by Lisa O

Open content is a philosophical shift that educators are making.  As the learning process takes precedence over information content and as educators face the challenges of making best use of the exponential growth of information, sharing and open content become more important. “  Research and Innovative Thinking .
Schools in New Zealand are shifting to an open content model.  How are school libraries positioned to support this new model?  
Many schools in New Zealand are taking a decision not to buy textbooks to support their teaching and learning, but rather to find , develop and share their own materials to support their teaching.  Instead of buying textbooks to underpin their lessons, the teachers are thinking about their pedagogy and the important skills their students need to be active participants as global citizens. To stimulate deep learning and critical thinking processes in their students, teachers are thinking in new ways about transforming their teaching practice: creating, sharing, re-mixing digital resources to support their objectives.  
Given libraries’ mission of providing access to information – the shift to an open content environment is a great opportunity for the school library to provide pivotal services to enable the successful transformation of their schools.
By working with administration, ICT support, and teachers, librarians are perfectly positioned to create systems for storage and retrieval of this locally created material.  In this central role, the librarian can then easily take on a knowledge manager role helping teachers to connect to each other as they develop, share and re-use their locally created materials.  Librarians are also well positioned to help the teachers to understand and use standards as they are developed so that content can be shared amongst schools as well as within schools.
Apart from the benefits of custom made resources to support learning, there is also a monetary savings in ceasing to purchase proprietary content.
Further Reading –

•  2010 Horizon Report:  Australia – New Zealand
• WikiEducator Reusable and portable content for NZ schools