[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
This is really impressive, Wayne. WikiEducator has grown into the most active open source online platform there is globally and it has been a privilege to have been part of this growing community and project from the get go. It has been an exciting journey to this point and I am looking forward to much more to come. Cheers, Patricia On Nov 13, 3:38 pm, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Everyone, A brief moment to reflect. Education is an act of sharing knowledge freely. So where are all the free education materials that we can adapt, modify and reuse without restriction? Why has humanity taken so long in achieving a free knowledge base for us to share for the common good of education and society? Why are the majority of our global population under served when it comes to education? To paraphrase Bob Dylan: How many years [can the closed copyright] mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some [educators] exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can [we] turn our [heads], Pretending [we] just don't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. The value proposition of sharing digital teaching materials is a no-brainer. Getting back to Dylan's refrain The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind has been described as impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind (see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowin%27_in_the_Wind) I started WikiEducator as a project to collaborate with the free culture movement to develop digital teaching materials in support of every national curriculum by 2015. (If we're a little late, 2017 will be just fine :-) ). - Yesterday, WE were a top 59K site (Alexa). - During October, WE generated more than 10.5 million hits on our site with a full-time staff of two people. - WE train and build wiki skills for thousands of teachers in more than 110 countries -- thanks to a dedicated team of facilitators who share knowledge freely. - WE have developed more content pages than Wikiversity (with only 6% of the number of the registered users compared to WV) - WE can now work internationally, freed from the geographical constraints of the Commonwealth. WE should take a moment and reflect on what WE have achieved -- this is an amazing story and you are making it happen! However, we shouldn't gloat for too long. 2015 is a little more than 5 years away, but I sense an energy that WE have a fighting chance in achieving our goal of free digital resources in support of all national curricula. - WE need to become more effective supporting new WikiEducators in becoming active contributors to our common goal - WE need our technology to become transparent (i.e. significantly easier to use) - WE need to continue our commitment to provide free training to any warm-blooded (as in mammal) educator in the world who wants to learn wiki skills - WE need to connect educators across international boundaries and - WE need to have fun while contributing to the social good of education. - What else do WE need to do? Is the answer so obvious or as intangible as the wind? Let's continue making OER futures happen for the world -- the wiki way. Cheers Wayne -- 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 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
Hi, there is one point to be added to the list;it`s to protect the victims ( teachers or educators) from the bad guys stiil conjacted to the old ways and the archaic view of the education; some of them they do it for money and/or security and they think there is not a better way. They should be encouraged to think differently and it can not be done with the old board of authorities hidden in the rooms of all sorts of administration bureau.You know what I am speaking about - it is world wilde spret malady.My question is: HOW IS IT TO BE DONE.? 2009/11/14 Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com Hi Everyone, A brief moment to reflect. Education is an act of sharing knowledge freely. So where are all the free education materials that we can adapt, modify and reuse without restriction? Why has humanity taken so long in achieving a free knowledge base for us to share for the common good of education and society? Why are the majority of our global population under served when it comes to education? To paraphrase Bob Dylan: How many years [can the closed copyright] mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some [educators] exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can [we] turn our [heads], Pretending [we] just don't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. The value proposition of sharing digital teaching materials is a no-brainer. Getting back to Dylan's refrain The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind has been described as impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowin%27_in_the_Wind) I started WikiEducator as a project to collaborate with the free culture movement to develop digital teaching materials in support of every national curriculum by 2015. (If we're a little late, 2017 will be just fine :-) ). - Yesterday, WE were a top 59K site (Alexa). - During October, WE generated more than 10.5 million hits on our site with a full-time staff of two people. - WE train and build wiki skills for thousands of teachers in more than 110 countries -- thanks to a dedicated team of facilitators who share knowledge freely. - WE have developed more content pages than Wikiversity (with only 6% of the number of the registered users compared to WV) - WE can now work internationally, freed from the geographical constraints of the Commonwealth. WE should take a moment and reflect on what WE have achieved -- this is an amazing story and you are making it happen! However, we shouldn't gloat for too long. 2015 is a little more than 5 years away, but I sense an energy that WE have a fighting chance in achieving our goal of free digital resources in support of all national curricula. - WE need to become more effective supporting new WikiEducators in becoming active contributors to our common goal - WE need our technology to become transparent (i.e. significantly easier to use) - WE need to continue our commitment to provide free training to any warm-blooded (as in mammal) educator in the world who wants to learn wiki skills - WE need to connect educators across international boundaries and - WE need to have fun while contributing to the social good of education. - What else do WE need to do? Is the answer so obvious or as intangible as the wind? Let's continue making OER futures happen for the world -- the wiki way. Cheers Wayne -- 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 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
