Pearson, a US-based provider of educational content and services, has announced Project Blue Sky, a cloud-based, content service that provides instructors with easy access to Open Educational Resources (OER). Pearson is partnering with Silicon Valley non-profit Gooru, a search engine for learning materials, and will leverage Gooru's powerful search capabilities to build applications that seamlessly integrate high-quality learning resources on the web, including OER, with instructor-created and Pearson content.
Faculty will also have the ability to publish their customised digital course content within multiple types of learning management systems, including Pearson'sOpenClass and LearningStudio.
With the anticipated beta launch in spring 2013, Project Blue Sky will directly address barriers to adoption of digital material and Open Educational Resources. According to a soon-to-be-released report from Babson Survey Research Group, faculty reported that key challenges to adopting OER include the lack of a single, comprehensive catalogue of content, and concerns about too much time spent finding and evaluating the material.
Pearson is collaborating closely with 13 faculty on Project Blue Sky's design to provide an optimal experience that lets faculty identify the most relevant and high quality content for their courses. The Project Blue Sky Pilot group is reviewing the content service and building unique multimedia eTextbooks for use in their courses.
Pearson is currently piloting the system with Psychology faculty, and is actively seeking more development partners in other disciplines.
