Deciding Whether to Purchase, Create, or Curate Content

Selecting Online ContentNow that you've determined a blended model that meets the needs of your classroom/school, consider your content.

Inherent in any blended model is that there will be online content to help teachers personalize instruction.

Selecting Online ContentIt's up to you and your district whether you will be purchasing, creating, or curating that content.

PurchaseIf you decide to purchase digital content, there is a large variety available from complete courses to tools that support a particular area (like grammar, for example).

Sifting through what's available, testing before buying, and understanding cost are all part of the purchasing process.

PurchaseIt's also important to understand that these are for-profit companies that may or may not have an appropriate educational presence in the designing of these products. Proceed carefully.

PurchaseSome commonly used content providers that provide complete courses are: APEX, FuelEducation, and Edgenuity. Some commonly used content providers that provide support in a particular area are: Achieve 3000, NoRedInk, and TenMarks.

CreateIf you decide to create content, typically teachers will use a Learning Management System (LMS), such as Schoology, Moodle, or Blackboard. If teachers decide to create content to support blended learning, it's important to consider the time and training necessary to develop significant content.

CreateTeacher-created videos used in support of a flipped classroom is a common way that teachers are creating content.

Standards for creating quality online courses to support blended instruction have been developed by iNACOL.

CurateCurating content means picking and choosing between purchased content, free content, and teacher-created content and putting them together using an LMS.

Again, as with creating content, curating content can be time intensive and may require some training.

CurateWhen curating content, teachers may also be using an LMS to put together the various resources. They may use some purchased content, create some of their own, and/or take advantage of the growing number of free resources available on the web.

CurateSome free resources with content or a way to sift through content are:Khan AcademyPowerMyLearningGraphitePBS LearningMediaOERCommons