OER Project

Bill Gates became interested in the topic when he heard "Big History: The Big Bang, Life on Earth, and the Rise of Humanity," a 48-lecture course taught by David Christian and published by The Teaching Company. For Gates, "he [Christian] really blew me away. Here's a guy who's read across the sciences, humanities, and social sciences and brought it together in a single framework. It made me wish that I could have taken big history when I was young, because it would have given me a way to think about all of the school work and reading that followed. In particular, it really put the sciences in an interesting historical context and explained how they apply to a lot of contemporary concerns."{{Cite web|url=http://bighistoryinstitute.org/big_history_project/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130821082147/http://bighistoryinstitute.org/big_history_project/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=August 21, 2013|title=Big History Project - Macquarie University|website=bighistoryinstitute.org|access-date=2016-06-12}}

After Gates and Christian met to discuss the lectures, the genesis of the Big History Project occurred.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/magazine/so-bill-gates-has-this-idea-for-a-history-class.html|title=So Bill Gates Has This Idea for a History Class{{nbsp}}...|last=Sorkin|first=Andrew Ross|date=2014-09-05|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-06-12}} They founded the project, and developed a team to achieve their stated goal, "to get Big History taught to as many students around the world as possible".{{Cite web |title=Big History Project |url=http://www.bighistoryproject.com |access-date=2016-06-12 |website=www.bighistoryproject.com}}

Big History Project was launched at the 2011 TED conference at Long Beach, California on 2{{nbsp}}March 2011.{{Cite web|url=http://conferences.ted.com/TED2011/program/|title=TED2011: Program|website=conferences.ted.com|access-date=2016-06-12}} David Christian presented an 18-minute lecture outlining big history and the intention of creating a global online delivery of a classroom-tested course aimed at 9th grade students. His presentation was part of the Bill Gates-curated "Knowledge Revolution" section of the conference.

In 2019, BHP launched a second course, World History Project (WHP), and announced that the organization had rebranded as OER Project to reflect their expanded catalogue. OER Project has subsequently added a variety of history and climate education courses and announced in 2022 that over one million students had accessed its materials during its first decade in operation.{{Cite web |title=10 years. 1 million students. A brief history of OER Project. - OER Project Blog - OER Project Teacher Community - OER Project Community |url=https://community.oerproject.com/b/blog/posts/the-oer-project-10th-anniversary |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=community.oerproject.com |language=en}}

BHP's initial academic advisers were:{{cite web | url=http://www.bighistoryproject.com/BigHistory/The-Project/The-Team/Founders/Bill-Gates | title=The Big History Project}}

1. Bob Bain, Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
2. Marnie Hughes-Warrington (Pro-Vice Chancellor, Monash University, Melbourne)
3. Tracy Sullivan (Director of the Australian History Museum at Macquarie University, Sydney)
4. Sal Khan (founder and executive director of the Khan Academy).

Bain and Trevor Getz (San Francisco State University) are OER Project's current academic leads,{{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Marc Jason |date=October 2021 |title=An interview with a World Historian: Trevor R. Getz |url=https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/18.3/pdfs/10_WHC_18_3_Getz.pdf |journal=World History Connected |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=1}} and the advisory board now comprises more than 20 predominantly US-based academics and educators.{{Cite web |title=OER Project Advisory Board |url=https://www.oerproject.com/Advisory-Board |access-date=2022-10-18 |website=OER Project |language=en}}

Prior to launch, seven schools were selected for the initial classroom pilot phase of the project. In the United States, San Diego High School of International Studies (California); The Rivers School (Massachusetts); Northville High School (Michigan); Greenhills High School (Michigan) and Lakeside School (Washington) taught Big History Project in the 2011/12 school year. In Australia, Narara Valley High School in New South Wales and Nossal High School in Victoria taught the course in their 2012 school year.

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|http://www.oerproject.com/|OER Project official website}}
• {{Official website|http://www.ibhanet.org/|International Big History Association official website}}
• [http://www.ted.com/talks/david_christian_big_history.html David Christian's TED Talk]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110424075437/http://www.bighistoryproject.com/The-Latest-Word/Download-Print-Big-History-Timelines Timelines from David Christian's TED Talk]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/07/magazine/so-bill-gates-has-this-idea-for-a-history-class.html So Bill Gates Has This Idea for a History Class{{nbsp}}...] (New York Times)
• [https://www.gatesnotes.com/Education/Supporting-educators?WT.mc_id=20220802120000_BTS2022-OER_BG-LI_&WT.tsrc=BGLI Free online textbooks really work] (GatesNotes: The Blog of Bill Gates)

{{Big History|state=expanded}}

{{Bill Gates}}

Category:Bill Gates

Category:2011 establishments in California

Category:Projects established in 2011