[Oer-community] Introduction to the discussion

Zaid zaid.alsagoff at gmail.com
Tue Oct 5 16:14:00 MDT 2010


Dear All,

It is great that we are back to these amazing discussions and  
hopefully all the great minds here can make it happen to the next level.

In general, I personally believe that it is a fundamental right to  
global learning that all academic content created should be shared for  
free, especially from public institutions. Why? If they are built on  
tax payers money (community investment), why should only the elite or  
chosen ones have access?  I understand degrees and teaching is limited  
due to constraints, but today there are no real constraints for  
sharing our content using free web 2.0 tools.

For public Universities it should be a law that content copyrighted  
(copyleft better) or created should be made public. Otherwise the word  
public in this context is an oxymoron :(

Funding? If you have passion and will, things can be done no matter  
what:

   http://zaidlearn.blogspot.com/2008/12/salman-khan-uses-microsoft-paint-to.html

  How do academic content writers make money? Teaching, research,  
consultancy, etc. And if they are really good, they will travel around  
the world inspiring people to learn this and that making their share  
of money (Just like musicians, though with a few zeros less).

If you are an academic it is fundamental human right that you share  
what you learn, especially if you are built on community investment  
(tax payers).

We need disruptive thinking to wake up and change the world. The Y and  
Z generation sharing comes so easy, but for us it is another ball  
game :(

For those of us that make an healthy living (academics), we should  
share back to the world community, not because we are so generous, but  
because it is a natural thing to do.

Just wanted to share some thoughts while thinking in bed before waking  
up for work :)

Susan good to have your energy back :)

Zaid

Sent from my iPhone

On Oct 6, 2010, at 2:55, "Molly E. Uzoh"  
<molly.uzoh at learningright.com> wrote:

> Susan,
>
> Thanks for restarting the discussion. I have invited
>
> Our company, Learning Right Technologies, LLC. is a consulting small
> business headquartered in the heart of the Silicon Valley of  
> California
> whoever we are involved in a let of educational and ICT activities in
> Africa. Our company specializes in Information Technology consulting  
> and
> educational services/tools. We provide curriculum R&D for instructor- 
> led and
> web-based content: interactive multimedia instructional design,  
> learning
> simulations, educational software, games and video production; e- 
> learning,
> e-government, e-business, e-health such as EPIC consulting; and new  
> program
> implementation; leadership and technical training; documentation,  
> technical
> writing, e-library, users manual; database, knowledgebase, LMS and  
> project
> management. We produced a prototype of a series of interactive  
> multimedia
> software for learning African languages like Igbo, Yoruba and  
> Swahili. We
> saved over $1.5 million in training materials for implementing Epic  
> modules
> in all Kaiser facilities in Northern California. This includes the
> curriculum for training Kaiser Health Connect project management,
> application development and training teams as well as over 40,000  
> end users.
> We migrated one chapter of US Department of Air Force paper-based
> professional development guide to interactive rich digital media  
> exercises
> for web offering (http://pdg.af.edu/Interactive_Website_2/ 
> index.html) We
> facilitated a very successful "Empowering Technology in Africa"  
> event for
> Google which helped smoothen Google's expansion to Africa.
>
> We use a lot of OER in our community activities through Silicon Valley
> African Production(www.svap.org) while working with the Silicon Valley
> Future Stars. We are constantly looking for the latest opensource  
> technology
> for our interactive digital media production programs for the youth.  
> I look
> forward to learning from and contributing to any of the topics that  
> might be
> of value to the majority in the list. Thanks again.
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Mary (Molly) Uzoh, CEO/Principal Consultant
> Learning Right Technologies, LLC
> P. O. Box 51616 San Jose, CA 95151
> Phone: 408-649-5872, Cell: 408-826-2167
> http://www.learningright.com
> http://www.rightvarsity.com
> http://www.svtradexpo.com
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca
> [mailto:oer-community-bounces at athabascau.ca] On Behalf Of Susan  
> D'Antoni
> Sent: Monday, October 04, 2010 4:20 AM
> To: oer-community at athabascau.ca
> Subject: [Oer-community] Introduction to the discussion
>
> Dear Colleagues,
>
> Welcome to the first interaction in our OER Community from Athabasca
> University.  As I noted in my last message, we will hear about a  
> number of
> OER related meetings and this first discussion will be on the  
> meeting of the
> OpenCourseWare Consortium held in Vietnam this year.
>
> A little background
>
> In 1999, MIT Faculty considered how to use the Internet in pursuit  
> of MIT's
> mission-to advance knowledge and educate students-and in 2000  
> proposed OCW.
> MIT published the first proof-of-concept site in 2002, containing 50
> courses. By November 2007, MIT completed the initial publication of
> virtually the entire curriculum, over 1,800 courses in
> 33 academic disciplines. Going forward, the OCW team is updating  
> existing
> courses and adding new content and services to the site.
>
> The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of higher education
> institutions and associated organizations from around the world  
> creating a
> broad and deep body of open educational content using a shared  
> model.  It is
> a worldwide community of hundreds of universities and associated
> organizations committed to advancing OpenCourseWareand its impact on  
> global
> education. The Consortium serves as a resource for starting and  
> sustaining
> OCW projects, as a coordinating body for the movement on a global  
> scale, and
> as a forum for exchange of ideas and future planning.
>
> Our discussant
>
> Mary Lou Forward, the Executive Director of the OpenCourseWare  
> Consortium,
> will lead our discussion and will be joined by several of her  
> colleagues.
>
> Mary Lou provides leadership for the organization's efforts to support
> OpenCourseWare use and development globally.  Prior to joining the
> Consortium, she served as Dean of African Studies for SIT Study  
> Abroad.  In
> that role, she provided academic and strategic leadership for 29  
> programs
> across the African continent, leading SIT's incorporation of  
> technology and
> distance learning in international programming and developing  
> innovative
> opportunities to collaborate across countries and between diverse  
> student
> groups.  Prior to that position, Mary Lou served as Academic  
> Director for
> undergraduate programs in Madagascar, focused on Environmental  
> Studies and
> Cultural Geography.  She has also worked on community-based  
> development in
> Africa, with an emphasis on the incorporation of appropriate  
> technologies
> and sustainable resources in small-scale enterprise development.
>
> Background paper
>
> The attached paper has been prepared as a brief overview of the  
> organization
> of the conference and some of the key issues discussed.
>
> I am looking forward to our ongoing conversation.
>
> My best regards,
>
> Susan
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Oer-community mailing list
> Oer-community at athabascau.ca
> https://deimos.cs.athabascau.ca/mailman/listinfo/oer-community


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