[Disclosure: I am part of an advisory group for this project.]
Last week, the K-12 OER Collaborative entered the next phase of their project, awarding contracts for rapid prototypes to the following developers:
- edCount LLC
- Expeditionary Learning
- Illustrative Mathematics
- Learn Zillion
- Literary Design Collaborative
- Mathematics Vision Project
- Odell Education
- Public Consulting Group, Inc.
- University of Utah
- Victory Productions
As a refresher, the K-12 OER Collaborative is a project to create comprehensive CCSS-aligned curriculum for grades K-12 math and English Language Arts that is open licensed under a CC BY license. Quite an ambitious undertaking!
The project recently issued an RFP for content developers to develop rapid prototypes, the results of which “will be a major factor in determining which content developers are selected to move into the full-course development phase of the initiative.”
Many developers have expressed interest in this project, and 24 groups submitted proposals for the rapid prototypes.
While the task of developing these materials is a daunting one, my mind is already racing forward to when these materials are available. What will make schools want to use them? How will this use be supported? In what creative ways can the savings in instructional materials funding be applied to improve teaching and learning?
This may be the one of the important opportunities for OER, blended learning, and CCSS we’ve seen to date. It is imperative that we “get it right.”
Stay tuned for more on this exciting project as it progresses.