School Librarians Creating Openly Licensed Student-Centered Curriculum and Instruction
Overview
Personal choice and voice are key components to successful face-to-face and virtual learning for today’s K-12 students. Open Educational Resources can support these strategies of inquiry and personalized learning in many formats. Through the readings, digital tool exploration, and OER creation activity in this module, school librarians will further develop their digital expertise in creating student-centered (voice and choice) curriculum and instruction.
By publishing lessons on OER Commons, other educators can find them, revise them and reshare them, thus expanding and improving access for all! This is a renewable assignment for school librarians – remember, renewable assignments are an alternative to traditional, disposable assignments, which students “throw away” after they are graded. With renewable assignments learners are asked to create and openly license valuable artifacts that, in addition to supporting their own learning, will be useful to other learners both inside and outside the classroom. An essential part of renewable assignments is the capacity to share them publicly and with an open license.
As a school librarian, the lesson you create can also be a renewable assignment designed for K-12 learners; there are samples of renewable assignments in the folder Sample Renewable Assignments in the Renewable Assignments group.
Introduction
Guidance: Use this lesson to assess learner mastery of student voice and choice, technology integration and Creative Commons. This is the third module of this series - note that Creative Commons licensing in detail was covered in module one.
Learners are creating a renewable assignment, meaning it is one that has benefit to an audience greater than just the class. This assignment contributes to the growth of K-12 OER resources available in OER Commons.
This renewable assignment is designed to be used in OER Commons.
Guidance for using OER Commons is provided in Unit 3 Activity 1 of this lesson.
Personal choice and voice are key components to successful face-to-face and virtual learning for today’s K-12 students. Open Educational Resources can support these strategies of inquiry and personalized learning in many formats. Through the readings, digital tool exploration, and OER creation activity in this course, school librarians will further develop their digital expertise in creating student-centered (voice and choice) curriculum and instruction.
By publishing lessons on OER Commons, other educators can find them, revise them and reshare them, thus expanding and improving access for all! This is a renewable assignment for school librarians – remember, renewable assignments are an alternative to traditional, disposable assignments, which students “throw away” after they are graded. With renewable assignments learners are asked to create and openly license valuable artifacts that, in addition to supporting their own learning, will be useful to other learners both inside and outside the classroom. An essential part of renewable assignments is the capacity to share them publicly and with an open license.
As a school librarian, the lesson you create can also be a renewable assignment designed for K-12 learners; there are samples of renewable assignments in the folder Sample Renewable Assignments in the Renewable Assignments group.
This is the third section incorporating OER and Creative Commons licensed material. The first section involved learning about Creative Commons licenses and how they work together. The second section involved remixing Creative Commons licensed content and resharing it. This third section involves creating a renewable assignment for K-12 learners using Creative Commons licensed material and sharing it to OER Commons.
This section will guide you through lesson completion by covering:
- Unit 1: Inquiry
- Unit 2: Personalized Learning
- Unit 3: OER Lesson Plan Planning
- Unit 4: Final Project: OER Lesson Plan Completion
Resources cited:
“5.4 Open Pedagogy / Practices” by Creative Commons. CC BY 4.0.
Cover Photo by Drahomír Hugo Posteby-Mach on Unsplash
Section Materials
The following materials are required for this section:
- Chart a New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow's World by Rachelle Dene Poth
- AASL National School Library Standards and Crosswalks
- OER Commons
- Other readings and websites are linked in specific units.
Unit 1: Inquiry
Inquiry in its most basic form is about asking questions and finding answers, which may lead to more questions and new ideas and doing something, or not...it all depends on the learner and the purpose.
Inquire is the first Shared Foundation in the AASL National School Library Standards. The Inquire Key Commitment for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries states: "Build new knowledge by inquiring, thinking critically, identifying problems, and developing strategies for solving problems." In fact, the terms inquiry process, inquiry-based research, inquiry culture, inquiry learning, guided inquiry, systematic inquiry process and more can be found throughout the entire standards document. Additionally, you'll find further connections in the AASL crosswalks with the ISTE Standards and Future Ready Librarians Framework.
Read:
AASL National School Library Standards and Crosswalks
Chart a New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow's World by Rachelle Dene Poth
Unit 1, Activity 1: What is Inquiry?
