OER stands for Open Education Resources. It is a portal in which content providers (namely teachers) make available to others content they have created. When on the receiving end, visitors to the site can download content to use as teaching aids. This is one example of a site that, in my opinion, encourages the notion of use, improve and share.
On this site information is catalogued by subject as well as by level. There are three levels: primary, secondary and post-secondary. An teacher will then select the content.
The people who upload content can apply a licensing model to their work. The very popular creative commons (http://www.creativecommons.cc/) license model is supported as well as other lesser known restrictions.
In my opinion the success of any site lies in its search engine and on this front OER Commons is more than adequate. For example I typed in the the word "photosynthesis", selected the subject area Science & Technology and the secondary level grade. 10 documents came up ranging from the primary, secondary "A Beginning Look at Photosynthesis: Plants Need Light" made available by the The GLOBE Program, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research and Colorado State University up to the "Virtual Cell" a secondary, post-secondary java interactive tool uploaded by SERC.
If you like the material made available by a particular contributor, you can tag it for future recall. By clicking on a contributor you can see other material made available on this portal. People who make use of material from here can rate the quality of the material. This feedback mechanism helps float to the top better quality material thereby making it easier for others to benefit from the experience of others.
A great resource for teachers!
Go to http://www.oercommons.org/ to give it a test surf yourselves.
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