Hi Eliza, That's a good point. Self-organising, peer production communities are very different from the traditional model, hence the fear of organisations to try it out. Administrators and decision-makers who don't have experience of the effectiveness and agility of self-organising systems find it hard to take decisions committing time and resources to this kind of approach. In some respects, its like learning to swim -- you have got to get your feet wet. One way that has worked well for us is the pilot project approach. We encourage and support organisations to test the waters with a small but focused project. Once members of the project team see and experience the benefits of the self-organising approach -- they're sold. It takes time -- but authentic experience is a powerful approach in supporting organisations with incremental transformation. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 eliza papajanis eliza.papaja...@gmail.com Hi, there is one point to be added to the list;it`s to protect the victims ( teachers or educators) from the bad guys stiil conjacted to the old ways and the archaic view of the education; some of them they do it for money and/or security and they think there is not a better way. They should be encouraged to think differently and it can not be done with the old board of authorities hidden in the rooms of all sorts of administration bureau.You know what I am speaking about - it is world wilde spret malady.My question is: HOW IS IT TO BE DONE.? 2009/11/14 Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com Hi Everyone, A brief moment to reflect. Education is an act of sharing knowledge freely. So where are all the free education materials that we can adapt, modify and reuse without restriction? Why has humanity taken so long in achieving a free knowledge base for us to share for the common good of education and society? Why are the majority of our global population under served when it comes to education? To paraphrase Bob Dylan: How many years [can the closed copyright] mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some [educators] exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can [we] turn our [heads], Pretending [we] just don't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. The value proposition of sharing digital teaching materials is a no-brainer. Getting back to Dylan's refrain The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind has been described as impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowin%27_in_the_Wind) I started WikiEducator as a project to collaborate with the free culture movement to develop digital teaching materials in support of every national curriculum by 2015. (If we're a little late, 2017 will be just fine :-) ). - Yesterday, WE were a top 59K site (Alexa). - During October, WE generated more than 10.5 million hits on our site with a full-time staff of two people. - WE train and build wiki skills for thousands of teachers in more than 110 countries -- thanks to a dedicated team of facilitators who share knowledge freely. - WE have developed more content pages than Wikiversity (with only 6% of the number of the registered users compared to WV) - WE can now work internationally, freed from the geographical constraints of the Commonwealth. WE should take a moment and reflect on what WE have achieved -- this is an amazing story and you are making it happen! However, we shouldn't gloat for too long. 2015 is a little more than 5 years away, but I sense an energy that WE have a fighting chance in achieving our goal of free digital resources in support of all national curricula. - WE need to become more effective supporting new WikiEducators in becoming active contributors to our common goal - WE need our technology to become transparent (i.e. significantly easier to use) - WE need to continue our commitment to provide free training to any warm-blooded (as in mammal) educator in the world who wants to learn wiki skills - WE need to connect educators across international boundaries and - WE need to have fun while contributing to the social good of education. - What else do WE need to do? Is the answer so obvious or as intangible as the wind? Let's continue making OER futures happen for the world -- the wiki way. Cheers Wayne -- 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 -- Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D. Director, International Centre for Open Education, Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
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 :-(. 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. 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 2009/11/15 kirby urner kirby.ur...@gmail.com My impression is there's a huge amount of free content if (a) you have access to the Internet and (b) you have enough education to know how to read and study the materials, find your peer groups, organize a learning experience resulting in credentials and opportunities. Both (a) and (b) cannot be taken for granted. Even with the copyright problem removed completely, we still have few safe environments for concerted study. Many schools and libraries curtail access, as much out of necessity and a need to share scarce bandwidth as out of a lust for censorship, although in the case of schools, many do practice various kinds of filtering, some more insidious than others. In many cultures, young people have the best access through Wifi Cafes, either over the shoulder (under tutelage), renting time on a shop machine, or lucky enough to have their own laptop. Some cafes also rent time on larger screens where more meetings and collaboration might occur. The second most frequent access site is from work, where performance may be monitored, but where furthering one's education, including through social networking sites, is increasingly seen as job-relevant in some lines of work. Studying accounting in a slow moving hair salon, waiting for