Inquiry is authentic research. It is real world questions, answers and actions. It is an information seeking process whether it is for personal or academic purposes. For example, how do you search for the best new car to purchase? Or, how might students search for an answer to the question "How is it possible that we drink the same water that the dinosaurs drank?" In both cases, some type of process is needed. Luckily, there are many strategies and models that have been developed over the years to help map out the inquiry process for lifelong learning.
Select one or two of the options below to learn more:
- The Big6 (website)
- Building an Inquiry Mindset (webinar)
- The 5E's of Inquiry-Based Learning (article)
- Learners Interpret the Standards & Every Standard Tells a Story (video)
- Inquiry Learning (LibGuide)
- Teaching Inquiry... (podcast)
- Teaching With Primary Sources Inquiry Kits (lessons)
Unit 1, Activity 2: Inquiry in Chart a New Course
1. Read Chart a New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow's World by Rachelle Dene Poth
2. Skim through the "5 to Try" activities at the end of each chapter. Which one activity would you like to integrate into your teaching and how does inquiry play a role in the activity? Note this for your final project.
Unit 2: Personalized Learning
Personalized learning is about the individual learner regardless of age. It is emphasized throughout the AASL National School Library Standards as an evidence-based best practice. It is especially evident in the Explore Key Commitment for Learners, School Librarians and School Libraries: "Discover and innovate in a growth mindset developed through experience and reflection" and the Growth Domain: "Pursue personal and aesthetic growth." Personalized learning is also identified in the AASL crosswalks with the ISTE Standards and Future Ready Librarians Framework.
Read:
AASL National School Library Standards and Crosswalks
Chart a New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow's World by Rachelle Dene Poth
Unit 2, Activity 1: What is Personalized Learning?
Personalized learning is not a new idea but there seem to be many variations in the definition of what it is and what it looks like in education. Technology has played a huge role in the current discussion but most agree that it is not just about using digital tools.
For our purposes let's turn to the school library view. In its National School Library Standards AASL defines learning personalization as "the process of using a diverse variety of educational programs, learning experiences, instructional approaches, and academic-support strategies that are intended to address the distinct learning needs, interests, aspirations, or cultural backgrounds of individual learners."
Select one or two of the following options to learn more:
- A Guidebook for Success: Strategies for Implementing Personalized Learning in Rural Schools (article)
- How This School Library Increased Student Use by 1,000 Percent (podcast)
- It's Time Teachers Reclaimed 'Personalized Learning' in the Name of Equity (article)
- Personalized Learning in K-12 Schools, Explained (video)
- 3 Myths of Personalized Learning (article)
- Why Personalized Learning Should Start in School Libraries (article & webinar link)
Unit 2, Activity 2: Personalized Learning in Chart a New Course
1. Read Chart a New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow's World by Rachelle Dene Poth
2. Skim through the "5 to Try" activities at the end of each chapter. Which one activity would you like to integrate into your teaching and how does personalized learning play a role in the activity? Note this for your final project
Unit 3: OER Creation
An underlying goal of this project is to lend our librarian expertise to ISKME and further the use of the OER Commons platform. So, to that end, throughout the project we have explored and evaluated open educational resources using the OER Commons platform as our main resource. With your depth of background knowledge you are now ready to add a lesson plan of your own to OER Commons.
Read/View:
OER Commons
Unit 3, Activity 1: Review OER Commons Platform
To get started in planning to submit your own lesson plan to the OER Commons platform let's review a bit.
1. Sign in to your OER Commons account.
2. Click on your profile picture in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Here you'll find My Items, My Groups, My Hubs, etc.
3. Click into My Items to take a look at what you have saved from past searches. Once you begin adding a lesson plan, you will be able to return to it here and work on it as many times as necessary until it is ready to be published. Even when the lesson plan status changes, it will always appear in your My Items list.
4. In My Groups click into Renewable Assignments and you will see two folders: Lesson Plan for Creative Commons Certification for Educators Course and Sample Renewable Assignments. Take a look at the lesson plan Create a Superhero in the Lesson Plan for Creative Commons Certification for Educators Course folder. I created this lesson plan, submitted it to be published, and once I received the email from OER Commons that it was indeed published, I saved it to this folder. You'll be asked in Unit 4 to save your published lesson plan here too.
5. Return to the home page, view the video "Introducing Open Author" you will find when you scroll down to the middle of the page. (You can skip the second half about remixing.)
