RSA #3: Resource-Based Learning

http://www.edutopia.org/article/open-educational-resources-oer-resource-roundup

Week 5's module focused on Resource-Based Learning. Resource-Based Learning is student-driven and relies upon copious amounts of resources for students to explore and peruse. There are many benefits to resource-based learning, including the ability to provide materials geared toward different learning styles, highly-engaging learning activities, and student interest is high during Resource-Based Learning activities.

One aspect of Resource-Based Learning that is imperative to take advantage of as an educator is Open Educational Resources. Open Educational Resources (OER) are shared teaching, learning, and research resources available under legally recognized open licenses - free for people to reuse, revise, remix, and redistribute (Edutopia, 2013). The shared resource in this blog post, Open Educational Resources (OER):Resource Roundup, includes information on Open Educational Resources, informational videos, blogs, lesson plans, and open textbooks. It is essentially a plethora of resources for Open Educational Resources to use with Resource-Based Learning. It is a great starting point for any beginner who may be wanting to begin implementing Resource-Based Learning in his or her classroom.

Teacherspayteachers.com is an excellent website to find resources to plan for Resource-Based Learning lessons. It is possible to browse thousands of teacher-created items that range from center activities to whole-group lesson plans (Teacherspayteachers, 2014). Some items are free and some have a price tag, but undoubtedly it is an excellent bank of resources for any teachers. It is similar to the Open Educational Resources: Resource Roundup website in the sense that it provides resources for teachers. One main difference is that Teacherspayteachers is not completely free while the other resource site is.

Open Educational Resources make up just one part of what Resource-Based Learning has to offer. The aforementioned article fits perfectly when considering Resource-Based Learning, as it provides a multitude of resources and information regarding OER. Resource-Based Learning can engage students and motivate them in their own learning.

In my own practice, both of the aforementioned resources can be used toward creating lessons in resource-based learning. The fact that many OER and sites like Teacherspayteachers are sprouting up is very positive for educators. For example, I have already found OER on Open Educational Resources: Resource Roundup and I have also downloaded materials from Teacherspayteachers. I am looking forward to reading other blog posts from my classmates regarding the resources they found.

Edutopia (2013). Open educational resources (OER): Resource roundup. Retreived from http://www.edutopia.org/article/open-educational-resources-oer-resource-roundup

Teacherspayteachers. (2014) Retreived from www.teacherspayteachers.com