.
OER Background
The Goals of NROC
To create a repository of high-quality, high school, Advanced
Placement, and undergraduate courses and distribute them
at little or no cost to students and teachers worldwide.
In pursuing this goal, NROC achieves other important outcomes,
including,
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addressing the needs of underserved students
helping establish content and technical standards for online content
fostering collaboration among content developers and users
become financially self-sustaining
supporting the Open Educational Resource movement
A Course as a Set of Objects
NROC Library - 2007
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
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
General Psychology
Statistics for Behavioral
& Social Sciences
Basic Education Online:
Reading, Writing, ELL, Math
Where does NROC content come from?
Two sources:
Contributions
from academic institutions
Collaborative Development
managed by NROC Network
Contributed:
“NROCing” the Content
Consistent Organization
Course
Structure
Contributed:
“NROCing” the Content
Enhancing the Content
1. New content
added by
instructor or
NROC
2. Customize
course
3. Enhance group
work and
interactivity
Collaborative Development:
NROC Network
NROC Network:
Members
Alabama Department of Education
Michigan Virtual High School
Anaheim Union High School
Minnesota Online
Buena Vista University
Omaha Public Schools
Cal State Fullerton
Orangeburg-Calhoun Technical College
Chattanooga State Technical & Community College
Oregon Department of Education
Clark County Virtual High School
South Carolina Department of Education
Colorado Community Colleges Online
St. Petersburg College
Colorado Online Learning
Tennessee Board of Regents
Florida Virtual School
University of Texas Brownsville
Hamilton County Virtual High School
University of Texas TeleCampus
Hawaii Department of Education
Virtual Virginia
Idaho Digital Learning Academy
West Virginia Community College System
Illinois Virtual High School
Corporacion Universitaria para el Desarrollo de Internet
Iowa Community College Online Consortium
Kentucky Virtual High School
Los Angeles Unified School District
Louisiana Department of Education
Maryland Virtual Learning Opportunities
Omaha Public Schools
• Omaha Public Schools is the only urban school
district in Nebraska. Demographics are as
follows:
• 47,000 students
• Serves 16% of all students in Nebraska
• 60% of the student population is eligible for
free and reduced lunch
• 57% of the students are minorities
• 13% of the students are English Language
Learners
It is All About Standards!!
Finding & Developing Content
• Commercial
• Print publishers (proprietary or ANGEL)
• Course vendors (complete courses)
• Supplement providers
• Non-Profit & OER
• Course Developers (complete courses)
• Repositories--National Repository of On-Line Curriculum-NROC
• District Development
• Using the Social Authoring Concept at the local level
OPS Social Authoring Process
• Recruit and Train Master Teachers in the uses of LMS
• Develop the OPS Framework
– Create Master Course aligned with district standards
• Recruit and train Master teachers to be content/course developers
• Create Course developers and reviewer teams to address course
needs
• Lesson Design
– Use a common format for lesson design
– Access 3rd party content, preferably at the learning object level
• Courses are duplicated for implementation at the building level
• Design staff/team customize
the courses within the LMS
• Reorganize
• Add or delete content
• Modify assignments or
assessments
• Evaluate/continually review
Omaha Public Schools
• Why Use a Learning Management System
(LMS) for a Curriculum Repository to Replace
Course Guides?
• Approximately 600 new teachers per year
• Why On-Line Credit Recovery?
• 70.31% Graduation Rate (2005/2006)
LMS – The New Course Guide
• New teachers need a framework to teach from, to
provide more time to focus on “how” to teach and
student learning, not “what” to teach.
• Course Guides are typically developed at the same time
“textbook” adoption occurs, and may not be updated until
the next adoption cycle.
• As subject areas and course move away from
“textbooks” as the primary source of information, OPS
was in need of a process to create a more “fluid” course
guide.
One “e-stop” for Teacher Tools
Why Customize and Prioritize OnLine Credit Recovery?
• It provides:
• an opportunity to align district standards and
assessments within the course.
• an avenue to individualize instruction to meet
credit recovery needs.
• multi-modal learning experiences.
• activities, assignments, assessments utilizing LMS.
• simulations and interactivity.
• opportunities for delivery in a blended environment
in a traditional school, or for a variety of alternative
delivery options.
• Membership in NROC provides access to course content
at the learning object level.
• Access to quality content at the learning object level,
provided an avenue to develop courses using a variety
of resources.
• Access to content at the learning object level allows our
teacher/developers to align all courses with OPS content
standards and assessments.
• OPS started the transition from an on-line
“tutorial” system in June, 2006.
• Courses were developed and piloted throughout
the 2006/2007 school year.
• During the 2007 summer school session, 540
students (approximately 1/3 of the total students
in Credit Recovery) took courses in a blended
environment.
2007 Credit Recovery Results:
Mark Distribution for E-Courses Used During the 2007 Summer School
Failed,
7%
Dropped,
5%
Passed,
74%
In
Progress,
14%
The chart above reflects 700 course enrollments made by 408 individual students.
Michigan Virtual School
• Michigan Virtual School,
working in partnership with
Michigan schools, is
committed to providing cost
effective, technology based
solutions that strengthen
teaching and learning.
MVS Information (2006-07)
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8800 Enrollments
500 AP Enrollments
130 Course Titles
Content Flexibility
90+ HQT Qualified Online Instructors
NCA and CITA Accredited
Alignment with Michigan Content Expectations
MVS Statewide Participation
MVS served students
in nearly
400 schools
in
2006-07
MVS Curricular Formats
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MVS Flex
Advanced Placement
Semester Paced
Student Direct
MVS Content
Development/Acquisition Process
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The 4B’s of developing/acquiring content
Build – Develop original content
Buy – Purchase or License content
Buddy – Form strategic partnerships
Barter – Create partnership exchange
MVS Development Process
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MVS Development Team
Project Lead
Subject Matter Experts
Instructional Designer
Media Asset Manager
MVS Instructor
Quality Standards Based Process
MVS Advanced Placement Provides
• Equity for smaller schools
• College Board certified instructor and audited
courses
• AP Exam Prep with the course
• Unique opportunities to students
– MVS NROC Based AP Courses –
Environmental Science, Physics,
Government, History and Calculus
NROC Advantages
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Quality Learning Objects
Customizable Course Content
Professional Learning Community
Developer Network
Research and Identification of Resources
Online Community Updates
Michigan Virtual
School