Breaking Radio Silence: My Newest Rabbit Hole and FREE Resource Offerings

I will go on the occasional rant about just about anything. It's part of my introverted charm; I bottle everything up and then find a hill to die on with all of my hottest of takes! Today, my thoughts are on the accessibility of resources in education.

Education is a powerful tool that shapes lives and opens doors to new opportunities. With the advent of the internet and AI, it has become FAR easier to embrace the democratization of education. According to SORA Schools:

"Education has long been considered a key factor in personal and societal development. However, access to quality education has historically been uneven, with certain groups often being marginalized or excluded. Democratizing education seeks to dismantle these barriers, advocating for equal educational opportunities for all, regardless of socio-economic, geographic, or demographic factors. This concept champions education as a fundamental right accessible to everyone, striving to create a more inclusive and equitable educational landscape."

However, as technological access grows exponentially, all too often good and/or high-quality teaching resources are locked behind a paywall. Be it TPT, creating your own subscription-based website, or any other various subscription and/or payment model, accessibility faces barriers.

Don't get me wrong. I have used those resources in the past. I do not judge the people who run those types of websites or sell on TPT. I have thought about monetizing my intellectual labor, but I keep running into the tension of wanting to start a side hustle while embracing my beliefs in democratized education. The reason I've been silent on my recent blogging pattern is because of what I'm cooking up in the background!

I have decided to start sharing every course, intervention, tool, etc. that I have and will continue to create here on this very website for free! While I do not think I am the most excellent teacher in the world, I do believe that I have a knack for finding and curating resources across god's green internet to create standards-driven lessons and/or units. I'm also curious like a cat, and I will dive into rabbit holes to understand just about anything, especially if I'm making things for my students. While this new collection of courses, units, and/or lessons will start with a social studies or humanities focus, it will expand to EVERYTHING!

In this post, I want to explain why I've decided to share my courses and interventions freely, how this approach benefits students and educators alike, and what you can learn from this experience if you are considering a similar path.

(If you want to skip my rant, and see what my action plan is, scroll to the bottom!)

Why Sharing Matters More Than Ever

Access to quality education remains uneven across different communities and regions. Many students face financial barriers that prevent them from accessing the resources they need. By offering my courses and interventions for free, I aim to remove one of those barriers. Here's a loose paraphrase of Mikkel Hippe's thoughts on democratizing access to learning and education.

Key reasons for sharing freely include:

• Equity in education: Every student deserves a chance to learn, regardless of their financial situation.

• Wider impact: Free resources reach more students, multiplying the positive effects of the work.

• Community building: Sharing fosters collaboration among educators and learners, creating a supportive network.

• Continuous improvement: Open resources invite feedback, which helps refine and enhance the materials.

  
  

This approach aligns with the growing movement toward open educational resources (OER), which promotes free and accessible learning materials worldwide. For more on how to embrace the larger OER movement and vet those resources, there are excellent ISTE-U courses and ISTE-created resources.

How Free Courses and Interventions Help Students

Offering free courses and interventions is not just about removing cost. It also changes how students engage with learning.

Increased Accessibility

Students who might hesitate to invest in paid courses can explore new subjects and skills without risk. This encourages experimentation and self-directed learning.

Personalized Learning Paths

Interventions designed to address specific learning challenges can be shared widely, allowing students to find support tailored to their needs. For example, a reading comprehension intervention I created has helped struggling readers improve by focusing on vocabulary and context clues.

Building Confidence

When students have access to high-quality resources freely, they feel valued and supported. This boosts motivation and confidence, which are critical for academic success.

Benefits for Educators and the Learning Community

Sharing courses and interventions freely also benefits educators and the broader learning community.

Collaboration and Feedback

When resources are open, other educators can adapt and improve them. This collaborative spirit leads to better materials and innovative teaching methods.

Professional Growth

Creating and sharing free resources encourages reflection on teaching practices. It pushes educators to clarify concepts and develop more effective interventions.

Building Reputation and Trust

Offering valuable resources without charge builds goodwill and establishes educators as trusted experts in their field.

Image Credit to Taryl Hansen, who illustrated ShapingEDU sessions in 2023.

What Can You Find in the Plaiground?

The first offerings of curated courses should be online by Monday, November 24. I am currently working on organizing my creations into Google Sheets with links to:

• The relevant standards (Social Studies will use the NCSS C3 Framework)

• Courses are broken into units, and individual topics in the following formats:

  • Wayground and/or Edpuzzle interactive video activities.

  • Wayground and/or Edpuzzle interactive quizzes

  • Formative Assessments along the way.

  • Pre/Post assessments.

What Will You Use?

• You should be able to access/remix/use all of the resources through the free version of the apps that I frequently use.

  
  

• They are going to start off as very beautifully organized Google Sheets (shout out to Kyle Niemis for the template)

  • Once I get a better handle on web design, you should be able to remix the web pages on your own with ease (once I work better with Adobe and/or Figma integrations with Wix).

  • If there is someone who is better with web design than I am, reach out to me, and we can collaborate!

    
    

• Either way, these are intended to be both student or teacher-facing to maximize access!

What's Coming First?

The courses I will have the most ready to share first drafts of are:

• Macroeconomics (Semester)

• Microeconomics (Semester)

• Art History (Starting with Surrealism to Present)

What's Next?

These will be the interventions I've created alongside the credit recovery curriculum my students have access to, that need fleshing out into larger courses (instead of lessons/units):

• Algebra I/II

• 9th/10th Grade ELA

• Modern World History

• US History (Reconstruction to Present)

• Civics and Government

I have more thoughts on all of this, and I will share them in another blog post when the first set of courses/resources go live! Most importantly, I'm looking for feedback! What can I do to make my resources easier to use? Do you have something you want to share? Do you have a course you want me to bump up on the to-do list? I have enjoyed every second of creating, constructing, and remixing items to develop better resources for my students, and I want to share them with the world!