customers, can't be all bad, especially if the bandwidth is being paid for regardless, true of many service provider contracts. In sum, whereas I see a need for more copylefted and license-free materials, I think the more pointed shortages revolve not around content, but around access and a shortage of study time except in formal school settings, to which many are unable to afford access. The rise of co-working studios, sometimes in working partnerships with the Wifi Cafes, is probably suggestive of how the younger generation is self-organizing to overcome these insidious barriers to its future productivity. Once on-line, contributing to Wikis is a great way to start establishing a track record as a free content provider, building a portfolio. People need to see what it is that you contribute. This is what social networking is all about and the evidence suggests intelligent use of these skills aids in finding collaborators and staffing companies. Musicians tend to use Myspace. Management consultants use LinkedIn, Plaxo and so on. More teachers are starting to use Wikieducator. These are promising signs. Kirby On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 10:47 AM, Minhaaj ur Rehman minh...@gmail.com wrote: I am pretty sure when Bob Dylan said 'mountain', he didnt only refer to copyrighted material, he used it for all 'licensed'
[WikiEducator] Re: Open Content for Development (OC4D) wiki site
Hi Tiffany, As friends of open content -- we're here to help :-) Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 Tiffany Ivins tiffanyiv...@gmail.com Hi Wayne: Many thanks for your quick and kind reply. We will take up your offers to link from WikiEducator to OC4D and to refer people to participate in the Learning4Content initiative. We'll do our best to get the word out for several folkd to join the training on 23 November 2009. I will be in regular contact with you regarding our progress on OC4D. We're so grateful to tap into a growing community of open minded educators who are committed to making a positive impact in the world. Cheers, Tiffany On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:42 PM, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Tiffany, Pleased to meet you virtually --- OC4D is a great project concept! Well done. David Wiley is a good friend and also a member of WikiEducator's Community Council. You're very privileged to have the opportunity to work and study with David. You're going to have fun while making a substantive contribution to open content for development. I must also compliment your project on the choice of the Mediawiki software engine. Over the next year or so, the OER Foundation and WE will be refining Mediawiki for use in educational contexts, including for example WYSIWYG editing, enhancements on wiki == print technology (very important for developing world contexts), building OER content interoperability between WikiEducator == Connexions to widen opportunities for remixing content between platforms as well as providing hosting for static instances of course materials on Connexions. You are most welcome and free to link to the OC4D site -- better still, why not create a portal node in WikiEducator for the project (see: http://wikieducator.org/Create_and_institutional_OER_portal_page ). With regards to sharing best practice, WE would love to help and support you in achieving success. In the first instance, given that you're using Mediawiki -- we can help you with free training. We run at least one online workshop every month helping educators to aquire basic wiki editing skills under the Learning4Content initative (see: http://wikieducator.org/L4C ) -- Please feel free to invite members from your community to join these workshops. The next one is scheduled to start on 23 November 2009 -- and folk can register directly on the wiki. If you like -- we could easily set up dedicated area in WikiEducator where your OC4D domain could redirect to a dedicated landing page in WE with your logo etc. WE have extensive international reach in the developing world including Africa, South and South East Asia, Caribbean and the South Pacific. In this way you can save considerable time and energy on building networks for your initiative. Working together we can achieve far more than working alone. OC4D is a brilliant project -- let us know how the OER Foundation and the WikiEducator family can assist and support you in achieving your objectives. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 Tiffany Ivins tiffanyiv...@gmail.com Hi, Wayne, thanks for your reflections about the power of wikis and the imperative to freely share content in a global way. I'm Tiffany Ivins. I'm a doctoral student at BYU working with David Wiley (the guy that coined the term 'Open Content'). We are working with ProLiteracy Worldwide, an NGO based in New York, with 130 NGO partners across the developing world (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and many island nations). Through several conversations with their International Program Director, Dr. Lynn Curtis, we have gotten consent to share all of their educational materials in open, digitized formats into an open portal on the web ( www.oc4d.org). We have decided to use a wiki format so that anyone anywhere can freely access, modify, localize and share these resources. These are tools developed by locals for locals in developing countries. The tools on OC4D are primarily geared toward nonformal educators (e.g. literacy facilitators, health workers, agricultural extension agents, peace workers, and microloan officers). As you will see if you look at the site, the issues addressed by these tools are central to lower-developed poor communities and the change agents (nonformal educators) who work with lower-literate groups and/or use these tools to facilitate literacy for social change. Right now, we're working on getting English versions up and then we'll hope to put up all content created/modified by the NGO partners across the world who are part of the ProLiteracy Worldwide consortium. We would love to collaborate with anyone else in this effort who is interested to share quality content addressing critical issue for improved problem-solving in developing countries around the world. We are open to input and we would like to link to and from the WikiEducator Site because it will build capacity on both sides.
