Statewide Portal for Educational Content

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction is developing, and will host, a statewide search portal for educational content. DPI is strongly supporting this move to the use of more digital resources. The implementation of this statewide Moodle learning management system is due to be rolled out prior to the coming school year. There is a process in place to hire a Moodle system administrator at DPI to coordinate and move this project forward.

The overall goal is to create a sharing of materials within a somewhat credentialed framework that is easily searchable. They are working toward a system that will facilitate a process to ID “good content” and offer it in a live/dynamic format. The plan is to encourage collaborative sharing of common teaching materials and will be linked to external approved content such as from MIT, Yale, UC Berkeley, etc. The system will be developed by, and used by, educators. The materials all will be open source and available to all. After roll-out, there is a vision to build coordinated teams to add content under an umbrella of collaborative digital curriculum development. Cooperation and coordination has already started with higher education partners. The DPI is supporting and encouraging the use of this system for educational content. Kurt Keifer, an Assistant State Superintendent at DPI, relayed that “I would have reservations on putting any resources toward purchasing paper content.”

Further, DPI endeavors to create statewide shared calendars of trainings and events, plus professional learning networks of educators using the virtual tools within the system. DPI is moving forward quickly with this project as digital learning and blended learning opportunities continue to grow.