Designing and Field Testing Open Educational Resources for Schools

Since its inception the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE) has been engaged in developing Supporting Instructional Material in School Science and Mathematics. Over a span of more than three decades it has brought out curricular, remedial, enrichment and popular science material in print form. For the last six years HBCSE has involved itself in designing digital resources to support the teaching of school science and mathematics. In this context a project entitled Open Educational Resources for Schools (OER4S) was launched in June 2007. The project is funded by the Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology Commission (RGSTC), Government of Maharashtra and is implemented jointly by HBCSE, MKCL (Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited) and I- CONSENT (Indian Consortium for Educational Transformation).

OER4S aims at designing and field testing digital resources in school science and mathematics suitable for students, teachers and parents in the state of Maharashtra. These resources, prepared in Marathi, are uploaded to the specially designed website (www.mkcl.org/mahadnyan) and are made available free of costs to all the stakeholders. Two big educational systems namely, the Rayat Shikshan Sanstha, Satara and the Shivaji Shikshan Sanstha, Amravati have been identified to field test the suitability and relevance of these resources. The feedback received from these educational institutions has been quite positive.

Apart from the development of a substantial numbers of user friendly digital resources for school science and mathematics the project has led to a strong network among a large number of teachers and parents within the state. It also gave rise to a model of collaboration among three different organizations: HBCSE (a research institution), MKCL (a public limited company) and I-CONSENT (a voluntary organization) for the common cause of improving the quality of school education. The first hand experiences of designing and field testing open educational resources in science and mathematics for schools along with their global implications would be shared during the presentation.