Getting ready for SY 20/21: OER Project course updates

Getting ready for SY 20/21: OER Project course updates

It’s summer, which means it’s time for the annual update! And wow. Do we have an update for you!

In case you’re new to the OER Project, here’s a little context: Every year, we review our content, reflect on feedback from teachers, students, and our advisory board, and then make revisions and updates based on that feedback. Unlike textbooks, which don’t change (unless of course you buy a new edition), the OER Project courses are “living curricula” and the summer update is where we make that happen!

For our 2020 update, we’re excited to announce that Big History Project (BHP) has joined World History Project (WHP) on a new unified platform: oerproject.com. So, what’s the big deal? We didn’t just move for the thrill of it—we have some really exciting new features in our new house. Time to show you around!

In this post you'll find:


OER Project platform: New features for everyone

One site… multiple courses!

When we added WHP to the family, we knew we would need a larger home. With the new OER Project platform, we have moved from that tiny loft apartment to a spacious home in the suburbs! With your single sign-on, you now have access to hosts BHP, WHP Origins, and WHP 1750. And we’re not done yet… Stay tuned!

 Courses homepage

One site… multiple communities!

Not only does your single sign-on grant you access to all OER Project courses, it also provides the magic password to all OER Project teacher communities, as well as the OER Project blog! No need to have separate sign-on credentials for a separate community platform and a separate blog. It’s all there in one place, accessible from anywhere on the site. Have a question about an activity? Click Community in the top-right corner. Need help navigating a lesson? Click Community in the top-right corner. You get the idea. No matter where you are on the site, you’re just one click away from a worldwide community of teachers, ready to collaborate!


Connect with the Community link

Google Classroom integration

For those of you who use Google Classroom, have we got a treat for you! The OER Project platform offers seamless, one-click Google Classroom integration. And for those of you who don’t have Google Classroom but like to have materials in Google Drive, we’ve got you covered too. Check out the information in the Google integration guide, found in Session 4.4 of Teaching Big History and Session 4.6 of Teaching World History.

 Google Classroom integration

Access materials WITHOUT signing in

This story may sound familiar to you: You share a link with your students, only to find it requires them to sign in again. And it turns out 25 of 27 students already forgot the password they used three minutes ago… Well, not anymore! Most OER Project materials, including all PDFs (articles and activities) and videos, are now “ungated”—in other words, you and your students can access material without being signed in.

 Ungated videos, readings and worksheets

Mobile access

The new OER Project platform is now mobile accessible, because, let’s be honest: that’s what our students are using most of the time!

 Access OER courses on a mobile device


BHP updates

As noted above, our big update this year is our move to a new home! So we’re going to give you a welcome tour. We hope this will address many of the questions you have, but we know (and love) that you’re an inquisitive bunch, so ask any additional questions in the teacher community!

OER Project home screen

We’ve remodeled the “front hallway” of our “house,” making it much easier to find what you need. From the home screen, you can quickly access any of the courses’ content (Course Home), online professional development (Teaching This Course), and community (Community Discussion).

Additionally, you can click Manage Classes to jump right to the class-management page, where you can add classes and invite studens (more on this later).

 Courses homepage

User-profile menu

Clicking on your profile image in the upper-right corner will launch you to all sorts of great stuff!

 User-profile menu

My Classes

Accessible from the user profile menu or the landing page (Manage Classes), this is where you will create classes and invite your students. (Check out Setting Up Your Class in Teaching Big History for more detail.)

To manage assignments, click View Class.

 My classes admin view

Assignments: Score, Revision Assistant, and Student Mode

From the View Class screen, you’ll see a list of Investigations (look for added assignments, in the form of Practice Questions, later this summer). To assign an Investigation, click Open. Students will then see it display in the respective lesson. By assigning Investigations, students will have access to our Score essay-scoring feature and automatic, real-time writing feedback through Revision Assistant. Just like before, you’ll be able to access data on student performance for each assignment.

Also, note that the View Class screen is where you can enter Student Mode, which is always helpful for understanding the student perspective and seeing how things look on their end.

 View Class screen with Enter Student Mode button

Teacher Resources

Formerly known as the Teacher Console, this is your one-stop shop for, well...teacher resources! Find course guides, course plans, instructional tools, posters, state alignment documents, rubrics, and research. There are a lot of gems in this treasure trove.

 BHP and WHP teacher resources

Course Home

Once you click on Course Home, you’ll see the course timeline, with links to each BHP unit. The timeline, unit, and lesson view look a little different but work the same as before, with some improvements. Just click around! There is one very small, but very important feature we do want to point out here—the hamburger menu. It’s not what you think it is!

If at any time you want to jump to something different—like a different lesson, unit, course, or the PD—just click the “Hamburger” button in the top-left corner of the screen, next to the OER Project logo. Voilà! Easy access to wherever you want to go.

