In the Ed Tech circles, we talk a lot about the potential for new online tools in promoting education, but sometimes come up short on exact examples. We have plenty examples of how to use online tools in a class, but sometimes we don’t look at using tools to promote the bigger picture in education. For example, creating sites that provide free resources for teachers.
So, here is one example. I am sure there are many more out there. Promotion of sites like these is an issue, because promotion takes money. Here is my effort to promote one – Free-reading.net (an ongoing, collaborative, teacher-based, curriculum-sharing project):
The interesting thing about Free-reading.net is that the site is built on MediaWiki – the same tool that runs Wikipedia. Reading the About page also shows that they are following the same philosophy as Wikipedia – anyone is free to use it or contribute to it.
I am hoping that one day we will see more sites like this out there. And that we will also see those that are out there become well known.
Matt is currently an Instructional Designer II at Orbis Education and a Part-Time Instructor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Previously he worked as a Learning Innovation Researcher with the UT Arlington LINK Research Lab. His work focuses on learning theory, Heutagogy, and learner agency. Matt holds a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from the University of North Texas, a Master of Education in Educational Technology from UT Brownsville, and a Bachelors of Science in Education from Baylor University. His research interests include instructional design, learning pathways, sociocultural theory, heutagogy, virtual reality, and open networked learning. He has a background in instructional design and teaching at both the secondary and university levels and has been an active blogger and conference presenter. He also enjoys networking and collaborative efforts involving faculty, students, administration, and anyone involved in the education process.