Open Educational Resources provide opportunities to improve quality of learning and knowledge on a local and global scale. It removes barriers like your location, time zone, schedule or cost to build your education. UNESCO states, “universal access to information through high quality education contributes to peace, sustainable social and economic development, and intercultural dialogue”. People of all abilities can now access education with less barriers through these open resources. On a personal scale, I have found excellent resources from BC high-school Biology teachers that have made their lessons open sourced. I have learned how detailed to teach topics for each grade level with clear, informative graphics to include. A teacher from Burnaby has a great website showcases tons of resources. It is such a huge help to new student teachers who are learning how to design lesson plans for the first time to see how experienced teachers set up their class. Another great resource is from Creative Commons Open Educational Resources (Commons OER). A lot of their resources are from American schools and curriculums, but still very applicable. I found an awesome lab teaching blood typing from the Alabama Learning Exchange within Commons OER. The lab teaches students ABO Blood Typing and how this connects to blood transfusions. Open educational resources are even more powerful when you take into account how teaching has moved into online formats. Today in my morning observation class at Claremont, the teacher directed students to a website on circuits for their Grade 9 Physics unit. They were able to practice making parallel and series circuits with batteries, switches and lightbulbs in class, and then could go home and continue to explore with this free, open program online. They can visually map out their homework to help increase understanding. I used open source textbooks while in my undergrad degree at UVic to help save costs, it was not always the exact text I needed, but provided the right information and saved me several hundred dollars. Open Textbook Library has a database of 806 textbooks right now that are licensed by authors and publishers to be freely used and adapted. Another great site is BC campus OpenEd, which shows where to find open textbooks more curated towards BC curriculum.

 

As we move through the program, building our Personal Learning Networks are going to be crucial to help with job hunting and development. I have been mostly an observer on Twitter thus far, and while I can take a lot out of posts I am reading, I do not feel in my current position that I have a lot of value to contribute to the discussion. I know that as my career develops and my knowledge increases I will feel like I can contribute more, but currently I am very happy simply to learn with an open mind. At that point I feel that Twitter with be of more value towards my Personal Learning Network. I expanded my ideas around Personal Learning Networks from the two options listed in our competencies checklist to include the relationships I am forming with supportive teachers in my seminar days on Wednesdays at Claremont. While not strictly tech based I am finding these relationships to be so valuable in my development as a teacher and practice knowledge I am gaining. I have found three main teachers that I have a strong connection with, and I learn almost more on Wednesdays than any of my classes just by watching their class management, how they structure their lesson and how they are teaching their content. They are giving me opportunities in their classes to teach and interact with their students. These relationships are currently my strongest representation of a Personal Learning Network where I am connecting and interacting with the educational community.