6. Return to the top of your screen and click on the green ADD OER button on the right. You will be adding your lesson plan using Open Author. For right now, just click on Learn more about creating OER at the bottom center of the page and scroll through the information. If you clicked on Create Resource or Create on any of these screens and opened the lesson plan template, don't worry you can use it or delete it later, It will appear in your My Items list as an empty draft. Now, move on to Unit 3, Activity 2 for your next steps.
Unit 3, Activity 2: Expectations for OER Lesson Plan Submission
As you completed Unit 1 and Unit 2 and read Chart a New Course you most likely discovered (or were reminded) that inquiry and personalized learning go hand in hand. Thinking of the "5 to Try" activities from the book, is there one you would like to write into a lesson plan of your own? Do you have a favorite lesson plan that could be infused with something new related to inquiry or personalized learning? Is there a digital tool you learned about in one of the "5 to Try" sections that you could add to one of your existing lesson plans?
Remember, you don't need to come up with a lesson that is totally new to you. (But you can.) For example, I have taught the Create a Superhero lesson at least three times and professionally submitted it two different times as an example lesson for school librarians before I revised it for OER Commons. Yes, I really love the concept, but I didn't teach it or write it the same way twice. For OER Commons I shortened the idea from an entire unit to a five part lesson, I changed the use of Microsoft Office and a tool on the Marvel website to Google Apps and added Wakelet as a way to organize the inquiry process. I also checked and double checked for possible copyright issues, of course.
Here are a few expectations I'd like you to consider before you move on to actually creating and submitting your lesson plan to OER Commons as your final project in Unit 4:
- Who will create the lesson plan? You may do this by yourself or with one other person. The other person may be a member of this cohort or a colleague from your school or district.
- What is the topic of your lesson plan? Which content subject area/s does it cover?
- Did you search OER Commons to make sure your exact lesson is not already published there?
- Does your lesson plan contain an element of inquiry and/or personalized learning? In other words, do you give students some level of research experience and voice and choice?
- Does your lesson plan integrate at least one digital tool or activity?
Unit 4: Final Project
Open Educational Resources can play a huge role in personalized learning and the inquiry process for our students. In just the time of this cohort we have seen OER Commons evolve and become easier to navigate as we have moved from being consumers to being creators. Publishing your lesson plans to the platform as your final projects increases its usefulness for all of you but also for educators everywhere.
Unit 4: Final Project
The Final Project for this course is to publish the lesson you selected/planned in Unit 3 to the OER Commons platform. To get started click on the green Add OER button in the upper right of the home page. You may write your lesson plan directly into the Open Author template, import from Google Docs or OneDrive, or copy and paste it in from wherever you may have it saved. Review basic steps in the video "Introducing Open Author" if needed.
Remember to save and preview as you go along. You can return to your draft as many times as needed by clicking on it in the My Items list. When you are ready click on Publish and the platform will take you through the last steps. This is where you will add a description, standards, tags, Creative Commons license, etc. Once you click on the final Publish button it will go to the OER Commons staff for approval. You will be notified via email in a day or two about the status of your lesson plan.
Final Project Points: Please add your published lesson plan to the Lesson Plan for Creative Commons Certification for Educators Course folder in our Renewable Assignments group to share it with me to receive your project points.
Rubric
| Criteria | Exemplary (3 Points) | Proficient (2 Points) | Developing (1 Point) |
| Contains Element of Inquiry | Lesson plan includes opportunities for student inquiry. | Minimal incorporation of student inquiry, voice, or choice in the lesson plan. | Student inquiry, voice, or choice are not in the lesson plan. |
| Contains Element of Personalized Learning | Lesson plan includes opportunities for student voice and choice. | Minimal incorporation of student voice or choice in the lesson plan. | Student voice or choice are not in the lesson plan. |
| Integration of Digital Tools/Activities | Lesson plan integrates at least one digital tool or activity to support student learning and engagement | Limited integration of digital tools or activities in the lesson plan. | Digital tools or activities are not in the lesson plan. |
| Standards alignment | Lesson plan is effectively aligned to relevant content standards. | Content standards are included but are not effectively aligned. | No alignment to content standards. |
| Creative Commons Licensing and citations | Lesson plan includes appropriate Creative Commons Licensing for the artifact and includes citations for Creative Commons material remixed in the lesson. | Lesson plan only includes one of the criteria | No Creative Commons licensing or citations. |
OER Commons | Lesson plan is actively shared on OER Commons, in the class group and unit folder. | Lesson plan is on OER Commons but not in the class group and unit folder. | Lesson plan is not on OER Commons. |