Hi Wayne & Kirby, Please keep us informed of the developments here - this could be a great leadership statement, and a challenge to other CS departments 'round the world to follow...
- Randy On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 7:04 PM, Wayne Mackintosh < mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Kirby, > > Wow -- its a small world :-). I'm a South African by birth and very > familiar with both the Freedom Toaster and Tuxlabs projects -- both > inspirational projects. We can learn a lot from these projects and find ways > to collaborate. > > I've always maintained that real ICT innovation in education will come from > the developing world. Africa launched a continental information society > initiative back in the mid 1990s, long before other regional collectives. > Designing within constraints results in real innovation :-). > > I too have my reservations about the XO project -- however, the strength of > the OLPC initiative lies in the projects foresight to think differently > about ICTs in education -- namely starting from a pedagogic foundation > rather than attempting to replicate existing PC technology. > > Off to take look at the CS Unplugged' curriculum -- thanks for the link. > > Cheers > Wayne > > 2009/11/15 kirby urner <kirby.ur...@gmail.com> > >> >> On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:17 PM, Wayne Mackintosh >> <mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com> wrote: >> > Hi Kirby, >> > >> > You make a good point about the potential abundance of access to digital >> > content. However, in reality I think we are a long way off from a world >> > where we have access to digital content PLUS the permissions to adapt, >> > modify and redistribute without restriction. Herein lies the >> differentiating >> > feature of OER -- namely a permission culture to remix content. >> > >> > For example, we're in the early phases of establishing a national New >> > Zealand OER collaboration for the school sector >> > (http://wikieducator.org/OERNZ). There is an abundance of material >> which can >> > be accessed -- for example, the Learning Federation >> > (http://www.thelearningfederation.edu.au/copyright.html) or the NZ >> Ministry >> > of Education funded TKI project >> > (http://www.tki.org.nz/e/tki/about/terms.php) --- In these examples >> there is >> > no cost associated with viewing or making copies for educational >> purposes. >> > However, the most important freedom for educators -- namely the right to >> > adapt, modify and redistribute the content to better meet the needs of >> the >> > learners we serve are restricted :-(. >> > >> >> We're applaud the 'CS Unplugged' curriculum, made a link to it from my >> notes on one of our digital math meetings (a group of professional >> educators, lobbying for State of Oregon to make 2010 a launch year for >> some of our pilots): >> >> http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/08/education-planning.html (CS >> Unplugged linked from 2nd paragraph FYI). >> >> > Good points with reference to the challenges and costs of internet >> access in >> > a wide variety of situations. A more perplexing challenge relates to >> basic >> > access to a school. For example, 76% of the children in sub-Saharan >> Africa >> > of the age for the last three years of the secondary schooling system >> will >> > not have the privilege of attending school or contact with a teacher. >> There >> > is simply not enough money to build enough classrooms or train enough >> > teachers to satisfy the needs of the youth who are eager to learn. >> > >> > How can OER help these children? This is why we need to think >> creatively >> > about technologies that can generate printed text books for children who >> > will not have the privilege of attending school. WE need to think of >> > creative solutions where we can combine the best of informal learning >> with >> > national accreditation systems -- in other word rethinking the >> traditional >> > models of educational provision. This is a tough challenge -- but with >> > concerted effort I think we can make a difference. I sense that OER is >> part >> > of the solution. >> > >> >> OER might want to consider Freedom Toaster as another way of >> distributing content, perhaps a subset of WikiEducator site >> specifically designed for off-line readers. >> >> http://www.freedomtoaster.org/ >> >> In the South Africa ecosystem, there's this notion of TuxLabs (free >> access to computer labs), though not all of them are branded this way. >> >> One Laptop Per Child remains a relatively exotic approach, coupled >> with its G1G1 marketing campaign (I have two XOs myself, which I loan >> out to curious students -- there's a Python connection). >> >> In addition to printed textbooks, sometimes blank notebooks and >> writing implements are in even scarcer supply. >> >> > That said, you allude and provide valuable insights into solving these >> > challenges in that we need to think about the eco-system and how OER >> fits >> > into the bigger picture. >> > >> > Cheers >> > Wayne >> > >> >> I'm glad this list is available for these sorts of discussions, >> looking forward to more. >> >> I'm pleased to discover OER is such a committed and creative organization. >> >> Kirby >> >> >> > > > -- > Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. > Director, > International Centre for Open Education, > Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand. > Board of Directors, OER Foundation. > Founder and Community Council Member, Wikieducator, www.wikieducator.org > Mobile +64 21 2436 380 > Skype: WGMNZ1 > Twitter: OERFoundation, Mackiwg > > > > -- Open Education is a sustainable and renewable resource. ________________ Randy Fisher, MA, OMD Senior Consultant & Facilitator, Intersol Group, Canada Senior Consultant, Organization & Business Development International Centre for Open Education / OER Foundation, New Zealand Elected Member, WikiEducator Community Council, www.wikieducator.org +1 613.230.6424 x144 (EST) Skype: wikirandy Twitter: wikirandy * Stakeholder Engagement, Change / Transition Management & Performance * Organization Design & Development * Sustainable Project Implementation & Community-Building * E-Learning, Online Collaboration & Communities of Practice * Coaching & Facilitation * My Bio: http://www.communitybuildingexpert.com --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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