[WikiEducator] Re: when registered for eL4C32 course does one receive email or any reaction?
Now how can we prepare. When are the dates again? Gene On Thu, Nov 12, 2009 at 7:58 AM, MaryZ lightst...@gmail.com wrote: New to the group. I attended the AVEALMEC ARCALL online conference last weekend. Great sessions! Learned a lot. Hope to grow further professionally with you all. I applied for membership in the ning group, WiZiQ:http://connecting- online.ning.com/ Sure hope I will be admitted. Viewed the copyright video there today. Great stuff! A bit daunting, learning to navigate all the new interesting information sites. Look forward to participating with you all. Mary Ziller MS Information Science and Technology (librarian) 1998 Certificate in School Library Media Specialist 1999 TEFL certified 2007 TEFL Assistant Teacher Trainer 2008 Webhead On 11 nov, 11:34, NELLIE DEUTSCH nellie.muller.deut...@gmail.com wrote: Hello Everyone, The registration works just fine, but only after you create an account on WikiEducator. Here's a tutorial on how to create an account: http://www.wikieducator.org/Quickstart_guide/creating_an_account Please let me know if this helped. Warm wishes, Nellie Deutsch Sharing is Caring! Doctoral Student Educational Leadership Curriculum and Instruction Integrating Technology for Active Life-long Learning (IT4ALL) http://www.integrating-technology.com/pd Get ready for CO10 at WiZiQ:http://connecting-online.ning.com/ Free online workshops using WiZiQ:http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops On Wed, Nov 11, 2009 at 2:00 AM, gene aronin genel...@gmail.com wrote: I had the same question. I guess we need to wait a while? Gene On Tue, Nov 10, 2009 at 1:31 PM, Jaapb jaap.bos...@gmail.com wrote: sorry for asking when registered for eL4C32 wiki course does one receive email or any reaction?. I did register and don't know if anybody will respond. I am not in http://www.wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/Online_schedul. .. and did register on http://www.wikieducator.org/Learning4Content/Workshops/Online_schedul. .. I did not find any clue in the wiki so I try to get an answer here. -- With Best Wishes for an Even Better Day Gene-loeb Gene-loeb Aronin, Ph.D. -- With Best Wishes for an Even Better Day Gene-loeb Gene-loeb Aronin, Ph.D. --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
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 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: Open Content for Development (OC4D) wiki site
Hi Tiffany, Nope I haven't had the chance of visiting BYU since David as taken up his position there. Based in New Zealand, getting to Utah is a long way. However, there's no reason why we can't connect virtually with Skype Video or something like that. However, more importantly we would like to help you connect with educators around the world, particularly the non-formal sector. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 Tiffany Ivins tiffanyiv...@gmail.com Gosh! I feel like I've joined a family and I'm at a reunion with folks I've never met before :) Has David invited you to BYU yet? We'll have to find a way to get you over here to grace us in person! Tiffany On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 3:47 PM, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Tiffany, As friends of open content -- we're here to help :-) Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 Tiffany Ivins tiffanyiv...@gmail.com Hi Wayne: Many thanks for your quick and kind reply. We will take up your offers to link from WikiEducator to OC4D and to refer people to participate in the Learning4Content initiative. We'll do our best to get the word out for several folkd to join the training on 23 November 2009. I will be in regular contact with you regarding our progress on OC4D. We're so grateful to tap into a growing community of open minded educators who are committed to making a positive impact in the world. Cheers, Tiffany On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 2:42 PM, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Tiffany, Pleased to meet you virtually --- OC4D is a great project concept! Well done. David Wiley is a good friend and also a member of WikiEducator's Community Council. You're very privileged to have the opportunity to work and study with David. You're going to have fun while making a substantive contribution to open content for development. I must also compliment your project on the choice of the Mediawiki software engine. Over the next year or so, the OER Foundation and WE will be refining Mediawiki for use in educational contexts, including for example WYSIWYG editing, enhancements on wiki == print technology (very important for developing world contexts), building OER content interoperability between WikiEducator == Connexions to widen opportunities for remixing content between platforms as well as providing hosting for static instances of course materials on Connexions. You are most welcome and free to link to the OC4D site -- better still, why not create a portal node in WikiEducator for the project (see: http://wikieducator.org/Create_and_institutional_OER_portal_page ). With regards to sharing best practice, WE