Changes

=== OER to build communities of practice ===

=== OER to build communities of practice ===

One of the great challenges that teachers face is isolation in their practice. [[wikipedia:Community_of_practice|Communities of practice]] has been seen as a method of  supporting [[wikipedia:Teacher_education|teacher professional development]] and reducing isolation. When teachers are supported to interact in a free and open technology environment, they are able to support one another in the creation of open educational resources using multiple tools and processes.  Such an environment, supported by online and virtual methods, can build collaboration amongst teachers, thus supporting the community as well.  OER creation and re-use could well be the context and outcome of teacher communities.  Creation of a free and open technology environment is what could make this a reality. In this equation, we can see OER as the 'What', COP as the 'Who' and FOSS as the 'How' of this paradigm.

One of the great challenges that teachers face is isolation in their practice. [[wikipedia:Community_of_practice|Communities of practice]] (COP) has been seen as a method of  supporting [[wikipedia:Teacher_education|teacher professional development]] and reducing isolation. When teachers are supported to interact in a free and open technology environment, they are able to support one another in the creation of open educational resources using multiple tools and processes.  Such an environment, supported by online and virtual methods, can build collaboration amongst teachers, thus supporting the community as well.  OER creation and re-purposing could thus be the purpose and the output of teacher communities.  A free and open technology environment is essential to make this a reality. OER is the 'What', COP is the 'Who' and FOSS is the 'How' of this paradigm.

==== Communities of Practice and OER - a symbiotic relationship ====

Wikipedia is an example of a [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] based OER that seeks to meet the information needs of all. The [http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Main_Page Karnataka Open Educational Resources] (KOER) [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] based OER aims to meet the needs of teachers of Karnataka. Created by the COP of Government high school teachers across the state, the [http://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Main_Page KOER] [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] portal has the contributions from the COP in the subject areas of Mathematics, Science, Social Science and Languages. Thus COP and OER can have a symbiotic relationship and this model of OER creation and re-purposing by a COP can be adopted by other institutions or education systems.  

As mentioned earlier, [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] is a platform that can be used by Communities of Practice of teachers to collaborate in creating, re-purposing and publishing OER. While Wikipedia is an example of collaboratively created OER, that seeks to meet the information needs of all, the Karnataka Open Educational Resources (KOER) portal aims to meet the needs of teachers of Karnataka. Created by a the Communities of Practice of Government high school teachers, the KOER [http://mediawiki.org MediaWiki] portal has their contribution in the subject areas of Mathematics, Science, Social Science and Languages. This model of OER creation and re-purposing by a community of teachers can be adopted by other institutions or education systems.

===Creating a graphic view of your PDL===

===Creating a graphic view of your PDL===