- University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Research Guides
- Free Resources for Madison & Beyond
- Open Educational Resources for K-12
Free Resources for Madison & Beyond : Open Educational Resources for K-12
- Home
- Community Resources
- Recreational
- Mental Health & Well-Being
- Open Educational Resources for K-12
- Productivity Tools
Open Pedagogy
From BCcampus OpenEd: "Open pedagogy, also known as open educational practices (OEP), is the use of open educational resources (OER) to support learning, or the open sharing of teaching practices with a goal of improving education and training at the institutional, professional, and individual level. When you use open pedagogy in your classroom, you are inviting your students to be part of the teaching process, participating in the co-creation of knowledge." Read more about Open Pedagogy at the Open Pedagogy Notebook.
How Can OER Help?
Due to requirements of physical distancing many students may be e-learning. Teaching students may have lost access to physical textbooks. Parents may be looking for new innovative ways to incorporate educational activities to their everyday routines. Open Educational Resources incorporate technology to enrich the learning experience and are often available digitally. OER are customizable, allowing you to edit and share them as they fit your needs and those of learners. They're perpetually accessible with a stable internet connection and can fill the gap left by the need to physically distance in this time.
Open Educational Resources for K-12
- CurrikiCurriki offers free and open teaching and learning resources; educator-vetted, openly licensed, online educational materials for use, reuse, adaptation, and sharing.
- K-12 BlueprintK-12 offers digital toolkits to help support technology initiatives and standards-based learning in and out of the classroom.
- LibreTextsThe Libretexts platform provides comprehensive courses, open textbooks and interactive visualizations across a variety of subjects.
- The Orange Grove Florida Open Educational Resource RepositoryThe collections are open to the public and include Open Courseware, Open Textbooks, 3d object models, learning modules, and videos. K-12 section includes lesson plans, instructional units, objects, videos, and other resources appropriate for K-12.
Free Learning Resources for K-12
Math & Science
- Online Resources for Science LabsSpreadsheet containing a compilation of online simulations/virtual labs, data sets, case studies, and more. Maintained by Kent State University
- PHET Interactive SimulationsPhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.
- UW-Madison Science Outreach at HomeThe science outreach portal for UW-Madison to welcome readers & visitors to Wisconsin’s public land-grant research university. Their objectives include sharing science with Wisconsin, and connecting you to the people, places, and programs in science outreach at UW-Madison.
General
- Common Sense MediaCommon Sense has launched two new pages compiling extensive resources for parents and educators with best practices for learning at home, keeping kids supervised and engaged, safeguarding physical and mental wellness, and much more.
- Khan AcademyKhan Academy’s library of trusted, standards-aligned practice and lessons covers math K-12 through early college, grammar, science, history, AP®, SAT®, and more.
- PBS Learning MediaCurated collection of PK-12 resources including lesson plans, videos, and activities organized by grade and subject to support at home learning.
- Smithsonian Teacher ResourcesA collection of distance learning resources including distance learning events from the Smithsonian
Humanities
- Ck-12Ck-12 is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving student learning by increasing access to free high quality educational materials through it's Flexbook 2.0 platform and concept-based modalities.
- EDSITEment!EDSITEment offers free resources for teachers, students, and parents searching for high-quality K-12 humanities education materials in the subject areas of history and social studies, literature and language arts, foreign languages, arts, and culture.
Reading/Literature
- Virtual Author/Illustrator Visits and Read AloudsA schedule of live children's literature author and illustrator visits and read-alouds across varying platforms. List updated daily.
What are OER?
Open Educational Resources (more commonly referred to as OER) are teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing* by others. Open educational resources include full courses, course materials, modules, textbooks, streaming videos, tests, software, and any other tools, materials, or techniques used to support access to knowledge. For more information visit our Resources for Learning About OER page.
Permissions with OER
David Wiley's 5R Permissions
Retain – the right to make, own, and control copies of the content
Reuse – the right to use the content in a wide range of ways
Revise – the right to adapt, adjust, modify, or alter the content itself
Remix – the right to combine the original or revised content with other material to create something new
Redistribute – the right to share copies of the original content, your revisions, or your remixes with others