August 2009
Creating Electronic Educational Content
Can eBooks Satisfy? Creating Content for ICT-enabled Classrooms
While there is much effort & focus on deploying educational hardware in the developing world, much less hype and attention is focusing on the content students will use once these systems are in the hands of hungry young minds. How can educational systems, and the stakeholders that support them, adapt existing and new content onto these devices? Will this adaptation be able to challenge the existing income streams and vested interests of current content production & dissemination models? And should this content focus on ebooks and other electronic media the replicates existing content, or is this an opportunity to change the way in which content is created, teacher’s educate, and students learn?
Continue Reading Can eBooks Satisfy? Creating Content for ICT-enabled Classrooms
Balancing Content, Technology, and People for Quality Basic Education
It is hard to imagine a tenable future in a world that denies its children an education. Thus to make a viable future possible we must ensure a Quality Basic Education for all – especially for our younger ones. Since our traditional ways have failed to even approach that goal, we must try some new ways.
This will require a three-legged stool that provides a global network of quality, free and open k-12 courseware, enables teachers everywhere to use innovative approaches to learning and employs suitable and effective information and communications technologies. These three legs must be balanced and closely linked to achieve a quality and universal basic education.
Continue Reading Balancing Content, Technology, and People for Quality Basic Education
Low-Cost ICT Devices Are Driving Proprietory and Open Education Resources
The advent of low-cost ICT devices is indeed a wonderful opportunity to change the educational landscape. Apart from teaching computer literacy, which is an essential component of education in today’s world, it brings the prospect of higher education and technical training closer to the millions of prospective students who cannot attend, or cannot afford to attend, campus.
I personally believe that both proprietory resources and OERs will have a continuing place in the future, and that convenient and affordable access through the advent of ICT devices will improve the quality of selected resources and enhance competition.
Continue Reading Low-Cost ICT Devices Are Driving Proprietory and Open Education Resources
We Need a Three-legged Stool of Content, Technology and People
I am finding the “debate” quite interesting but maybe we should step back, and take a moment to rethink the frame of our discussion. We have tended to circle around today’s version of a specific technology: eBooks, for this is the assignment our teacher (Wayan) gave us.
But what would happen if we changed the frame for a moment and ask a different question, asking what kinds of systems are needed in the developing world to facilitate learning – at what different levels of learning, for what different skills and knowledge? Let’s take a “systems” perspective and see where that takes us to achieve a Quality and Universal Basic Education (QUBE).
Continue Reading We Need a Three-legged Stool of Content, Technology and People
Asymmetrical OER Country Problems and Needs
In my introductory post, I drew attention to the factors that are impeding the use of low-cost ICT devices as a means of transforming the creation and distribution of OERs in the developing world, and I emphasized the asymmetry of the [problems and the] solutions at each of the country, institution, and staff levels. This […]
Continue Reading Asymmetrical OER Country Problems and Needs