Digital+Lesson+Resources

This section for the most part presents some free and open educational resources (OER) for the K-12 level. We begin by highlighting **Utah Open High School**. (1) Part of their mandate states: 'Shattering traditional methods, the Open High School of Utah curriculum uses open educational resources as the foundation for their content, aligning with Utah state standards to ensure the highest quality educational experience." If this school serves as a model for other schools, which makes optimal use of not only technology but also learning content, than this is a possible avenue for growth of this model and greater use of OER materials.

This is a collection of some of the leading online lesson plan and resource sites with a focus on open accessible materials.

K12 Interactive - a great site for searching for lessons and any OER materials Curriki - offers free open source curriculum materials Lesson Planet - a great source for lesson plans Better Lesson - a great place to share lessons Teachers for Teachers - one of the few original sites for teaches created materials for other teachers Connexions - great site for some digital chunks of lessons or small pieces of info... HippoCampus - a great resource for for high school and college campuses for study notes, homework help and for materials. OER Commons - has a comprehensive listing of resources, form textbooks to lesson plans. Almost everything is Creative Commons licensed and open for adaptation and modification CC-BY-NC-SA Good Semester - work and organize your academic life

ClassConnect - new hub for lesson plans, where you expand on the original version and use.
 * Open Source models for lesson plans**


 * The Trends in K-12 Learning Content**

There are several trends in educational technology that will change teaching and learning in the next decade. The focus on learning content, traditionally from a textbook is now more open and freely available in repositories similar to those listed above.The primary interest is the changing learning landscape, the emergence of dynamic learning content replacing the traditional textbook. As educators begin to mix learning content resources as curricular materials, including more OER resources, we will witness a shift in learning towards active learning platforms. One of the key changes is the nature of digital learning objects, away from the traditional e-textbooks to more fragmented digital chunks of information. This allows teachers to reuse and remix appropriate content for their particular audience.

The current market buzz is around appropriate learning platforms, specific for the use of OER and other free open content. The learning platform allows curation of digital content in a social network with traditional learning material for greater opportunities for students. The content is critical component if future of education and while traditional content providers to publishers have provided learning content the landscape is changing with the inclusion of OER materials as viable alternatives. This is being introduced at local and government levels. Curriculum and use of learning analytical tools also are shifting as the need for data analysis pushes content subscription to larger and larger roles in digital enriched classrooms.

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