I love free stuff

I am thoroughly addicted to web browsing and have been for a very long time.  Several years ago I had a colleague (no longer here) who offered an assignment in a course which had among its instructions a ban on using the computer for research--never mind that the library card catalog was internet based.  I tend to go the other way, myself, and think that one of the best things I can do for my students is teach them how to use the Internet effectively--by which I mean something other than face book, my space, or twitter.  There are other search engines besides Google (yes, I do Google, but not only Google).

When I'm avoiding television (which is most of the time) I've got Pandora going on the computer, and I look for usable materials on the Internet.  I have a very broad definition of usable.  Some are usable in specific classes, some are usable in pursuing some of my outside interests, some are usable to escape boredom, and some I'm convinced are usable for something or other:  I just haven't discovered what yet.   Consequently my bookmark collection is on the large size--how large I don't exactly know, but I've discovered over three hundred new stumble upons in the process of assembling it.  Don't know what a stumble upon is?  I'll probably write about that sometime or other.

I always follow links.  Today I was browsing at Change Magazine which led me to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, where I found an interesting announcement

Carnegie, Gates, Hewlett Foundations Unite to Tackle Roadblocks to Student Success The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation announced a $2.5 million investment to identify promising strategies to dramatically improve college success rates, especially among those students least prepared for college-level work.

Of course I had to chase that down.  In the process of the chase I came across the Open Educational Resource Commons, which translated into street speech means FREE STUFF!

Open Educational Resources are all about sharing.

In a brave new world of learning, OER content is made free to use or share, and in some cases, to change and share again, made possible through licensing, so that both teachers and learners can share what they know.
Browse and search OER Commons to find curriculum, and tag, rate, and review it for others.
Use the Tutorials as a guide. Join and contribute to the global Open Education community.

What a noble idea this is.  I haven't begun to look it over thoroughly, but the count of post-secondary education resources available for free exceeds 16,000.  16,000 wheels we don't need to re-invent.  A number of these wheels are offered no-strings, which means we can use them, modify them, and add the new, improved model to the commons as our contribution

It would be a great thing to see Roger Williams University faculty adding to the Open Educational Resources Commons.  If I were in a position to tell the powers that be what to do (I am in the position to make modest suggestions) I'd say publishing to this  collection is both a community service and a proof of scholarship and should be considered in judgments about tenure and promotion.

So what say you?

Mike