The Seattle Times reports the Gates Foundation has provided the Bellevue school district nearly 2 million to post the districts entire curriclum. The article contends that the site will be wiki-like allowing external input and possible lesson ratings.
While there are many “lesson web sites” available, I suppose what makes this effort unique is the real time nature of the content (this is what our students are studying now) and the completeness/interrelatedness of the material.
The article also promises that the site will offer some video content. As a teacher educator, I hope that the video is “realistic” and offers a glimpse of daily classroom life rather than carefully selected examples. While my understanding is that the resource is not intended for professional development, I have long felt a range of video cases would be very helpful.
Andy Carvin has a different take on this project and relates it more to the opencourseware efforts at institutions such as MIT.
Bellevue has already developed a substantial online description of the district’s curriculum.
