As an emerging teacher, the prevalence of Open Education resources and Open Source content eases some of my anxieties around developing lessons for the first time. Beginning from scratch is daunting, and with such an open curriculum in BC it feels overwhelming to begin researching and developing interesting and engaging lessons. Learning about all the places I can look to for Open Education content has shown me that new teachers aren’t all on their own, and rather that there is a culture of collective educational resource development among educators. For example, OER Commons has teaching resources for English Composition and Open School BC offers an entire unit for English Language Arts 10 and ideas for in class activities.
Alongside the wealth of Open Education content available to teachers, Open Source content can supply the images, videos and information to enhance lessons and classroom communities. For example, BC OpenTextbook Collection offers free and open textbooks and The Greats has a large library of Open Source art that would brighten up classroom walls.
I feel grateful and excited to be a part of a profession that encourages sharing ideas and resources for the betterment of education. I can say with certainty that in my teaching career I will be making use of Open Education and Open Source content and will look for ways in which I can give back with the resources I will create.