would love to help and support you in achieving success. In the first instance, given that you're using Mediawiki -- we can help you with free training. We run at least one online workshop every month helping educators to aquire basic wiki editing skills under the Learning4Content initative (see: http://wikieducator.org/L4C ) -- Please feel free to invite members from your community to join these workshops. The next one is scheduled to start on 23 November 2009 -- and folk can register directly on the wiki. If you like -- we could easily set up dedicated area in WikiEducator where your OC4D domain could redirect to a dedicated landing page in WE with your logo etc. WE have extensive international reach in the developing world including Africa, South and South East Asia, Caribbean and the South Pacific. In this way you can save considerable time and energy on building networks for your initiative. Working together we can achieve far more than working alone. OC4D is a brilliant project -- let us know how the OER Foundation and the WikiEducator family can assist and support you in achieving your objectives. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 Tiffany Ivins tiffanyiv...@gmail.com Hi, Wayne, thanks for your reflections about the power of wikis and the imperative to freely share content in a global way. I'm Tiffany Ivins. I'm a doctoral student at BYU working with David Wiley (the guy that coined the term 'Open Content'). We are working with ProLiteracy Worldwide, an NGO based in New York, with 130 NGO partners across the developing world (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and many island nations). Through several conversations with their International Program Director, Dr. Lynn Curtis, we have gotten consent to share all of their educational materials in open, digitized formats into an open portal on the web (www.oc4d.org). We have decided to use a wiki format so that anyone anywhere can freely access, modify, localize and share these resources. These are tools developed by locals for locals in developing countries. The tools on OC4D are primarily geared toward nonformal educators (e.g. literacy facilitators, health workers, agricultural extension agents, peace workers, and microloan officers). As you will see if you look at the site, the
[WikiEducator] Re: Open Content for Development (OC4D) wiki site
Hi Tiffany, http://www.wikieducator.org/OC4D - waiting and ready to go! - Randy On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 4:42 PM, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Tiffany, Pleased to meet you virtually --- OC4D is a great project concept! Well done. David Wiley is a good friend and also a member of WikiEducator's Community Council. You're very privileged to have the opportunity to work and study with David. You're going to have fun while making a substantive contribution to open content for development. I must also compliment your project on the choice of the Mediawiki software engine. Over the next year or so, the OER Foundation and WE will be refining Mediawiki for use in educational contexts, including for example WYSIWYG editing, enhancements on wiki == print technology (very important for developing world contexts), building OER content interoperability between WikiEducator == Connexions to widen opportunities for remixing content between platforms as well as providing hosting for static instances of course materials on Connexions. You are most welcome and free to link to the OC4D site -- better still, why not create a portal node in WikiEducator for the project (see: http://wikieducator.org/Create_and_institutional_OER_portal_page ). With regards to sharing best practice, WE would love to help and support you in achieving success. In the first instance, given that you're using Mediawiki -- we can help you with free training. We run at least one online workshop every month helping educators to aquire basic wiki editing skills under the Learning4Content initative (see: http://wikieducator.org/L4C ) -- Please feel free to invite members from your community to join these workshops. The next one is scheduled to start on 23 November 2009 -- and folk can register directly on the wiki. If you like -- we could easily set up dedicated area in WikiEducator where your OC4D domain could redirect to a dedicated landing page in WE with your logo etc. WE have extensive international reach in the developing world including Africa, South and South East Asia, Caribbean and the South Pacific. In this way you can save considerable time and energy on building networks for your initiative. Working together we can achieve far more than working alone. OC4D is a brilliant project -- let us know how the OER Foundation and the WikiEducator family can assist and support you in achieving your objectives. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 Tiffany Ivins tiffanyiv...