Open Educational Resources (OER) are a fast-growing body of free digital resources that can help schools reduce their expenses on textbooks and other education materials. OER are free, openly licensed documents and media that can be incorporated into the curriculum, however it can be time-consuming to review the growing body of OER and integrate them into teaching and learning. As schools expand their use of technology, the demand for OER will continue to increase.

edWeb.net and Net Texts have partnered to help educators select and make better user of OER by creating a free online professional learning community on Open Educational Resources (OER) in the K-12 Classroom. The community is a collaborative forum for continuing dialogue and support in selecting and using OER.

The community provides free webinars, presented by experts and educators, on selecting and using Open Educational Resources (OER). Educators receive a CE Certificate for attending the live webinars or viewing the recording. The community hosts online discussions that make it easy for educators to stay connected over time with fellow educators to share ideas, practices, examples, lesson plans, and any of the issues that might arise in using OER. The community is a growing resource center with webinar archives, CE quizzes, and support materials that can be accessed at any time, anywhere.

“Net Texts is dedicated to helping teachers understand and use OER to improve teaching and learning,” said Meg Patterson, Director of Content and Research, Net Texts, Inc. “This online community will help teachers navigate and utilize the vast amount of OER available worldwide.” Lisa Schmucki, the founder and CEO commented, “We’ve been looking for the right partner to launch a community on OER for some time. We know there is strong interest in OER, but educators need help with a transition to using OER.”

This collaborative professional learning community will offer a three-part webinar series, OER and the Common Core. Educators are invited to register for the first webinar which will be held on May 8th at 5pm Eastern Time. Register here.

Educators can join the community at Open Educational Resources (OER) in the K-12 Classroom.