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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
