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Phase 2: Selecting and Organizing a Team

“The district has found that creating quality resources takes a like-minded, motivated team of educators and dedicated hours of curating and revising the resources into usable tools for instruction.”


-Coronado Unified School District

In selecting and organizing an implementation team, #GoOpen Districts identify key stakeholders from across the district to play important roles in creating, curating, and leading the transition to openly licensed educational resources. Once selected, the #GoOpen team works together to determine the appropriate roles and responsibilities for each member of the team and to organize its work.

Phase 2 Tasks

  1. Identify key members of the #GoOpen implementation team.
  2. Agree on a regular meeting time, schedule, and roles and responsibilities.
  3. Determine a work plan and timeline for implementation.

Phase 2 Guiding Questions

  • Who will be part of your #GoOpen implementation team?

    The #GoOpen implementation team includes key stakeholders in the district that meet regularly to coordinate and execute a strategy to #GoOpen. In many #GoOpen Districts, these stakeholders include the Assistant Superintendent, Curriculum Director, classroom teachers, librarians, instructional technology specialists, special education teachers, and English language learner teachers. However, makeup of the team varies from district to district depending on its circumstances and structure. Some districts divide their #GoOpen team into sub-teams for specific activities such as design, curation, and implementation. This is a great opportunity to offer teachers leadership roles.

  • How often will your team meet? What are the roles and responsibilities of each team member?

    Members of the #GoOpen team meet regularly throughout the school year and over the summer both as a team and in small groups to develop and execute your strategic plan to #GoOpen. In addition the team communicates regularly through a variety of digital tools to ensure that everyone is updated on current progress, assignments, and news related to the use of the openly licensed educational resources.

    One of the actions of the team is to assign roles and responsibilities to team members. Some team members, librarians, for example, might focus on discovering and tagging resources. Others, such as content experts and classroom teachers, might focus on assessing resources for quality according to district-approved rubrics. Some, such as instructional technology facilitators, might lead professional learning sessions with staff.

  • What is a reasonable timeline for replacing a static, traditional textbook with openly licensed educational resources?

    As previously mentioned, #GoOpen Districts report that a good time to start the process of replacing a static textbook with openly licensed educational resources is about 12 months before you want to introduce the new resource. Some districts do the work over the course of a summer in a “summer sprint.” A major factor in the amount of time you will need is the degree to which you are curating versus creating materials from scratch. The more you create, the more time and/or team members you will need to author, edit, format, and review the materials. In addition, many districts have an established process for adopting new materials that includes a pilot phase in the rollout process.

    One thing to keep in mind is you don’t have to replace an entire textbook all at once. Many districts phase in the use of openly licensed resources and some, as discussed above, use them side-by-side with other free materials and proprietary resources.

Phase 2 Examples

Teachers Make It Happen

Coronado Unified School District, Coronado, CA

Coronado Unified has been using openly licensed educational resources to create both core and supplemental instructional materials for four years. The district has found that creating quality resources takes a like-minded, motivated team of educators and dedicated hours of curating and revising the resources into usable tools for instruction. The district is fortunate to have teachers willing to do this rigorous work. Contributions include creating the sources, integrating them into existing instructional materials, and updating them annually. The district remunerates teachers for this work, which open resource experts estimate at about one third of the cost of adopting static, traditional resources.

In addition to financial rewards, a significant benefit to teacher-writers of openly licensed educational resources is the professional development inherent in evaluating resources for alignment with standards, assessments, and exemplary instructional practices, as well as alignment between members of the department or grade level who create the materials.

The district plans to continue promoting the use of the resources as a means to provide up-to-date instructional materials and professional development for teachers. For a chart outlining the roles and responsibilities of the educators in the process of curriculum collection and development, see Table 3.

Table 3: Roles and Responsibilities for Creating and Curating Openly Licensed Educational Resources at Coronado Unified School District

Role Duties Compensation
Subject Area Department Chair and/or Grade Level Lead Qualifications for a team leader

  • Organizational skills
  • Google Docs and Drive expertise
  • Willing to learn new systems

Responsibilities

  • Attend Subject Area Team Lead meetings
  • Research content frameworks and existing OER materials
  • Lead committee meetings
  • Manage and organize all steps of the process
  • Communicate with subject area team
  • Work with Directors of Learning and Technology
  • Lead team on scope and sequence development
  • Curate resources
  • Present to staff and Governing Board
  • Train and support school site staff
Department Chair stipend

Professional Development Funds

Release Time

Summer Project

Subject Area and/or Grade Level Team Member Qualifications

  • Google Docs and Drive expertise
  • Haiku Learning Management System expertise
  • Willing to learn new digital systems

Responsibilities

  • Contribute to scope and sequence
  • Attend all meetings
  • Review first draft
  • Share final resources with grade level and/or department
  • Review curated materials
  • Train and support school site staff
Professional Development Funds

Release Time

Summer Project

Technology Resource Teacher Qualifications for a team leader

  • Organizational skills
  • Google Docs and Drive expertise
  • Innovative drive and ability to troubleshoot
  • Easily learn new systems
  • Experience with training staff on system use

Responsibilities

  • Attend Subject Area Team Lead meetings
  • Research content frameworks and existing OER materials
  • Manage and organize training for school site staff
  • Communicate with subject area team
  • Work with Directors of Learning and Technology
  • Curate resources
  • Present to staff and Governing Board
  • Train and support school site staff
N/A
Principal / Assistant Principal Responsibilities

  • Co-facilitate committee meetings with Department Chair/Grade Level Leads
  • Attend Subject Area Team Lead meetings
  • Communicate with subject area team
  • Work with Directors of Learning and Technology
  • Support team on scope and sequence development
  • Support staff in presentations to staff and Governing Board
  • Support school site staff in implementation of resources
N/A
Senior Director of Learning Responsibilities

  • Assist with team member and team lead selections
  • Schedule team meetings
  • Co-facilitate initial meetings with team leads
  • Develop scope and sequence format
  • Develop curriculum collection formatting and content guidelines
  • Ensure selected materials address all standards
  • Facilitate process for Governing Board approval of selected instructional materials
  • Ensure Williams Settlement appropriateness of materials (identification of core materials, format, equity and access
  • Assist subject-area teams in the development of assessments as needed/upon request
  • Guide subject-area teams with assessment options as needed/upon request
N/A
Director of Technology Responsibilities
Work with Senior Director of Learning to:

  • Assist with team member and team lead selections
  • Support team with technology resources available
  • Oversee systems where curriculum is being curated
  • Provide assistance to teams with the integration of new technology-based content sources
  • Coordinate training of new systems as needed
  • Support Site Technology Resource Teachers
N/A

Phase 2 Resources