Available Educational Resources for Schools in The Elementary Levels

         In the United States, there are many educational resources for schools in the primary or elementary levels that are available for the teachers who would like to use educational resources from within and outside their respective elementary schools. An elementary school teacher who is new in his teaching job should be reminded that there are various available educational resources in the school that he could use for educating and teaching his students. The teacher should optimise and maximise the use of the school's available educational resources for educating and teaching his students because he would be able to find out if the intended purpose and goals for the use of those resources would be met or fulfilled.

         However, the elementary school teacher should be reminded that he should not only wholly depend on the educational resources for schools in the elementary levels that are recommended by the local or state education authorities or agencies. There are various Internet websites that provide online educational resources that are available for free downloading so that the teacher could use and apply them in educating and teaching his students. Some of the websites that provide free educational resources are funded and operated by non-profit organisations or private foundations, and the other websites are supported by local, state or federal government agencies. The websites that provide free educational resources cover academic areas of study in arts and music, mathematics, sciences, language arts, and world studies and history.

         The elementary school teacher should also remember that he should not make a choice in choosing between the educational resources for schools in the elementary levels that are recommended by education authorities, or the online educational resources that could be obtained for free from the Internet. The teacher could use the educational resources from his school and from the online sources so that he could teach his student in the best possible way.

Educational Resources for Schools Operating in an Open Learning Environment

        Open education refers to a setup where through the use of technology, teachers and learners alike have free access to high-quality educational resources for schools regardless of their location. This can be brought about and made possible by technology. In addition, these resources are produced in collaboration with other individuals not necessarily belonging to the same educational institution or being in the same location. This would be of immense benefit to students because the production and usage of educational resources for schools will be localized and will be able to adapt to an individual learner's specific needs. This system will radically change the methods in which knowledge is created and passed on between educators and learners.

        The term “resource” is recognised as a supply of materials or assets that can repeatedly be drawn upon as a source until the time it runs out. In this context, renewable resources can be defined as something which can be drawn upon without its stock being diminished, while non-renewable resources are stocks that eventually decrease when they are used. Knowledge, therefore can be categorised as a renewable resource because it cannot be diminished, only modified and added upon.

        When we talk of open educational resources for schools, one thing that would come to mind would be digital resources such as computer drives, CDs, flash drives and digital devices that can also store and modify data such as PDAs, smartphones, netbooks and tablets. From a state policymaker or school administrator's point of view, open educational resources for schools may also include school facilities such as buildings, libraries and computer facilities in addition to public libraries that students can freely access for educational purposes. In an open educational setup which is largely computer-based, a resource can refer to learning content stored in a digital repository as a text, audio or video file in its broadest classification.

Online Educational Resources for Schools

        Modern technology has now made it easier for educational institutions, educators and students alike to share information even when they are physically separated from each other. The Internet in particular has made it possible for governments and organizations to provide educational resources for schools. This can be a big help in sharing information and research across higher learning institutions such as universities and polytechnics. There are also online educational resources for schools which are targeted towards helping younger students to grasp or deepen their understanding of an important lesson or concept being taught at school. Below are some of the examples of educational resources for schools that are found online and the subject they are connected with:

Learning languages 

        

        These materials are designed to introduce children to vocabulary and rules of usage for different languages. These can be printed and are available also in Powerpoint and Microsoft Word formats. The actual learning tools include coloring pages, flashcards, test papers, games, certificates and many others.

Educational resources for schools catering to young children 

       These include activity boards and printable sheets that will help preschoolers distinguish between and learn the different colors and shapes, learn how to write and count numbers, how to write and say the alphabet, tell time, and distinguish between sizes and their significance.

Classroom educational resources for schools

        These include printable certificates and awards to motivate students, colorful bookmarks, writing paper, story paper, planning sheets and many other tools that they can use for everyday classroom activities.

Mathematics educational resources 

        These help children with time tables, how to recognise and count numbers, learn about money, and perform the basic mathematical operations such as addition, division, subtraction and multiplication. There are also mathematical games available that the teacher can use to further reinforce the learning of their students.

The Significance of Open Educational Resources for Schools

        Creating open educational resources for schools is a dream for many educators, government policy makers and educational institutions. Creating open educational resources for schools offer the following advantages:

• Giving free access to high-quality educational resources to teachers and learners, regardless of their physical location
• Having high-quality educational resources that are collaborative produced, localized and adjusted to fit the individual learner's specific needs and context
• The cost of producing these high-quality educational resources is distributed across a large number of institutions and countries
• The maintenance of these high-quality educational resources would be declining rapidly and may even be considered negligible if the trend were to continue

        As of today these conditions of open educational resources for schools only exists in laboratory models. However, in the course of the next several years, it will become possible in ways that will radically affect how educators create and pass on knowledge and how learners absorb them.

