OER Project: An Origin Story

The cat’s officially out of the bag: the Big History Project course (BHP) has found its perfect pairing with the introduction of World History Project. Our new family of two also has a shiny new name: OER Project. In true BHP fashion, read on for the OER Project “origin story” and learn more about why we went from one course to two.

Before we go any further, let’s define OER: No, it’s not what you use to paddle a canoe (“sea” what we did there, though?). OER—open educational resource—refers to teaching and learning materials that are available online, for anyone to use, free of cost. What’s defined as OER ranges from a single worksheet download, to entire curricula that can be shared and adapted by individual teachers or school networks. We’re very proud to be the latter: free, cohesive courses that can be easily scaffolded to meet your students’ needs!

Seven years ago, Big History Project kicked off with a Big Bang. Since then, we have continued refining and curating our robust, online curriculum for teachers around the world. Our hope? To set the bar for what OER should be. We’ve learned a ton from our work with BHP teachers and have continued to make improvements to our course based on their feedback. We’ve also heard from our BHP teachers that they want to make sure students who leave their classrooms continue using the reading, writing, and critical reasoning skills they honed in BHP. Well, they asked and we answered. World History Project is finally here, two years in the making, and it’s the perfect sequel to BHP. (Read more here about why our two courses perfectly complement each other, and to get help determining which course is right for you!)

Together, Big History Project and World History Project show what free, online courses can be. Together, they comprise the OER Project family. We’re so glad you’re a part of this family, too.