A.B.2.5.H

Do you know what that means? Me neither. Often times, that’s what it feels like when looking at educational content labeled online.

What if I gave you this code: CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6.2?

What does that mean? Well, if you teach 6th grade reading in Ohio, you would probably be able to tell me that…

• CCSS stands for Common Core State Standards (the educational standards adopted in your state)
• ELA-Literacy signifies that this is an English Language Arts (Literacy) expectation
• RI stands for Reading Informational
• 6 signifies that it’s an expectation for a 6th grade student (~12 years old)
• 2 represents this specific objective:
  Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.

But, if you were from a teaching context that didn’t use the Common Core State Standards, those codes wouldn’t be helpful. Which is why the way resources are presented to teachers makes a huge difference. If I search a library of resources and all of the content is tagged or labeled with codes and contexts that are irrelevant to me, I’m much more likely to miss or overlook something that could have worked well in my classroom. Which gets to the big question here, how do we allow teachers to create and share content in their local context and educational standards, but present it in a way that makes it relevant to a global network of educators?

We need the information to translate. So, much like translating a language, we are going to translate the educational standards in partnership with Camara Ireland and teachers across Ireland. In our Curriculum Mapping Project, we plan to decode the American Common Core State Standards for our Irish teachers. Once the curriculum is mapped, Edcite, can present the 10,000+ pieces of teacher created content, in our library, with the relevant Irish Curriculum tags.

This Curriculum Mapping Project will be a Creative Commons document. It will be open to any educator or organization wishing to increase access to the educational resources that are coming out of both America and Ireland. You can access directions on how you can help with the mapping efforts at our Google Site or reach out to me with any questions or feedback you may have (Julia@edcite.com). We are also hosting an in person Curriculum Mapping Hackathon on July 14th, at Camara Ireland–click here to view the event details.

Cheers to global collaboration, let this be the first of many open source projects that helps us work to make sharing globally easier and more effective!