Re: [WikiEducator] OERu most noticeable development in OER for 2011

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 11:19:34 -0800

I am glad that the OER-u was listed as the most noticeable development because, of course, I am a big fan of the effort and my institution is an Anchor Partner...but "most noticeable" is not necessarily the "most important"...all of the initiatives you mention are also very important and exciting.

  As an aside, I am very sad that many US elementary and secondary schools are way behind the curve because heavy firewalls prevent most access to the web.   It would be far better to teach internet safety to students and help them live in the virtual world.   We teach other health and safety skills...we don't let children play in traffic...we should teach children to safely navigate the web as well.

Dr. Joyce McKnight
Associate Professor
SUNY/Empire State College

[email protected] wrote: -----
To: [email protected]
From: Edward Cherlin
Sent by: [email protected]
Date: 12/16/2011 09:11PM
Subject: Re: [WikiEducator] OERu most noticeable development in OER for 2011

On Thu, Dec 15, 2011 at 16:34, Randy Fisher <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> With all due respect to Tony and OERu, what about the $500M awards in the US
> for OER development? - http://creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/29195
>
> OR, Washington State's completion of 42 Phase I courses in the Open Course
> Libary Project - http://www.opencourselibrary.org/

I disagree with all of these ideas. The big news in 2011, IMNSHO, was that

* Bangladesh digitized a complete suite of primary and secondary
school textbooks in Bangla and posted them on the Internet for free
distribution. Uruguay and South Korea then announced comparable
initiatives. California, South Africa, and others have partial suites
of digital secondary school textbooks under Creative Commons licenses.

* There are more than 100,000 OERs for all levels, primary through college

* Bangladesh announced the Doel education computer, to be distributed
to schoolchildren in Bangladesh on the One Laptop Per Child model.
India and Peru are among other countries building their own school
computers or setting up factories to produce OLPC XOs.

* Various countries including Peru now provide Internet to villages,
and more, including Rwanda, have announced plans to do so. Almost
every country now has fiber optic connections to the world, or an
active project to install them.

There are more than 2 million OLPC XOs in the hands of schoolchildren,
and substantial numbers of other computers.

One of many reasons why I consider this more important is that it will
inexorably lead to OERs for every subject at every grade level in
every language whose speakers want them.

I am personally working on translating a suite of textbooks, newly
placed under Creative Commons, for primary through early college math,
from proprietary 1970s software to the latest GPLed version. For
example:

Algebra: An Algorithmic Treatment, by Kenneth E. Iverson
http://booki.treehouse.su/algebra-an-algorithmic-treatment/

Other titles by Ken Iverson will be

* Arithmetic

* Elementary Functions: An Algorithmic Treatment

* Elementary Analysis

We have other works in the pipeline, and plan several publications for
teachers explaining the software and the pedagogical approach possible
when the computer can take over the drudgery of computation. A
multitude of other such initiatives exists.

See

http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Open_Education_Resources

> - Randy
>
> On Wed, Dec 14, 2011 at 3:35 AM, Wayne Mackintosh
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> As we start preparing for the holidays, Tony Bates cites the OER
>> university as the most noticeable development in OER for 2011.
>>
>>
>> See: http://www.tonybates.ca/2011/12/13/e-learning-in-2011-a-retrospective/
>>
>> Tony's scholarship in open distance learning and technology mediated
>> learning has informed much of my own thinking in this field over the last
>> two decades.  Tony, therefore, you can claim some responsibility for
>> informing the foundations on which our founding anchor partners are building
>> the OER university ;-).
>>
>> Earlier this year I intimated that 2011 would be a quantum shift year for
>> seeding the mainstream adoption of OER in the formal education sector. The
>> OERu is the vehicle enabling us to facilitate this transformation.
>>
>> I wonder what 2012 will promise for open education and the OERu? Any
>> thoughts?
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>> --
>> Wayne Mackintosh, Ph.D.
>> Director OER Foundation
>> Director, International Centre for Open Education,
>> Otago Polytechnic, New Zealand.
>> Founder and elected Community Council Member, WikiEducator
>> Mobile +64 21 2436 380
>> Skype: WGMNZ1
>> Twitter | identi.ca
>> Wikiblog
>>
>> --
>> 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]
>
>
>
>
> --
> ________________
> Randy Fisher, MA (Fielding)
> President
>
> iCentro Corporation
> Ottawa, Canada (Eastern Time)
> +1 613.722.5577 - home/office
> +1 613.899.0475 - cell (seldom on, but I check messages regularly)
>
> Improving Organizational Performance
> Specializing in marketing, e-learning / distance learning and program
> evaluation
>
> LinkedIn Profile
> Wordle
> Skype: wikirandy
>
> --
> 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://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks

--
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]

--
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