Hi Leigh, I'm just catching up on emails, posts, etc.
I am interested in your post, as it relates to reaching the 'last mile of development'. You outline a very workable hybrid of technology and smart-thinking to achieve a specific objective. These insights are very valuable, as local ingenuity coupled with necessity and use of available resources and technologies seems to deal with many of the last-mile problems that often plague development projects. What would you call this....? I think it would be cool to develop a page of these types of locally devised solutions.... what do you think? - Randy On Dec 5, 11:03 pm, "Leigh Blackall" <[email protected]> wrote: > This thread is about your text book proposal right? > > So, do you want me to explain this in practical terms relating to text > books? Or do you want me to post a manifesto? > > > > On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 4:48 PM, Wayne <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi Leigh > > > In practical terms -- can you describe the teaching-learning system you > > envisage in terms of the functions of teaching and elements of the system. > > I'm not sure that I understand what you are talking about. > > > Cheers > > Wayne > > > On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 14:21 +1100, Leigh Blackall wrote: > > > I'm not convinced we are pioneers at all. Illich is significant to me not > > for hi Deschooling Society, but for his vision of learning webs. As he > > describes it (in chapter 6 I think), Bolivia was rolling out OER in the form > > of television. The cost of television back then meant that Bolivia could > > afford 1 tv per 5000 Bolivians. Illich proposed a networked communication > > through audio cassette recordings. At the time, he proposed that Bolivia > > could afford 1 cassette recorder per 5 Bolivians > > with enough money left over to set up a postal service to facilitate the > > exchange of audio recordings being sent in by farmers and kids. He was > > talking about audio blogging, where today the cost of achieving what Illich > > envisioned is greatly reduced for us in the wealthy economies, but still > > impossible for your average Bolivian I guess. Even with OLPCs the difficulty > > of using a cassette recorder and postal service compared to an OLPC is > > laughable. > > > Illich was talking about networked learning, without the middle man. Our > > OER efforts, and especially the production of text books with "learning > > design" interwoven is more broadcast, middle man OER like Bolivia's TV idea, > > distance learning, and to some extent the OLPCs.. nothing new at all. The > > only thing "new" in it is the copyright and the technology.. and seeing your > > historical reference predates modern history Wayne, even our new approach to > > copyright is nothing new. > > > Peter Rawsthorne and James Neill have been talking about student generated > > content initiaties on Wikieducator for quite some time, and in many regards > > this is similar to networked learning accept that it tends to focus on a > > demographic we call students, that is typically made up in crude class > > systems like K12 and everything in between - leaving out the contributions > > that someone outside that class might have to offer - such as traditional, > > subsistance, local even mystical. > > > I'd hazard a guess that the funding is easily geared towards text books. > > They are tangible and have established processes and protocols. But this > > doesn't make it a good idea. A text book with "learning designed" in it, > > over powers so much of what might be otherwise possible. A straight text > > with a range of culturally appropriate "learning design" held seperately > > would be far more scalable and versatile. Especially with strong learning > > networks around each text. Strong networks like in Wikibooks and blogs for > > example, or any number of offline networks > > > Better would be a straight text with a learning network to go with it. In > > the poorer countries this is obviously not through the Internet and > > computers, but the ideas and models we have through the Internet could > > inform new approaches to radio, newspaper, telephone, and postal services.. > > even distance learning. > > > On Sat, Dec 6, 2008 at 1:25 PM, Wayne <[email protected]> wrote: > > > Hi Leigh > > > On Sat, 2008-12-06 at 08:57 +1300, Leigh Blackall wrote: > > > Illich's Learning Webs idea for Bolivia, cited in his book Deschooling > > Society - predating ODL, ignoring "instructional design", and predicting > > post industrial society enabled by networked communications. Illich was > > interested in networked communications empowering subsistance living. > > > Illich's Deschooling Society is a seminal text and is a highly > > recommended read for those dabbling in the future of OER. > > > On a minor historical technicality ;-) Illich's Deschooling Society did > > not predate the practice, research and publication in the field of DE/ODL. > > I believe Deschooling Society was published in 1971. Their are published > > references on DE dating back to 1728. However mainstream DE research as a > > field of research endeavour started appearing in the literature in the early > > 1950's. This followed the inception of the world's first single-mode > > distance education university which began teaching in 1946 --- (The > > University of South Africa). The detail of the actual dates is not too > > relevant -- but rather the era in which these publications emerged. > > > Deschooling Society was published shortly after the peak of > > industrialisation after the second world war. DE/ODL is in fact a > > consequence of the industrialisation of society. DE delivery was not > > possible before the invention of the printing press and universal postal > > services. It's also interesting to note that Illich's text was published > > shortly after the student revolts of the 1960s and should be read within > > this context. > > > Illich was not the only author commenting or "predicting" on the emergence > > of post-industrial society. For example, Daniel Bell's text on "The Coming > > of Post-industrial Society" published around the same time. The notion of > > "post-industrial" society was a pretty topical issue of the time. The > > Fordist versus Post-Fordist debate has been well documented in the DE > > literature (including for example: Raggart, Rumble, Farnes, Edwards etc.) > > > Discontinuity theory is a contested concept in sociological terms --- Is > > post-industrial society fundamentally different from industrial society, or > > is it more of the same? Personally -- I buy into the theory of discontinuity > > which would argue that the networked world is structurally different, but at > > the same time I err on the side of caution with regards to how OER is > > unfloding on our planet. I see many promising projects (WikiEducator > > included) - but there is still lots of work for us to do before OER becomes > > the default approach to education. > > > Its going to be up to us to turn tommorrow's promise for OER into today's > > reality! > > > It's fun being a pioneer! > > > Cheers > > Wayne > > > -- > > -- > > Leigh Blackall > > +64(0)21736539 > > skype - leigh_blackall > > SL - Leroy Goalpost > >http://learnonline.wordpress.com<http://console.mxlogic.com/redir/?b9EVjhuphpdIL6zBYQsCzAQsLCM0p_X65o7...> > >http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall<http://console.mxlogic.com/redir/?1pd7aqbPab9JBUQsLCzAQsCzBYS02ciaOZ1...> > > -- > -- > Leigh Blackall > +64(0)21736539 > skype - leigh_blackall > SL - Leroy > Goalposthttp://learnonline.wordpress.comhttp://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. 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