Open Educational Resources

Open Educational Resources are resources that are available at little to no cost and can be used for teaching, learning, and also for research, as stated in the article "7 Things You Should Know About Open Educational Resources."

Reading this article, you begin to learn..
1. what OER is
2. how it works
3. who is using it
4. how it is significant
5. the downsides
6. where it is going
7. the implications for teaching and learning



Usually, Open Educational Resources are used in online learning environments, but they can also be used in face-to-face environments, too. There are many materials in which you can choose from, some can be tampered with and changed to your liking, but others have to stay the same when the teacher or student chooses to use it. OER can be downloaded and used in many different situations, whether it be formally or informally. Given that these Open Educational Resources are so flexible, it is easy for one to use it at their own pace, but also stay on track.

The website OER Commons is a very useful website. It has many different resources for both teachers and students, and basically anyone that would like to browse on through the website.

Concepts of Information Technology is the first link i explored on OER Commons.This first module includes computers, networks, how, why, and who people access information using ICT.

The 1918 Flu is the second link I became interested in browsing through. It has a voice recording and a couple paragraphs about how the 1918 flu killed 20 million people. It explains that it was the world's meanest flu epidemic and scientists went on to find only one reason why it had killed so many people. This resource is very interesting and I would recommend it.

The final resource I chose was called The English Wiki. I went to the link that was focused on Giving Advice. This link takes you to where you can download a word document. This word document is a group worksheet that is basically revolved around giving advice and what you should do.

All is all, this website seems to be a very good place for teachers and students who need help with any lessons or lesson plans. If I were continuing on to become a teacher, I would most definitely use this website.

Teaching Channel

Today is my SEDU 183 class we explored a website called Learning Channel, these are a few of the videos that I liked on the website.

Exploring Emigration: Cultural Identity

This first video explains how a 7th grade teacher tries to relate culture through media. The students watch a video of a couple of boy from Sudan come to America and try to live, still keeping their cultural beliefs and values. The kids then have a worksheet to do and have to try and discuss their relations to how the Sudan boys felt when they came to American and the students own life. One of the girls relates and says that in India she knew everybody in their little city or village, and when she came to America her mother began to feel lonely because, here, you don't know everyone in your city or "village".

Reading Like a Historian: Philosophical Chairs

In this next video, they are using a method called Philosophical Chairs. This is when the child answers a question by actually moving around the room. In this video they are talking about whether the decision of not liking the Vietnam War was social, political or economic. The students physically have to move the the side of the room where the teacher states if social, political, or economic, and then they begin to discuss and argue why it is or isn't one of those choices. 

Antiques Roadshow: Show and Tell

This video explains a little more about show and tell. The teacher explains that opening show and tell to anything can get boring and confusing for some students. Children can bring in expensive things that maybe other children cannot afford and things like that. So in this video they decided to have and "Antique Show and Tell". This was a good idea because children had to bring in items that were older than them. They had a paper on which they had to go off of to share their show and tell item stating things like how old the item was and what it was, where there got it and things like that.

Two Others:
I Wish I Had Known
Attention Getting Signals: Respect


Overall, this website is really helpful for people my age that want to become teachers and need learn about different learning strategies and things of that nature. It has many videos on many different categories. These videos range on times, but no matter how short or long the video is, it is very helpful. You are able to realize the different things you can do inside a classroom, maybe some things that you never heard of before, such as in my second video when they use Philosophical Chairs.

Flipped Learning

Flipped Learning

Today, learning about Flipped Learning, this was the first time I have ever heard of it. Reading about flipped learning made me realize that it is, in my eyes, just a mind shift for the students and teachers. During my research, I found out that "Flipped Learning is a model of teaching in which student's homework is the traditional lecture viewed outside of class. Then class time is spent on inquiry-based learning which would include what would traditionally be viewed as a student's homework assignment." (flippedclassroom.org) Flipped Classroom is also known as Reverse Classroom. 

The flipped classroom allows children to get their work done during class time. The class is structured so their homework is just to watch a video or listen to a class lecture, that way the next day when they come into school they can get all their work done, with just a video for homework again. The classroom is just structured differently than normal classrooms. In one of my sources it stated that many people say that this classroom is structured more like a "learning center" rather than a normal classroom. There are usually many different things going on as once, such as a group doing a reading assignment in one area of the classroom and a group doing a math worksheet in another area. 

Outcomes of the Flipped Classroom:

• students can move at their own pace
• students can review what they need to review
• students can stop, pause, go back, review the video, ect.
• students can begin to brainstorm any questions they have on the material for the next day in class when they do their "homework
• teachers can more easily work one-on-one with the students
• students can easily catch up on their work by watching the videos the teachers have posted online and such

Drawbacks of the Flipped Classroom:

• not all students have access to the internet at home
• not all students have computers at home
• having the students watch their "class discussion/lecture" at home would involve them sitting in front a computer for hours
• not everyone learns the best by sitting in front of a computer all night long

My personal opinion of flipped learning is up in the air. I think in some ways it would be an interesting and good way for children to learn, considering today we have more technology than ever before. Children would have to learn to work with technology in the classroom and mostly at home on their own. This would prep them for future times when they would be using technology, which is often once you get higher up in the grade levels. I also believe it can be a bad way of teaching. Some kids really do not work well with technology and computers. There are kids that would rather just have the traditional classroom and learn in the class and do their homework at home. Students like this would struggle in a flipped classroom, because it would be hard for them to use technology. Also, like I researched for the drawbacks, many children do not have access to a computer and/or internet at home. This would lead to them having to go to a library, staying after school, or the teacher would have to burn a DVD or things like that. All in all, the flipped classroom can be both good and bad, and if I were to ever use it in my classroom as a teacher, I would make sure to switch it up every once in a while to make sure all of my students were happy and doing well in my class. 

This video explains why he has flipped his classroom style and teaching style. He likes the fact that he can make a video, assign it for homework, then the students will learn to apply the things they learned in class the next day. 

This video explains how this way of teaching and learning gives students much more time to learn, and teachers much more time to teach. The students are more willing to get the help they need when doing their work because the teachers are right their with them, where as, when they were doing their homework at home, they have no one to tell them whether they were doing their work right or wrong.

Sources: 

1. http://flippedclassroom.org/forum/topics/definition-of-terms
2. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/flipped-classroom-pro-and-con-mary-beth-hertz
3. http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/how-the-flipped-classroom-is-radically-transforming-learning-536.php
4. http://info.lecturetools.com/blog/bid/59158/The-Advantages-and-Disadvantages-of-the-Flipped-Classroom
5. http://www.knewton.com/blog/knewton/2011/08/29/flipped-classroom-infographic/
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNpXL_zVQkI