How does K-12 Voices of Open lead K-12 OER efforts? Tonight we watched an Open Ed 2021 panel entitled “Advancing K-12 OER Through A Collaborative Model” with several panelists: Amee Evans Godwin from ISKME, B. Jean Weller from Virginia Department of Education, Cynthia Curry from CAST, Rebecca Henderson from Westmoreland Intermediate Unit, PA, and Yvette McMahon-Arnold from the Virginia Islands Department of Education. All panelists are involved in the K-12 Open Comunity. The goal of the group is to “develop a leadership and governance model that is community-led” and implement a DEI and accessibility (DEIA) statement. Henderson spoke about creating a community of practice and be a group of lifelong learners to help and connect with everyone. Weller talked about the importance of sharing their knowledge and helping each other grow. Henderson explained that to make change, a roadmap AND reflecting on where people are and where they want to get to are critical. Weller discussed how providing OER resources to change the way they teach is the best way to make change. McMahon-Arnold described sharing information and reaching out to historical cultural organizations to include culturally-responsive resources from the Virgin Islands. Curry asked: how can we make works accessible and share culturally-responsive information? The questions and support were helpful to hear as they provided information about some key challenges of OER in K-12 and in general. One question was about what data and studies are necessary for convincing and further implementing OER? Curry rephrased and asked: what is the impact that we are looking for?
