As a follow-up to yesterday's posting, here is another article on technology in K-12 that involves the use of open source content. The article does a credible job of discussing the role of open source content in K-12 classrooms as a replacement for traditional textbooks. Like the piece from yesterday, the article discusses collaborative methods to use technology and foster creativity and learning in the classroom. The piece provides links to different open source content repositories, such as the Creative Commons. One area where the article does fall a little short, from my perspective, is in discussing the quality issues with many open content resources. This is a topic I have touched on before, so I will not belabor the point again.
It is not yet clear how much of a "trend" open content is among educators (K-12 or higher education). If anything, there is a trend within the media suggesting that a more significant shift is afoot. It would be interesting to see a more comprehensive piece of research on faculty use of open educational resources, particularly as textbook substitutes. How do faculty evaluate the credibility of such resources compared to traditional course material options? Anyone out there know of credible research in this area?
