A look ahead: 2026/27 OER Project course updates
It’s spring—which means your school year is wrapping up. Although you’re likely focused on closing out courses and saying goodbye to students, we want to give you a bit of a preview of what you’ll see in the next school year!
First, thank you.
Whether you taught with our resources, shared feedback, joined an event, or connected with other educators in the online community, you played a role in shaping OER Project this year. Because of teachers like you, we now support more than 100,000 educators worldwide—and that’s something we’re incredibly proud of.
We know that last year’s course updates were immense and we’re so grateful for the feedback we’ve received. You’ll notice that this year’s updates are quite a bit lighter. As we look toward 2026/27, our focus is simple: make teaching easier, clearer, and more engaging—for you and your students.
What’s new for 2026/27
We’ve streamlined planning and support to help you start next year strong, including:
- Refreshed teaching guides.
- New standards alignment documents for representative states.
- Sample course plans to help map your year.
- Short, 2‑minute historical thinking videos with quick classroom strategies.
- Our 2026/27 events calendar. We have some exciting events available for registration now. And bookmark this page, as we’ll be adding more events featuring speakers from outside organizations soon!
And that’s just the start.
Course updates to know about
Big History
As part of our shift toward a more streamlined experience, we’re retiring the legacy Big History course from our online platform.
What you need to know:
- Legacy materials aren’t disappearing—key resources are preserved within each unit, with links on every Big History unit homepage.
- If you’d like access to all legacy materials via Google Drive, just email help@oerproject.com.
- The legacy course will remain available through July 28, 2026, giving you time to transition.
What’s new:
- A fresh Three Step Reading protocol that’s integrated across the course.
- Five new graphic biographies.
- Updated Big History for Everyone (a 4‑hour, asynchronous intro—great for new teachers, veteran teachers looking for a quick refresher, students, and families).
World History
- 30 new regional and political maps with aligned geography activities.
- 10 new graphic biographies.
- A new lesson on the Scientific Revolution.
Climate
- Four new graphic biographies.
- Short innovation videos highlighting some of today’s most-interesting emerging technologies.
- A new AP Pathways document that makes it easier to use OER Project: Climate in AP classrooms.
More to explore
We’re excited to share that 30 new videos are launching across OER Project courses. They’ve been in development for the past 18 months and feature multiple creators, visually rich styles, and short run-times—no talking heads. You’ll also find new activities designed to help bring these videos to life in your classroom.
We’ve also reimagined programming in the Hammer. Expect fewer—but more-meaningful—tips, stories, and extensions. You’ll know that if you see the Hammer, it’ll be worth the click. You’ll find plenty of interesting facts that will engage your students and give you fodder to impress your friends at your next dinner party.
Finally, we’ve streamlined our lesson guides. They still include the same supports—answer keys, instructions, and teaching tips—but are now in a clearer, easier to navigate format.
Everything we’re building is designed to save you time and support great teaching.
Thank you again for being part of OER Project. I can’t wait to see how you use these resources next year—and I always love hearing how things are going in your classroom.
Warmly,
Angelina Meadows Comb
Director, OER Project
About the author: Angelina Meadows Comb serves as Director of OER Project, where she leads the development of innovative K-12 social studies curriculum and educator resources. Her leadership advances collaboration and empowers educators to strengthen teaching and learning nationwide.