@gmail.com Hi, Wayne, thanks for your reflections about the power of wikis and the imperative to freely share content in a global way. I'm Tiffany Ivins. I'm a doctoral student at BYU working with David Wiley (the guy that coined the term 'Open Content'). We are working with ProLiteracy Worldwide, an NGO based in New York, with 130 NGO partners across the developing world (Africa, Asia, Latin America, Middle East, and many island nations). Through several conversations with their International Program Director, Dr. Lynn Curtis, we have gotten consent to share all of their educational materials in open, digitized formats into an open portal on the web ( www.oc4d.org). We have decided to use a wiki format so that anyone anywhere can freely access, modify, localize and share these resources. These are tools developed by locals for locals in developing countries. The tools on OC4D are primarily geared toward nonformal educators (e.g. literacy facilitators, health workers, agricultural extension agents, peace workers, and microloan officers). As you will see if you look at the site, the issues addressed by these tools are central to lower-developed poor communities and the change agents (nonformal educators) who work with lower-literate groups and/or use these tools to facilitate literacy for social change. Right now, we're working on getting English versions up and then we'll hope to put up all content created/modified by the NGO partners across the world who are part of the ProLiteracy Worldwide consortium. We would love to collaborate with anyone else in this effort who is interested to share quality content addressing critical issue for improved problem-solving in developing countries around the world. We are open to input and we would like to link to and from the WikiEducator Site because it will build capacity on both sides. Also, if you know of any other effort which is similar in nature to this, could you let us know so that we could seek collaboration with them (e.g. sharing best practices and lessons learned) so we don't reinvent the wheel. We are planning to launch this initiative at the first of 2010 and to share the materials with some non-foramal education groups in the Himalayas (Community Learning Centers, Tele-Centers, Community Multimedia Centers etc.). If any of you have done work with open content targeting these populations, we'd love to talk with you and share
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
Hi Kirby, Wow -- CS unplugged is very smart!!! Any possibility of getting the course materials released under a license that meets the requirements of the free cultural works definition? A few essential freedoms missing in the current license being used :-(. ND NC clauses restricting the potential here IMHO. Next time I travel to ChristChurch -- I'm more than happy to have a chat with the Computer Science department to see if we can get release of the materials under a free content license. 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 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
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
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
Hi Valerie, With thanks to dedicated WikiEducators like yourself (and hundreds of others) -- WE, as a community, is now in a position to scale up our original vision of developing digital OERs in support of all national curricula. One advantage of open self organising systems is the ability to solve problems in parallel. For example, we don't need to wait to solve all the distribution challenges before we can start collaborating on high-demand content areas. (That said -- we've made significant progress in tackling on the wiki == pdf challenge, and pretty soon teachers around the world will be able to download WikiEducator collections in open document format for editing locally offline -- saving on expensive connectivity costs :-) ) In terms of getting a pilot started, we could for example: - Make contact with Vincent Kizza who is taking leadership in establishing an national OER portal for Uganda (See: http://www.wikieducator.org/OERUG ) -- Ask Vincent about high priority content areas. - Reuse ideas and concepts from the the OERNZ project ( http://www.wikieducator.org/New_Zealand_Schools_OER_Portal ) which is starting to think about different types of OER that may be useful in the school sector (http://tinyurl.com/yld88n2) - Take Declan up on his offer for us to remix, collaborate and add value to the amazing set of lesson materials in Biology for Elementary Schools developed by his students (http://tinyurl.com/yg6wqut ) I'm sure there are many other ideas we could consider, but this would be a good starting point for a proof-of-concept? Other ideas? Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 valerie vtay...@gmail.com Thanks Wayne Many of us would like to work on exactly this sort of project. What do we know about the content needs for this? Can we layout a foundation so we can collaborate on content creation and assembly, in parallel with resolving distribution issues? Is there some subject and grade level that could be used as a pilot program? It would be nice to find a specific high-demand content area to work through as a proof-of-concept. ..Valerie On Nov 14, 2:17 pm, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: 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. -- 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 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Will WYSIWYG editing make a difference for WE?