        One element that will make this a reality is to provide an open access to educational resources wherein a concept of meta-university will emerge. In this setup, a transcendent, accessible, empowering, dynamic and communally constructed framework of open materials and platforms will be created which will influence the construction or enhancement of higher education worldwide. Computers and the Internet will play a significant role since they will provide the communication infrastructure. Meanwhile, the calls for open access to educational resources for schools and its derivatives will also influence the creation of much of the knowledge and information infrastructure for open education.

        When we talk about initiatives to provide open educational resources for schools, its impact will be significant for learners, educators and educational institutions over the next number of years. These educational resources will have to be widely accessible for users all across the world at little or no cost to the learner.

Exploring Open Educational Resources for Schools

Open educational resources for schools refer to teaching and learning materials that are available through the Internet for everyone to use. There are open educational resources for schools that can be used by an instructors and students for an educational institution or even a self-learner. The examples of Open Educational Resources for schools are full courses, course modules, syllabi, lectures, coursework assignments, quizzes, laboratory and classroom activities, pedagogical materials, games, simulations, and many other resources that can be stored via digital media from sources all over the world.

Although informational content in its pure form covers a significant effect to learning and teaching, it will be helpful to consider open educational resources for schools depending on their levels of granularity and focus on the degree through which information content is embedded within a learning activity. This classification is as follows:

• Digital Assets. This normally consists of a single file such as an image, video or audio clip. This is sometimes called a 'raw media asset'.
• Information Objects. It is a structured aggregation of digital assets that is designed for the sole purpose of presenting information.
• Learning Objects. This is an aggregation of one or more digital assets that represents an educationally meaningful stand-alone unit.
• Learning Activities. These are tasks involving interactions with information that will help achieve a specific learning goal or objective.
• Learning Design. These are structured sequences of information and activities that aim to promote learning.

Open Educational Resources for schools has the aim of providing open access to education resources of high quality to anyone anywhere in the world. Based on the growing popularity of the Internet and the recognition by governments and academic institutions to the role of online and virtual environments in the advancement of learning, the number of programmes and projects associated with Open Educational Resources for schools will be expected to grow quickly over the years.

Fun and Enjoyable Alternative Educational Resources For Schools

        Educational resources for schools are regulated and standardised. However, regulation and standardisation are not that rigid; teachers can use or apply different teaching resources as long as they fall within the guidelines set by the school and the education agency of the government. Hence, teachers and educators can use alternative instruction materials which are fun and enjoyable because they attract the attention of learners and students and sustain their interest.

• Games and Other Activities – Fun and enjoyable educational resources for schools include games and other activities which provoke the thoughts of the students. These games and activities can be individual or group activities. Most individual games and activities would eventually end up in a group setting as the processing of the learning is done in a group setting and group involvement or sharing makes a game or an activity interesting which is the purpose of alternative teaching methods.

• Screening and Censorship – The alternative teaching and educational resources for schools should be secured with an approval from the school administration, especially if they involve issues in moral teachings and social agendum. Teachers and educators should be sensitive to each of the students' social profile and to morals. For example, in choosing plays or comical skits to be performed by students with the purpose of giving awareness of certain principles taught, the teacher should see to it that they do not contain portions which may be offensive to some students especially with regards to their social profile.

• Other Examples – Examples of the educational resources include, but are not limited to, the mentioned plays and comical skits, magic tricks, games with paraphernalia and photos or images from the internet. There are free and paid educational resources in the internet and traditional sources like educational materials suppliers.

Teachers and educators should use alternative educational resources that make learning fun and enjoyable for students and non-formal learners.

The Nature of Open Educational Resources for Schools

Open educational resources for schools are best distinguished from traditional educational resources for schools because of their electronic nature. Open educational resources for schools refer to digital materials that are re-used for academic activities such as teaching, and research. They are available for free by way of open licenses. This will allow the use of materials that are otherwise not permitted under copyright rules alone. It must be noted that open educational resources for schools by itself will not be able to award degrees to students. Neither can they provide academic or administrative support. Nonetheless, open educational resource materials are slowly being integrated into open and distance learning environments. Open education is the kind of education that eliminates many conditions for academic entry such as university or high school admission requirements.

