Next month, the International Association for K-12 Online Learning (iNACOL) will be hosting a free webinar to help educators successfully use open educational resources (OER) in their school and classrooms.

"In this webinar, Amanda Cadran of North Carolina State University and Barbara Soots of the Washington State Office of Public Instruction will provide an overview of OER, discuss strategies for effectively locating and vetting OER resources, and share stories of K-12 districts exploring the opportunities and challenges of implementing OER at scale,” said iNACOL in a statement.

The webinar seeks to address one of education’s biggest growing trends; even the Department of Education is encouraging educators to use them.

Last October, the Department of Education announced its #GoOpen campaign, where it challenges districts to replace at least one textbook with an open educational resource by next year.

In addition to its campaign to raise awareness for the benefits of OERs, the Education Department also recently hired its first open education adviser, Andrew Marcinek, who will dedicate his time to seeking out how to best implement and promote OERs in PreK-12.

While still Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan spoke out in support of OERs because they can be constantly updated and adjusted to meet students’ needs.

The webinar, which is free for educators to attend, hopes to increase educators’ understanding how to best implement OERs.

"By advancing the understanding, adoption and implementation of OER at the state and district levels, we can ensure that all students have access to high-quality, flexible educational materials to personalize instruction and optimize learning.” said Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL.

The webinar will be held March 17, 2016 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. ET. Find out how to register here. 

Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

2/25/2016