[Its.an.education.project] [OLPC-SF] Microsoft Is Joining Low-Cost Laptop Project - New York Times

[jim]

   Mr. Negroponte is inspiring and charming. 
I get the feeling that his idea of talking 
to project participants is talking at them 
rather than talking with them. I don't know 
for sure, of course. Can this hypothesis be 
verified, and if true, how to proceed  
(encourage listening and adjusting mindsets)? 

   Note that in the field of education, the 
instructor as lecturer is an increasingly 
diminished model; hands-on, accountable, and 
creative action is seen often as a more 
effective educational model--the old 
learning-by-doing way of thinking is getting 
some respect. 


On Sat, 2008-05-17 at 23:02 -0700, Edward Cherlin wrote:
> On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 6:41 PM, jim <jim at well.com> wrote:
> >
> > thank you, ed.
> >
> >   it might help that someone remind mr
> > negroponte that the medium is the massage.
> 
> Simply telling him doesn't work. We're trying to come up with a
> Constructionist way of conveying the message. The recent dust-up has
> gotten him to respond very occasionally to serious concerns, so we'll
> see where that leads.
> 
> Please bring management failings to the attention of management and
> the community wherever possible. Don't treat it as Not My Job. Please
> suggest workarounds for management failings to the community wherever
> possible.
> 
> I will have more to say about my developing notions of Open Source
> Management soon, particularly on the its.an.education.project list.
> 
> > in other words, part of one's education
> > comes from the values of the channel that
> > deliver the educational content.
> 
> So that print publishing reinforces the model of corporate ownership
> of IP, and the government-sponsored education model of We Have The
> Right Answers, and You have nothing to say about it. In particular,
> California and Texas politics define very nearly the complete range of
> possibilities for textbook publishing.
> 
> >   kickbacks and arbitrary profit-oriented
> > exclusionary tactics are not a good message
> > (or massage).
> 
> A business model based on extracting money from the poorest countries
> and people is not sustainable, and the people concerned are very much
> aware of it going on.
> 
> >   cooperation and collaboration are good
> > messages, essential to any educational
> > program, and intrinsic to open source.
> 
> And built into XO software as in no other.
> 
> >   additionally, open source itself is an
> > educational avenue not nearly as conveniently
> > available with "silo" platforms.
> >
> >   i'm sure you and others know this and can
> > express the ideas better than i.
> 
> > Sameer
>