One of the most exciting OERs I’ve seen was recently launched: Free-Reading.net. This resource from the well-respected Wireless Generation (a for-profit company) is a collection of resources for early literacy skills development licensed under CC BY SA license.
The reasons I think this is notable are many. First, it is a resource targeted at primary education, an area almost wholly neglected by OER to date. Secondly, it is a very solid collection of research-based tools that are immediately usable to any early literacy teachers. In visiting this site, it is immediately obvious that the content has been developed by knowledgeable educators. It features student-directed activities and includes multimedia audio and video.
Another interesting thing about this site is that the Florida Instructional Materials Adoption Committee for K-3 Supplemental Reading Programs has recommended that this be adopted. This would be the first time an OER has been officially adopted by a government agency here in the US. (Note, however, that the requirements and surrounding politics for supplemental programs is much different than that for core materials. Still, this is a first step.)
Wireless Generation CEO Larry Berger says “Schools still spend a huge chunk of their budgets – nationally, approximately 7 to 8 billion dollars per year — on textbooks and instructional materials. That leaves a much smaller pie that schools must stretch to purchase formative assessment, professional development, and other initiatives that help teachers do their jobs well. Free-Reading.net is a step toward changing these economics and freeing up funding for things that improve teaching and learning.”
FreeReading has also done an interesting job of moderating wiki collaboration and community building with the need for solid “quality-assured” content. While there are many places that visitors can add ideas of their own, everything is not editable. The core of research-driven content that has been written by educational experts is not open to visitor editing.
I think that this is essential for resources that are going to be used in public education. The potential for occasional senseless vandalism and the harsh consequences that educators (not to mention kids) could face as a result of inappropriate content is just too high. There are ways to moderate this, and Free-Reading provides a good model for this.