 "Hamburger" button

 "Hamburger" menu

Teaching this course and community

All right, the tour is mostly done, but we just want to remind you of two can’t-miss features you saw when you first walked in:

 Courses homepage > BHP

Teaching Big History: If you haven’t taken Teaching Big History, now is the time to do it—just click Teaching This Course. This online professional development course will walk you through the skills and content of the course, and earn you 13 hours of professional development in the process. Even if you have taken it, the summer is a great time for a refresh!


Teaching Big History homepage

Teacher community: We mentioned it earlier, but just a reminder: the teacher community is available with one click from anywhere on the site. The community is an amazing resource, filled with educators just like you. From those new to BHP to veterans who have been around since the beginning of Big History (well, the course, not the Big Bang), you’ll find unlimited support and encouragement as you plan for the upcoming year.

Whew! That was quite a trek! We hope you have fun exploring. We know there will be more questions—please ask them in the community so others can see the answers! But always feel free to reach out via email: help@oerproject.com.


WHP updates

In November 2019, we launched WHP as a public beta. With feedback from our pilot teachers, we continued to refine our materials and expand on our content and skills approach. Frankly, it’s the biggest content release we’ve ever done. Not only that, with the site update, there are some new features. And now we’re excited to share all of it with you. Find the details below.

Content updates

Activity updates:

  • NEW: Making Claims: We ask students to test claims a lot. This new series of activities encourages students to make claims as well, which will further their ability to make strong, evidence-based arguments.
    • Check out an example here
  • NEW: What Is This Asking?: We’re sure you’ve seen it before: Sometimes a student struggles with an assignment simply because they’re not sure what is being asked! So we developed a new tool—the Question Parsing Tool—and a series of accompanying activities to help students decipher historical prompts.
    • Check out an example here
  • REVISED: EP/UP Notebooks: Don’t believe we take feedback seriously? Our EP/UP Notebook updates stemmed directly from the OER Project Teacher Community! One of our WHP pilot teachers shared a revision of the EP Notebook and we loved it. Rather than confronting students with questions they don’t know the answer to at the beginning of the era or unit—a potentially frustrating and unmotivating situation—students now respond to a series of statements based on the era or unit problem.
    • Check out an example here
  • REVISED: Sourcing Progression: Yet again, we turned to our WHP pilot teachers for help. This time for the revision of our Sourcing Progression. Rather than two tools, we settled on one very HAPPY tool (sorry, couldn’t help the pun).
    • Check out an example here

Leveled articles: Just as we did in BHP, we teamed with our friends over at Newsela to create leveled versions of all our WHP articles. You will now have at least four (and in many cases five) Lexile levels to help scaffold and support students at a variety of reading abilities. Many leveled versions are already posted, and all will be rolled out by August.

  • Check out an example here

 Select a Lexile level for reading

New global content:

  • Exploring the global economy, industrialization, and World War I in the United Kingdom: Just before global travel shut down, we hopped across the pond to film some new videos in the UK. From the medieval wool trade, to the place of coal in industrialization, to Victorian washing machines, these videos represent new content that we think you and your students will find both entertaining and informative. Use the handy search function to find any of these.

 OER toolbar with search box

  • Guilds, Wool, and Trade: Medieval England in a Global Economy
  • The Origins of the Industrial Revolution
  • The Macartney Expedition and the Global Economy
  • Britain and World War II
  • The British Gas Hood
  • Trench Fighting Weapons
  • Victorian Washing Machines
  • The Lives and Work of Coal Miners in Industrial England
  • The Lives of Nailers in Industrial England
  • Industrialization and Clean Water

 Cover image for The Origins of the Industrial Revolution video

Expanding our focus on Latin America: Unfortunately, the impact of COVID-19 did shut down our plans to travel to Mexico to film a series of new videos. However, we felt it was important to expand our coverage of the Americas, so we used the scripts to write a series of new articles. Use the search function to find these in the course:

  • “Teotihuacan and Classic Mesoamerica”
  • “Long-Distance Trade in the Americas”
  • “Religious Syncretism in the Americas”
  • "The Mexican Revolution"

 Latin America readings

Site updates

The addition of BHP to the OER Project platform resulted in some cool new updates for everyone.

OER Project home screen

We’ve remodeled the “front hallway” or our “house,” making it much easier to find what you need. From the OER Project home screen, you can quickly access any of the courses’ content (Course Home), online professional development (Teaching This Course), and community (Community Discussion).

Additionally, you can click Manage Classes to jump right to the class-management page, where you can add classes and invite students (more on this later).

 Courses homepage

Era/Unit Page access

We made it easier to access the Era and Unit pages. There’s a ton of great information on these pages (guides, vocab, posters!), and we realized it was a little hard to find. Now, just click Unit Page.

