Create 3.1.1. Open Educational Resources and Creative Commons Quest

Open source is a program where the source code, or programming language, is available to the general public for use and/or modification from its original design at no charge.  The significance of this technology is that the production of  peer-reviewed, collaborative programs will be much more useful and efficient than programs that are concerned with making money or marketing.  One major benefit of open source is that it is accessible to everyone and improvements or changes are always made available to the user community and this also allows the user to set the security in a personalized manner. This type of software can be adjusted to meet specific user requirements. The changes that open source has manifested on the K-12 educational system because the open source software is free(or almost free) and has allowed schools to access much more educational software.  A few familiar examples of open-source operating systems are Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers, Audacity, an audio editor and mixer, and Linux, an operating system used by our Department of Defense, and in many university research centers.

I feel that the first level of the Creative Commons License would be sufficient for my course.  In this license, the only request is that any work used is attributed to the original author.  Many of the math problems that I create are built upon those that I have seen or used in the past from books or resources online, and I try to give the credit to the source.


Reference
Creative Commons. (2010). K-12 Open Technologies. Retrieved November 16, 1012, from Consortium for School Networking (CoSN): http://www.cosn.org/initiatives/k12opentechnologies/opentechnologieshome/tabid/5446/default.aspx

Free Online Lessons

·         MIT's OpenCourseWare now offers 2000 full, free courses online.

·         Khan Academy is a growing library of user-paced math videos.

·         Shmoop  provides study guides that asks and answers the question, "Why Should I Care?"

·         Connexions are bite-size "modules" that can be mix, match, and assemble them into a course of their own design. The site currently holds more than 17192  modules.

·         Next Vista for Learning is a library of short, instructional  videos.

·         The JASON Project connects fifth- to eighth-grade students with great explorers and events to inspire and motivate them to learn  Science.

·         Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife Migration  and seasonal Change.

·         GoNorth! is a free adventure-learning program for the K-12 classroom where students can follow the team of educators, scientists, and K-12 teacher-explorers as they dogsled live to five circumpolar arctic  locations.

·          The Flat Classroom™ Project is a global collaborative project that joins together middle and senior high school students to stud topics inspired by”The World Is Flat” by Thomas Friedman.