On Sat, May 15, 2010 at 12:56, Vtaylor <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hello Edward
>
> We were not sure exactly what you were asking. If this doesn't answer
> your question, let's talk further.

Let's, whether in this mailing list or offline. I'm talking about the
coming wave of one-to-one computing in schools, now that netbook
computers cost less than textbooks. See, for example, the resources
listed at

http://www.librarianchick.com/ The most complete listing
http://www.clrn.org/fdti/ Math and Science texts for CA
http://www.flossmanuals.net/ Free Software manuals, and how to use Free Software

I am one of the co-authors of How to Bypass Internet Censorship at
FLOSS Manuals. It has become available in Russian, Chinese, Farsi, and
other relevant languages. I am currently writing an introduction to
the Sugar software for the OLPC XO, now available for most other
computers., and trying to organize a project to create free textbooks
for every school subject in every grade for every country in the
world. We believe that there are major funding opportunities available
from the US Dept. of Education and various international sources. One
of the projects at county level in the US tells me that it has a team
of grant writers it can call on.

Gov. Schwarzenegger in California is sold on the idea of free digital textbooks

http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/blog/issue/20090608-arnold-text-blog-textbooks/

and Gen. McChrystal in Afghanistan seems to be a recent convert. Sen.
John McCain also sees one-to-one computing in education as an
important anti-insurgent tool. It also will allow girls to learn at
home in areas where the Taliban tries to interfere with the public
school system.

http://blog.laptop.org/2010/05/15/on-afghanistan-2/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/curiouslee/sets/72157622267805539/

> All the TWB course materials are available online.
> http://courses.teacherswithoutborders.org/
>
> This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
> http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Perfect.

> The TWB Certificate of Teaching Mastery is being added to WikiEducator
> http://wikieducator.org/Teachers_Without_Borders/Certificate_of_Teaching_Mastery
>
> For face-to-face training, these are distributed to participants in
> paper format.
>
> I passed along your question to Konrad Glogowski, TWB Program
> Director. Here is Konrad's reply -
>
> Do you mean our current offline programs? That would translate into
> providing all participants with laptops,

Exactly. That is why I am talking about one-to-one computing, where
the student gets to take the computer home to use on homework and in
family activities. We find that students from subsistence economies
are helping their parents increase their incomes.

> which would require quite a bit of funding.

When we get the promised $75 laptops,
(http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/10/olpc-spin-off-plans-75-laptop/) it
will come to $20 billion annually for the billion or so children in
the whole world, plus the cost of installing renewable electricity and
broadband Internet out to the poorest and remote villages. This
assumes a replacement cycle of four years for the laptops. The
electrical and wireless communications systems will last much longer.
We can expect trillions of dollars of increased economic activity as a
result, and we have the opportunity to educate the next generation on
sustainability, among other things.

> Printed material is of greater value to a participant
> because she can take it home.

That is true without one-to-one, 24/7 computing. With it, software is
of greater value to children than textbooks, because it includes
multimedia, is of much greater capacity, and can be provided at no
cost and with the freedom to modify it and share the results. In
addition, computers and software are now essential subjects for
schools. Not so-called "Computer Literacy" but computer mastery.

I would love to have this conversation with all of your members who
are interested, and to help you set up a program to address these
issues, needs, and opportunities.

> - Konrad
>
>
>
> Konrad Glogowski, Ph.D.
> Program Director
> http://teacherswithoutborders.org
> http://twitter.com/teachersnetwork
> Skype: teachandlearn
> Teachers. Leaders. Worldwide
>
> o (206) 623-0394, ext. 9   |   f (206)-623-0396   |   m (647) 200-1528
>
>
> On May 14, 8:36 pm, Edward Cherlin <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Does TWB have any interest in replacing printed textbooks with free
>> software and content?
>>
>> --
>> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
>> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
>> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my 
>> destination.http://www.earthtreasury.org/
>>
>
> --
> 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 [email protected]
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> [email protected]



-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/

-- 
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 [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]

Reply via email to