Title: Introduction/About this Course
Course: Web Tools for Courses

Why this course is here and what will happen to the work you produce.

Through Federal stimulus money provided by the Minnesota Department of Education, Intermediate District 287 is seeking to improve student achievement by integrating online resources to personalize instruction for individual student learning styles.

The goal of this work is to improve student achievement by integrating online resources into course curriculum. Teachers may work to develop their existing content or other open educational resources.

Educators in this project will have access to face-to-face and online support; collaboration with fellow participants and skilled Technology Integrationists. Most training and support modules will be delivered online, so you'll be able to work from anywhere that you have a computer and a reliable internet connection. You can also access the training modules at any time, so you'll be able to work on your units at a time that fits into your schedule.

Although the total time commitment will vary by project, we anticipate that it will take 35-40 hours to complete the units, including training. Prior experience with online education or technology is not a requirement. Teachers will receive training and support to create online units using a variety of resources.

Units will be created/embedded within the Moodle environment and shared online through MoodleShare and eventually MERLOT for other educators to access. Opening your units to educators allows teachers to improve their own courses, build upon your work and re-post them for further development. Each unit should include a Creative Commons Attribution.

Because these units will be shared, users should include proper attribution to unit content as well as use open educational resources wherever possible.

The ultimate goal of the project is to improve student achievement by integrating online resources to personalize instruction for individual student learning styles, and to provide a sustainable model for teacher developed curriclum.