SETDA guide urges educators to focus on the process, not the purchase | EdScoop News

"Commentary: Leaders from SETDA and the Oregon Department of Education describe the process of reviewing and adopting quality instructional materials" observes EdScoop Staff.

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Questioning the quality of instructional materials isn’t unique to the digital education era. But with the rise of open educational resources (OER), the growing use of supplemental resources over core textbooks and the increasing flexibility of state funding, purchasing decisions are continuing to shift away from the states and move toward the school and district level.

Thus, there is the potential for more disparity in the quality of materials from school to school.

Confronted by concerns from its members that schools and districts might not be buying the highest quality resources, SETDA (the State Educational Technology Directors Association) recently updated its Guide to Quality Instructional Materials, which was introduced during a recent webinar entitled, "From Print to Digital: Discover and Implement Quality Instructional Materials for Learning."

The emphasis of the guide, according to Christine Fox, deputy executive director for SETDA, is not on critiquing specific content but in helping educators develop an ongoing review process and giving content providers a concrete outline for how the process should work. 
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Source: EdScoop News