Hi Everyone, Will WYSIWYG editing make a difference? WE think so, and we need your help. There is a keen interest among WikiEducators for us to implement WYSIWYG editing. Over the past two -years we have received numerous requests to implement Rich Text Editing on WikiEducator. We are pleased to announce that the Open Education Resource Foundation will implement WYSIWYG editing in the near future. We need your help in testing the environment. WE are asking WikiEducators to visit the test installation on the Athabasca University servers, especially our more experienced users with large complex pages. Please take note of the following message which appears in RED text on the test servers. *NOTE: THIS IS A TEST SITE FOR WIKIEDUCATOR - YOUR EDITS WILL NOT BE PRESERVED WHEN WE UPDATE THE DATABASE* This message which appears on every page in the testing environment, will remind you that your edits will NOT be preserved. 1. Go to: http://we1.wikieducator.net/Main_Page (The test server) 2. Login with your usual WikiEducator username and password 3. Go to your favourite page in WikiEducator 4. Click on the normal edit link 5. You will have the option of editing the normal way. 6. To test the WYSIWYG editor, click on the Rich Editor Link 7. Let us know what you think Note that templates work a little differently in this environment and if you want to copy and paste text from another environment it is better to use the standard wiki editor. If you identify any bugs or strange behaviours -- please report them on this page in the live WikiEducator: http://wikieducator.org/WikiEducator:Editing With any new technology, there will be minor teething problems. That's to be expected. Helping us test the environment will ensure that we minimise these problems and to assess whether we are ready to go live with Rich Text Editing. Have fun and look forward to reading your feedback. Cheers Wayne and Jim from OERF -- 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 --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: copyright and newspaper articles
Hi Mary, Welcome. Would Wikinews (http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page) have articles that you would find useful? They are released CC-BY and use the MediaWiki software so would be easily transfered to WE. Regards, Rob (aka User:Kruhly) On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 9:40 PM, Mary lightst...@gmail.com wrote: Hello everyone, My name is Mary Ziller and I recently joined your wonderful group. I hope to learn a lot with you. I have a question that I would like to ask the group. I searched the group archives on copyright and found only one thread that did not answer my question: How much of a newspaper article can we use for online teaching and face to face teaching? How does a site like http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ get the copyrights to publish its excellent materials which are based on real news articles? And the admirable works by Susan Heyer True stories in the news series. How does the copyright law work allowing her to produce ESL books based on actual articles? I would like to write materials using published news articles, but don't know how to get the copyrights permissions. Do they have to be purchased? Thanks for your help. Mary Ziller -- Robert Kruhlak North Vancouver, BC CANADA (M) +1 778 230 1875 (E) kru...@gmail.com --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: copyright and newspaper articles
Mary and others, Dr. Robert Diotalevi has publicly offered to help any educator with copyrighs issues. Please email him at and say you are a Wikieducator: bdiot...@fgcu He has also given permission to use his slides as long as he gets credit: http://wikieducator.org/User:Nelliemuller/My_Blog#Dr._Diotalevi.27s_Presentation Warm wishes, Nellie Deutsch Sharing is Caring! Doctoral Student Educational Leadership Curriculum and Instruction Integrating Technology for Active Life-long Learning (IT4ALL) http://www.integrating-technology.com/pd Get ready for CO10 at WiZiQ: http://connecting-online.ning.com/ Free online workshops using WiZiQ: http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 9:40 PM, Mary lightst...@gmail.com wrote: Hello everyone, My name is Mary Ziller and I recently joined your wonderful group. I hope to learn a lot with you. I have a question that I would like to ask the group. I searched the group archives on copyright and found only one thread that did not answer my question: *How much of a newspaper article can we use for online teaching and face to face teaching? * How does a site like http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/ get the copyrights to publish its excellent materials which are based on real news articles? And the admirable works by Susan Heyer *True stories in the news *series. How does the copyright law work allowing her to produce ESL books based on actual articles? I would like to write materials using published news articles, but don't know how to get the copyrights permissions. Do they have to be purchased? Thanks for your help. Mary Ziller --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to wikieducator-unsubscr...@googlegroups.com -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: WE believe in education - So where is all the free content?
