CARSON CITY, Nev. – The Nevada Department of Education (NDE) today announced a new partnership with OER Project to provide high-quality instructional materials to students and educators. This collaboration provides access to history course content that can be readily integrated into daily instruction.

OER Project courses make sense of our world by connecting the past to the present with an eye toward the future. Its Big History Project and World History Project digital courses are available online and, throughout fall 2020, the courses will also be available on the Nevada Digital Learning Collaborative website as well as accessible through the Canvas Learning Management System. NDE is collaborating with OER Project to ensure teachers understand how to use the resources available in alignment with the State’s social studies standards. Through this partnership, OER Project is offering teachers one-on-one consultation sessions, office hours, and other professional learning supports.

“We are thrilled to be adding OER Project to the suite of resources available for students and educators this school year,” said Jhone Ebert, State Superintendent of Public Instruction. “OER Project’s offerings integrate science and history to expand students’ minds by looking at history through different perspectives.”

The history courses provided by OER Project were sought out by Nevada’s Digital Engineers because they allow teachers to adapt lesson plans and materials to the needs of their middle and high school students. The Digital Engineers are educators from across the State who are helping build their colleagues’ capacity in distance learning and leveraging educational technology. These experienced educators are committed to building a digital learning platform that will extend beyond the pandemic to be a viable and high-quality option in the long-term.

The Big History Project provides foundational skills and concepts for middle school students that form a solid foundation for high school work. The World History Project develops essential skills and concepts that prepare students for Advanced Placement coursework. Lessons, activities, course plans, and professional learning materials are created, reviewed, and approved by teachers and informed by research and best practice. OER Project’s online community also allows teachers to ask questions, exchange ideas and research, and learn from one another in real-time.

OER Project is a coalition of educators and historians working to boost student engagement and achievement through transformational social studies programs. OER project offers two courses – Big History and World History – both of which are completely free, online, and adaptable to different standards and classroom needs. By empowering teachers with better curriculum, content, and a vibrant community, the project aims to deliver more compelling, impactful, and usable histories and leave traditional history courses in the past.