Open Educational Resources on U.S. Public History Websites: Implications for Designers and Developers

Online open educational resources (OERs) offer promise for K-12 teaching and learning, and one subject area in which OERs might prove valuable is the social studies. In a recent study, the authors investigated how Websites of public history sites (physical locations, like Colonial Williamsburg and Mystic seaport) provide OERs. Their 66 Websites varied dramatically in the number of OERs offered, and innovators and early adopters differed in what they supplied. Few sites provided technologically sophisticated OERs, while text-based OERs and repurposed resources dominated. The article identifies exemplary online OERs and best practices for public history Websites and discusses how designers and developers might enhance OER offerings. (Contains 2 figures and 2 tables.)