 Era/Unit card: New direct link to page


Era/Unit page

Easier navigation

With the new navigation, once you select a course, you will remain in that course unless you click out. If at any time you want to jump to something different—like a different lesson, unit, era, or course, or to the PD—just click the “Hamburger” button in the top-left corner of the screen, next to the OER Project logo. Voilà! Easy access to wherever you want to go.

 "Hamburger" button


"Hamburger" menu

Student Mode

To access Student Mode (so you can see what your students see), click on My Classes from the user-profile menu or the OER Project home screen (Manage Classes). (For information on setting up your classes, head over to this session of Teaching World History.)

Once you click View Class you’ll be able enter Student Mode. Always helpful for understanding the student perspective and seeing how things look on their end!

 View Class screen with Enter Student Mode button

New PDF viewer

The new PDF viewer means less scrolling and more seeing! There will be less white space in the PDF view, easier access to PDF functions (like Lexile levels, ePub, and sharing), and an overall better experience for the user. Check out any article or activity to see the changes.

 Updated PDF viewer

Whew! It’s a lot, we know! Between content and site updates, there’s a lot to explore. Have fun! We know there will be more questions—please ask them in the community so others can see the answers! But always feel free to reach out via email: help@oerproject.com.

Anonymous
Parents
  • Our staff is currently doing a week long training on Canvas which is the Learning Management System (LMS) that our school is requiring all teachers to use.  Does anyone have any experience, suggestions, tips for integrating WHP with Canvas?

  • I know (WHP) and (BHP) use Canvas. Maybe they can chime in!

  • Hi Curt! This can take us down the rabbit hole, but I'll try to give you the Readers Digest version. I used the directions in WHP as a basis for my Announcements, which served as our agenda. We were a digital class from the first day of the semester in regards to materials and tools, it's just that I was in front of the kids to usher them through the activities and exercises.

    We exclusively used Kami for the kids to manipulate and create responses in the PDFs, graded them using Rubrics, and provided feedback via Comments. We had some extensive discussions about Kami and how to use it last semester, so I am including a link to that discussion here - https://community.oerproject.com/world-history-project/teaching-whp/f/whp-general-discussions/160/document-analysis-annotations/832#832 .I used my Syllabus as our Hompage because I like the self-populated Assignment tracking at the bottom of that page.

    in talking to my colleagues, I think a good analogy is that Canvas is the garage, where I keep our instructional materials, but the car (to provide instruction) is Kami, Ed Puzzle, or whatever tool you decide to use. WHP is the fuel! 

    I read a book a couple of summers ago to get me started Canvas LMS Essentials: The Beginner's Guide to Creating a Simple Yet Effective Online Course. although a bunch of people use  Modules to organize their course, I haven't found that useful yet. That is subject to change!! Have you diagrammed what you want your course to like like yet? What concepts are you considering?

Comment
  • Hi Curt! This can take us down the rabbit hole, but I'll try to give you the Readers Digest version. I used the directions in WHP as a basis for my Announcements, which served as our agenda. We were a digital class from the first day of the semester in regards to materials and tools, it's just that I was in front of the kids to usher them through the activities and exercises.

    We exclusively used Kami for the kids to manipulate and create responses in the PDFs, graded them using Rubrics, and provided feedback via Comments. We had some extensive discussions about Kami and how to use it last semester, so I am including a link to that discussion here - https://community.oerproject.com/world-history-project/teaching-whp/f/whp-general-discussions/160/document-analysis-annotations/832#832 .I used my Syllabus as our Hompage because I like the self-populated Assignment tracking at the bottom of that page.

    in talking to my colleagues, I think a good analogy is that Canvas is the garage, where I keep our instructional materials, but the car (to provide instruction) is Kami, Ed Puzzle, or whatever tool you decide to use. WHP is the fuel! 

    I read a book a couple of summers ago to get me started Canvas LMS Essentials: The Beginner's Guide to Creating a Simple Yet Effective Online Course. although a bunch of people use  Modules to organize their course, I haven't found that useful yet. That is subject to change!! Have you diagrammed what you want your course to like like yet? What concepts are you considering?

Children
  • Mahalo (yes...I teach in Hawaii) for sharing Curt...and I do appreciate you giving me the RD version.  Iʻm not familiar with Kami so Iʻll need to go check it out.  Your garage and car analogy makes sense...now I just need to finish the "Driverʻs Ed training" ;). Btw...our WH team is considering adopting OER WH (the Origins version) as our common WH curriculum...something we havenʻt been able to do in a long, long time.  Thereʻs some concern though about how to make it work for all levels (i.e. Regular, Honors, and maybe even AP to some extent).  I think my Honors students will be fine, but the "Regular" classes may need more support.  Is OER used in all of your schoolʻs WH classes?  Just wondering...