i’m sorry, i just don’t know

Intel has new technology that boosts the signal reach of WiFi using radio signals.  It’s cheap, it stretches for tens of miles further than anything else, and it will mean good things for rural environments (and that’s not just Cache Valley, where I live with the cows… Think India, South America, Africa, Asia…).  One step at a time and we’ll get everyone to join our club (you know… Google, Starbucks, MySpace, and eCommerce).  And, of course, this is good news for anyone interested in things like breaking down barriers to entry, allowing for participatory dialogue between individuals in developing areas, and opening up access to education.

via Kate Green

-Fred Mednick, Teachers without Borders talked about the cross over between International Development efforts and Open Education. He mentioned that they often target “Water, Women, and…” something else I didn’t hear because I was interested in why they target many of their efforts at women in developing nations. Fred told a story about a women’s center in Nairobi where women who were drawn from the streets participate in a project to make handicrafts. These were women who had never been recognized for anything, many of whom hardly responded to their own names.

He told another story about a village elder who became a friend of his. The elder spoke with him and said that if Fred’s organization would help them build a well system in their village, he would let the girls go to school instead of walking 5 miles every day to get the water. There is a lot to talk about regarding why the girls had to fetch the water instead of the boys, but I think there is something more interesting there… The elder knew that he would get some leverage with the westerner if he promised to send the girls to school. Katrina Tomasveski wrote in one of her treatises on the Right to Education about how girls in Afganistan (?) receive a lower dowry if they have been educated past a certain age. As a western woman, this is difficult to understand.

Connections with the international development community are what has been missing from the Open Education movement. We’ve been building content with the hope/assumption that the people who need it will get the content. But without the Fred Mednicks of the world, that may never happen. So happy to see him at the OpenEd conference.

So the Online Education Database (OEDb) pulled together a grand list of open educational resources. They also mentioned web 2.0 tools that can help a person learn from OCW stuff. Lots of good resources. And not one of the folksemantic tools is mentioned. I guess we need to get on the ball getting the word out. At least USU OpenCourseWare was listed

The Open U of the UK is holding a competition… remix their materials and in return, win an ipod, some recognition, and stickers. What I love about this is how active it is. Universities publishing opencourseware materials generally put their materials out there and then move on to more content publication. This is a call to engage with existing materials. This is an approach that says…”It’s already out there, use it, and if you do something cool, we’ll give you stuff that you’ll like” (who wouldn’t want stickers?) . Love it. http://www.open.ac.uk/openlearn/get-started/get-started-educator/competition.php

Rah Rah… sis boom bah… OpenCourseWare is getting legislative $ from the State of Utah. David Wiley has been working his magic. USU will get money to run our OCW program here and to help other institutions in Utah get some traction with their programs. Until now, this program was funded primarily by the generous Hewlett Foundation, who has been bearing up OCW since its inception. Getting legislators to see the value of OCW for the State of Utah is a huge step in seeing this program perpetuate. And to quote the great Martha Stewart, “It’s a good thing.”

good press to actual people, not just academics.

I’ve finished the course on Intellectual property. It’s living on a demo eduCommons site for now. I’d love feedback.

Very soon I’ll be done for the semester. Then to Denver and back before Christmas. Oh- and I got a new laptop. No more terror-inflicting “could not locate hard drive” messages for me.

By popular demand, the outline for my upcoming course on intellectual property for institutions participating in the OpenCourseWare movement….
Licensing materials for reuse (creative commons stuff)

• Licensing materials for reuse
• Identifying and dealing with IP issues
• The essentials for faculty (IP ownership, using open materials to build courses, etc)
• Policy issues for OCW institutions
• Laws (so far I have info from the US, UK, Australia, and India. If you have other stuff please tell me
• Resources

A great article discussing issues around OpenCourseWare

Intellectual Property Ownership by Secrecy
Arguments against Secrecy
Courses aren’t just Courseware
Open Source
Copyright
Advantages of Open Courseware