New OER portal: Resources by teachers for teachers

SOE leads Year One population of #GoOpenVA platform for science and biology students

Screenshot of the #GoOpenVA website homepage.
#GoOpenVA is a digital library where users can explore open education resources and join a network of educators dedicated to curriculum improvement.

The VCU School of Education is leading a statewide K-12 curriculum mapping of blended learning resources for targeted science and biology students in Virginia school districts. The resources, created through a grant from the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) and focused on culturally responsive practices and teaching, are openly licensed and part of a state-wide Open Educational Resources (OER) platform called #GoOpenVA.

The project kicked off in September 2019 when Joshua Cole, Ph.D., executive director of strategic engagement, and Cassandra Barksdale Stanley, Ed.D., assistant director of strategic engagement, began working with VDOE to identify nine “master educators” across the state, who would create and review targeted online instructional resources using rubrics tools aligned to the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOLs).

Al Byers, Ph.D., who directs the School of Education's Center for Innovation in STEM Education, was tapped as principal investigator to assist the Office of Strategic Engagement in guiding and designing the production effort for VCU. With Byers’ leadership, the team integrated good inquiry-based science learning, to include the 5E's (engage, explore, explain, elaborate/extend and evaluate).

Of the nine master educators, three were elementary science teachers, three were middle school science teachers, and three were high school biology teachers. Each educator assumed the task of creating 27 inquiry-based lessons in three thematic areas (grade 5, grade 8 and grade 10, for a total of nine lessons in each grade band) that addressed specific learning outcomes for their grade levels. Inquiry-based learning encourages students to ask questions and share ideas. VDOE targeted these particular grade levels because students had scored poorly in these areas on statewide SOLs.

To ensure that the modules incorporated culturally relevant strategies, LaRon Scott, Ed.D., associate professor in the Department of Counseling and Special Education, was brought onto the project. Scott, who is also executive director of the Minority Educator Recruitment, Retention, and Equity Center, created a comprehensive rubric to help guide the design process of each resource.

Greg Sherman, Ph.D., a professor in the School of Teacher Education and Leadership at Radford University and instructional design project manager on the project, was very impressed with the way that culturally relevant strategies were implemented into the resources.

“Everyone ended up with better work as a result of Dr. Scott’s rubric,” said Sherman. “Inquiry-based learning experiences naturally create opportunities for connections between the students’ world and the instructor’s journey. The whole process works hand-in-glove with culturally relevant strategies.”

Byers, who is also a research assistant professor in the Department of Teaching and Learning, said that #GoOpenVA will enable educational groups throughout Virginia to create, share and access free digital materials that can then be modified to individual students’ needs.

“If teachers see something that's not going to work for them, then they're free to improve it,” said Byers. “That applies to all resources in this system. These are resources designed by teachers for teachers.”

Headshots of Joshua Cole, Al Byers, Cassandra Stanley, LaRon Scott and Greg Sherman.
From left: Joshua Cole, Ph.D.; Al Byers, Ph.D.; Cassandra Barksdale Stanley, Ed.D.; LaRon Scott, Ed.D.; Greg Sherman, Ph.D.