I recently received an email about Curriki -- we all know what wikis are now, and Curriki operates on the same principle as our cohort wiki, but is specifically for curriculum development. With Texas loudly exerting its political will by demanding changes such the removal of a so-called "pro-Islamic" slant from textbooks -- and the sheer size of their textbook order means that what Texas asks for is what we all get -- an "open source" alternative is like a breath of fresh air. Curriki states a goal of a "complete curricula solution." You can search for lesson plans and units, revise them, upload your own stuff, join a project, find a teacher to collaborate with, or read their blog. When you sign on for this endeavor, its best to leave your increasingly obsolete (for better or worse) notion of intellectual property at the doorstep. Curriki embodies what we know and have learned about web 2.0. It's an interactive virtual educational community built around resource sharing, content building, and meaning making. Pretty cool.
Curriki has an excellent guided tour of their site. Check it out and let me know what you think of this idea!
The Curriki Blog's Wordle -- the collaborative vision of Curriki
Never heard of a Wordle? They're pretty neat creations, take a look! Try Wall Wisher, too, while you're at it...
Wow Elizabeth, thanks for posting this! What a fascinating idea! Quite frankly I'm surprised no one has thought of this before. I can just picture the reactions of those companies that have a stronghold on providing curriculum materials to schools. It's interesting that you mentioned Texas because I remember reading about some conflict of interest involving the Bush brothers and the selection of this particular curriculum for the schools.
ReplyDeleteI think this is just what the education community needs. I'm curious to see how well maintained and organized it will be because I foresee that being a logistical problem, but if it is done right it will be a goldmine of resources. Imagine if schools/teachers no longer had to pay those subscription fees to access resources to use in the classroom. Perhaps we should have done our unit plans on this wiki instead of our individual ones. Maybe that will be in the works for future UWB cohorts, you never know!