Wayne, Eliza and others, Here is what we are doing on WikiEducator to facilitate the process of introducing educators to the use of technology one step at a time: http://wikieducator.org/Integrating_Technology_for_Active_Learning Everyone is invited to join. Warm wishes, Nellie Deutsch Sharing is Caring! Doctoral Student Educational Leadership Curriculum and Instruction Integrating Technology for Active Life-long Learning (IT4ALL) http://www.integrating-technology.com/pd Get ready for CO10 at WiZiQ: http://connecting-online.ning.com/ Free online workshops using WiZiQ: http://www.wikieducator.org/Workshops On Sat, Nov 14, 2009 at 1:51 PM, Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com wrote: Hi Eliza, That's a good point. Self-organising, peer production communities are very different from the traditional model, hence the fear of organisations to try it out. Administrators and decision-makers who don't have experience of the effectiveness and agility of self-organising systems find it hard to take decisions committing time and resources to this kind of approach. In some respects, its like learning to swim -- you have got to get your feet wet. One way that has worked well for us is the pilot project approach. We encourage and support organisations to test the waters with a small but focused project. Once members of the project team see and experience the benefits of the self-organising approach -- they're sold. It takes time -- but authentic experience is a powerful approach in supporting organisations with incremental transformation. Cheers Wayne 2009/11/15 eliza papajanis eliza.papaja...@gmail.com Hi, there is one point to be added to the list;it`s to protect the victims ( teachers or educators) from the bad guys stiil conjacted to the old ways and the archaic view of the education; some of them they do it for money and/or security and they think there is not a better way. They should be encouraged to think differently and it can not be done with the old board of authorities hidden in the rooms of all sorts of administration bureau.You know what I am speaking about - it is world wilde spret malady.My question is: HOW IS IT TO BE DONE.? 2009/11/14 Wayne Mackintosh mackintosh.wa...@gmail.com Hi Everyone, A brief moment to reflect. Education is an act of sharing knowledge freely. So where are all the free education materials that we can adapt, modify and reuse without restriction? Why has humanity taken so long in achieving a free knowledge base for us to share for the common good of education and society? Why are the majority of our global population under served when it comes to education? To paraphrase Bob Dylan: How many years [can the closed copyright] mountain exist Before it's washed to the sea? Yes, 'n' how many years can some [educators] exist Before they're allowed to be free? Yes, 'n' how many times can [we] turn our [heads], Pretending [we] just don't see? The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind, The answer is blowin' in the wind. The value proposition of sharing digital teaching materials is a no-brainer. Getting back to Dylan's refrain The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind has been described as impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blowin%27_in_the_Wind) I started WikiEducator as a project to collaborate with the free culture movement to develop digital teaching materials in support of every national curriculum by 2015. (If we're a little late, 2017 will be just fine :-) ). - Yesterday, WE were a top 59K site (Alexa). - During October, WE generated more than 10.5 million hits on our site with a full-time staff of two people. - WE train and build wiki skills for thousands of teachers in more than 110 countries -- thanks to a dedicated team of facilitators who share knowledge freely. - WE have developed more content pages than Wikiversity (with only 6% of the number of the registered users compared to WV) - WE can now work internationally, freed from the geographical constraints of the Commonwealth. WE should take a moment and reflect on what WE have achieved -- this is an amazing story and you are making it happen! However, we shouldn't gloat for too long. 2015 is a little more than 5 years away, but I sense an energy that WE have a fighting chance in achieving our goal of free digital resources in support of all national curricula. - WE need to become more effective supporting new WikiEducators in becoming active contributors to our common goal - WE need our technology to become transparent (i.e. significantly easier to use) - WE need to continue our commitment to provide free training to any warm-blooded (as in mammal) educator in the world who wants to learn wiki skills - WE need to connect educators
