quot;Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan primarily pro-con format.quot;
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I posted to delicious.com
ProCon.org
December 19 2008, 9:48am | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
Carl Rogers : Freedom to Learn
http://www.panarchy.org/rogers/learning.html
December 16 2008, 9:27pm | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
30+ Tools For The Amateur Writer
http://mashable.com/2007/10/25/30-tools-amateur-writer/
December 16 2008, 8:38pm | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
Right to Education Project
http://www.right-to-education.org/
The Right to Education Project aims to promote social mobilisation and legal accountability, looking to focus on the legal challenges to the right to education.
December 15 2008, 8:15pm | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
Your guide to social e-learning
http://socialelearning.flexiblelearning.net.au/index.htm
December 10 2008, 9:29am | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
Mind, hands, and heart: John Leeke on Internet video for sharing knowledge about historic home preservation « Jon Udell
December 9 2008, 10:47am | Comments
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I posted to beespace.net
OER at STOA
http://beespace.net/oer-at-stoa/
Ewout ter Haar (STOA) and Carolina Rossinni (Berkman Centre) organized an open informal meeting on Open Educational Resources at USP last Friday morning. Invited international speakers, Melissa Hagemann ( OSI ) and Joel Thierstein ( Associate Provost from Rice University and CEO from Connexions ) came together with a group of Brazilian academics to give a brief outline of their projects and discuss issues like sustainability, federated architectures for OER implementation, Creative Commons Licenses, the impact of such projects on intellectual property and the implications for the publishing industry. It was interesting to participate in this event, get to know what is happening here and the issues faced. (presentations can be found here). After an explanation of the work conducted at the Open Society Institute and a brief outline of the history of the Open Education movement and initiatives, Melissa pointed to The Cape Town Open Education Declaration, which is at once a statement of principle, a statement of strategy and a statement of commitment… meant to spark dialogue, to inspire action and to help the open education movement grow. 1741 individuals (1742 now that I have added my name) and 177 organizations have signed the declaration. Pilot countries comprise Poland, Australia and Brazil. Some open repositories (which do not require a subscription fee) : Arxiv, DOAJ, Dspace, PubMedCentral, OpenDoar, Eprints Soton, Scielo Brazil, Hindawi, Public Library of Science, Springer Open Choice, Bioline International. While Connexions founder Richard Baraniuk was discussing OER at the Berlin Online Educa, Joel Thierstein, Cnx’S executive director, showed us (here in São Paulo) how their open source platform allows professors and teachers to “Create Globally, Educate Locally” by giving them the possibility to create, collaborate, build/share custom collections. Users and authors can find content on a page by page basis through an interconnected repository (400+ textbooks, 7000+ lego modules from students, teachers, professionals worldwide) and remix it for their needs. Authors retain copyright and license it via open access licence to share, copy and transmit the content. Hard cover copies of personalised textbooks created by mashups of different content were passed around. Differently from the States and other developed countries, in Brazil, information and expertise are still scarce, which reinforces the educational gap between the haves and have-nots. Ironically, state funded and free higher-ed ( like the University of São Paulo) cater for the higher middle-class who paid for their studies in private secondary schools and preparatory courses to succeed in the university entrance exam. The federal campuses are usual far from the city centre and transport difficult for those without a car. As a result of this, the most needy have to pay high tuition for overcrowded “one size fits it all” night classes at private commercial institutions, many of which of doubtful standard. In formal or vocational education, there is no recognition of prior and experiential learning, which further restricts the entry of qualified people to help out as facilitators, guides or curators. OERs and open education should be more than “a blip on the educational radar”. It is important to have access not only to broadband and resources but also peers and experts who help learners filter, discuss, re-mix, create and make this content personally and contextually meaningful. I hope these first steps will allow Brazilian educators from all extractions find a way to collaborate and partner in networks beyond their schools and universities - across the river in the city of knowledge as Gilson Schwartz put it and share instead of just “planning to share” so that more people and initiatives follow to open access to meaningful and dynamic education in our country.
December 8 2008, 7:57pm | Comments
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I posted to beespace.net
Same or different languages, cultures and practices?