Open educational resources for schools include many different kinds of digital assets. It can be grouped into the following:

1. Learning Content

• courses
• course materials
• content modules
• learning objects
• collections
• journals

2. Tools

• software supporting the creation, delivery, use and improvement of open learning content
• searching and organising content
• content and learning management system
• content development tools
• online learning groups or communities

3. Implementation Resources

• intellectual property licenses governing open publishing of materials
• design principles
• localization of content

4. Materials on Best Practices

• stories
• publication
• techniques
• methods
• processes
• incentives
• distribution

The goals of open educational resources for schools range from specific aims such as reshaping the captive market of textbook publishers to the extremely ambitious goal of creating an environment where each and everyone can access and contribute to the sum of all knowledge that humankind has gathered and discovered. But perhaps a more realistic use of open educational resources for schools is to make a contribution to the development of the economies of less developed countries.

Using Search Engines in Gathering Educational Resources for Schools

         Educational resources for schools can be gathered from the internet. In fact, the internet has become the primary source of educational resource which schools use. The internet is full of these resources and it is up to the teachers to gather them and, in the first place, be resourceful enough to know how to search for them.

        In researching for educational resources for schools, the researchers (specifically the teachers) can use some tips on how to locate them.

1. Search Engines – Teachers, or anyone researching for educational resources for schools, can use the search engine in its simplest way. The search engine will return pages of lists of the educational resources which may include websites who either sell or give the resources for free. The teachers just need to give time and effort in evaluating each website and the contents of each so that they will be able to come up with decisions on which specific resources address which specific needs.
2. Articles in Search Engines – The teachers can also use educational resources in the form of articles from the internet. Anyone who is researching for articles to use as educational resources can go to any search engine and type in the search word slot the name of the search engine and add word descriptions of the resources they want to find. For example, if you want to look for articles which will give information and knowledge about the best student camp destinations, you can go to Yahoo, type “Yahoo” and add “travel” and hit the search button. You will be lead to a page of articles about travel which includes student camp destinations.

         Aside from the simple search engine search and the search engine article search, you can also explore other pages of the search hits you got.

Getting Free Educational Resources for Schools in The Primary Level

        Working as a kindergarten school teacher for a public elementary school for the past three years has exposed me to the delays in getting immediate funding and purchasing of educational resources that are badly needed in the school where I teach. So I decided to help my school and the students I handle by researching the Internet for getting free educational resources for schools under the primary level so I could download those resources and use them at our school.

        So I found three Internet websites that specialized in providing free educational resources for schools at different education levels, including the different grade levels for primary schools. The websites I found were specialized websites that provided educational resources that the teachers, parents, and students could use in various primary school subjects, including the core subject of reading, writing and mathematics. When I finished reading and analyzing the free online resources from the three websites, I made a list of the things I needed and started downloading the resources from their respective websites.

        The educational resources for schools at the primary level that I downloaded for free included worksheets and printable educational games for teaching mathematics, custom worksheet templates for English, arts, mathematics, reading, languages, and literacy, and other educational games that could be used for stimulating and developing the children's mental processes such as perception and visual perception skills, speech and thought abilities, abilities for recognizing and distinguishing numbers and objects, and their memory processes.

         The other educational resources I downloaded are printed materials of children's short stories and nursery rhymes that incorporated lessons on arts, reading and writing, mathematics and numbers, literacy, music and other basic educational lessons. I also obtained study guides for English, science and mathematics, and homework help for my students. I am glad to say now that I have used those resources in my classes and saw the improvements in my students.

Educational Resources for Schools and Teachers

Educational resources for schools and teachers are very important. These resources help the schools and teachers update their teaching methods and materials. Sources of educational resources continually update the methods and materials they provide to the schools and teachers.

Because the educational resources for schools and teachers are used in the classroom, students can refer to them for their homeworks, assignments, coursework, essay writing and projects. Students can get ideas and information from them to use in the mentioned tasks.

1. Forms – Educational resources for schools, teachers and also for students can come in the forms of lesson plans, learning activities, online courses, electronic teaching and learning materials and many others.
2. For Schools – The educational materials are used by schools in updating their curriculum. The organisations, agencies and their websites continually update their materials and keep pace with the changing times and corresponding curriculum changes. Websites providing the educational resources keep their materials updated because of regulation and competition. This is specially so with licensed websites because they are regulated and accredited by education authorities like the government and educational organisations.
3. For Teachers – The materials and sources of educational resource are also used by the teachers on their own initiative. Some teachers may be looking for some elements which they do not find in the materials which their schools recommend to them, or, they may want to add some more to these.
4. For Students – As mentioned, students can also use the educational resources for their assignments and personal study. Aside from learning more and independently, they will be able to answer more of their teachers' questions and requirements. Using the resources will help them better understand their lessons or be more interested in them. These resources are very helpful especially with more difficult school tasks.