K-12 Voices for Open is a community-led effort established in 2020 by ISKME, and in partnership with representatives from CAST, SETDA, New America, state, district, and other organizational leaders in open education across the U.S. The formation of K-12 Voices for Open is driven by the need to broaden engagement in K-12 open education by encouraging more diverse participation by practitioners, community members, and those with lived experience. This past year, K-12 Voices for Open has been working to establish priorities and concrete supports to enable increased participation in OER by educators and policymakers.
The session will feature a panel with members of K-12 Voices for Open, including district, state, and organizational leaders in open education to discuss pressing issues for the K-12 open education environment, and highlight the progress of the community's work in 2021, which has focused on four core areas: 1) OER professional learning, 2) OER curriculum vetting, 3) OER policy and advocacy, and 4) OER leadership and governance.
Panelists will reflect on K-12 open ed leadership and discuss the shared governance model and community workflows established by K-12 Voices for Open. Panelists will subsequently engage participants in the current priorities and outcomes from the the past year's work, including a written policy statement directed to states and particularly to district leaders to encourage the use of federal funds for OER; a statement of the community’s collective commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility; and a collection of quality rubrics and resources to support open educational practice and professional learning. The session will conclude with a discussion to gather audience feedback on outputs to date, as well as to inform the priorities of the K-12 Voices for Open going forward in 2022.
After participating in this session, attendees will be able to:
- Gain an understanding about the creation of a collaborative leadership and governance model, and will be able to generalize from this transferable model to apply to their own local open education context
- Learn how to get involved directly in the K-12 Voices for Open community and contribute to its goals and working group activities
- Be able to explain to others the benefits of the community and to supporting K-12 OER more broadly across states and districts
- Gain access to a set of shared resources, including guidelines and rubrics to support K-12 open ed practice, policy, and advocacy across state, local, and regional levels