http://beespace.net/same-or-different-languages-cultures-and-practices/
Last August, I was honoured to receive an invitation from Larry Johnson and Alan Levine to join the New Media Consortium (NMC) 2008-9 Horizon Project Advisory Board (pdf file), a multi-disciplinary and international team whose annual work informs the annual Horizon Report on Emerging Technologies for teaching, learning and creative expression. I was a bit taken by surprise as I am not American, do not represent any institution and am not a “regular” member of the organization. Alan assured me that my experience in using new technologies and wide network were of interest, though. According to him, the NMC wants to reach out more internationally by inviting non Anglo-Saxon members to contribute with their perspectives and get more exposure in Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries. Some steps in this direction:
the reports have been translated into Spanish and Catalan by the Universidad Oberta de Catalunya; the Australian chapter of the project was launched in Melbourne last July; I am the first member from Latin America (hopefully more will follow as it is a darn responsibility and a bit too lonely to represent a whole continent)
It has been enlightening to contribute to and participate in this carefully constructed process (totally online and open). The experience , as Larry puts it, is like a crash course in emerging technology, with the class made up entirely of very knowledgeable experts and futurists. I also echo Scott Leslie’s words in his post “The Value of Openness - creating the Horizon Project, out in the open. while I hope you do find the report useful when it comes out in late January 2009, you too can derive much the same benefit as I simply because the process to advise on the Report takes place ‘out in the open’ on this wiki. Indeed, I honestly find the raw materials gathered in the Research Questions (as well as the ongoing hz09 tag in delicious) to be ultimately the most valuable part of the process; inevitably, in order to create a ‘unified’ picture that can be summed up in a printed report certain details are lost, smushed together, improved upon, etc. But all of the raw materials are there for anyone who cares to dig. Since my exposure to the Future of Learning in a Networked World series of unconferences and during this sabbatical year, I have taken advantage to open myself up to different local communities, participate in various national educational and cultural initiatives and meet the actors. This roaming exposure (one is usually confined to a professional track, idea or a classroom) and free (but expensive) time has allowed me to observe, compare and reflect on the mores and cultural traits of the different groups locally and internationally. Participating in the Brazilian Práxis community this year has been one of many such instructive insights. It introduced me to fellow colleagues in different institutions in São Paulo, who are in some way or another involved in the use of new technologies. Like the NMC, Práxis aims at convening people around ideas and practice, catalyze dialogue, discussion and contributions to the field in the form of cases, papers, demonstrations and other related projects. However, differently from NMC, an NGO which relies on paid membership and whose open initiative projects happen mostly online to include perspectives, discussions and research from organizations all over the US and abroad, the Práxis community activities are basically local and presential (São Paulo city) and supported/directed by the Bradesco Institute of Technology, which is in turn funded by the Bradesco Foundation. In 2004, a small group of K12 ICT coordinators and CIOs from the private school sector in São Paulo gathered at the occasion of an e-learning event to exchange ideas, practice and better get to know each other. In 2008, although most community members still represent these elite institutions, membership has opened up to encompass a variety of new people (who are selected through personal nomination), including technical schools, colleges, universities, edtech, e-learning businesses and big corporations. Membership is renewed annually by a public acceptance to follow at least 70% of the face to face monthly meetings, during which practice/experience or products (100% proprietary until now) are demonstrated. The Moodle environment serves as a communication distributor, information archive and occasional discussion forum. I have noticed there is a striking difference between the way innovation is envisaged and practiced. Is it this a result of a national or an organizational culture? Is it local, global or both? Last night, during our last meeting of the year, Alexandre Zapparoli, from Gartner (Brasil) and Yang Sik Pak, from Daul Soft Brasil made their presentations. Gartner Hype Cycle 2008 Now, although Gartner partners and networks with institutions and consultants to track breakthrough ideas and how they become established and part of general practice, it targets basically the corporate world business leaders in th etechnology/communications industry. Its research process and methods are totally closed and the advice reports are delivered for a high fee. I noticed that the data collected and the trends openly suggested by educators for the 2009 Horizon Report did not differ significantly from the ones presented in the graphic above. The focus and objective are a bit different, though. Gartner recommends an open and free form adaptive structure, open to participation and modification, visible work in progress and create_organize_find_interact flow instead of rigid schemes, access rights, templates and costly infrequent change. Organization should reflect current use and needs and natural group formation should be based on activities and interests. Links, tags, ratings and usage are to determine importance and quality. One should find content through people links and people through content links. Interaction records reinforce personal and group identity, reputation and memory. As for Daul’s authoring tool combo (TeachingMate and LectureMaker) , although it evidences progress over the ready-made one-size-fits-all software, it still operates in the closed environment model, centred on transmission mode, which does not help transform the educational practice but perpetuates the sage on the stage, closed silos and expensive walled gardens. Education, IMHO, is much more complex than a linear series of events, a politician’s discourse /short-term policy or a measurable and defined pre-packaged product. Learning is a process of reactions and layers which lasts a life-time. The age of information and knowledge has led education into the media and big business spotlight and schools/colleges and universities have fallen into the vicious circle of student /teacher bashing. Will educational institutions and businesses ever understand that transplanting a foreign model, installing an LMS system, revamping a classroom with a whiteboard, or submitting and enforcing the use of new technologies will not automatically lead to change? Focus on people rather than technology, enable and support processes and weave in connections and possibilities for empowerment. In spite of the innovative discourse and good intentions of many, I still feel that in the country of Paulo Freire and the government’s innovative initiative to support OSS, banking education and delivery practices are still a strong reality. Too many have no or very restricted access to information and social connections and many are paying too high a price for it.
- Tags:
- Communities
- Education
- Events and Conferences
- Praxis
- Technology
- Trends
- Horizon Report
- NMC
- openness
- OSS
November 28 2008, 12:19am | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
Top 100 Language Blogs - Lexiophiles
http://www.lexiophiles.com/top100-language-blogs
November 17 2008, 4:46pm | Comments
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I posted to delicious.com
emerge 2008
http://emerge2008.net/programme.html
Proceedings from the conference
- Tags:
- Education
- e-learning
- web20
November 4 2008, 8:10am | Comments