[IAEP] 70 minute interview with Bryan Berry on XO deployment in Nepal

[Bryan Berry]

> From: Bill Kerr <billkerr at gmail.com>
> 10) Open Source software critical to high quality education ? education has
> to be very customised, to the kids, the teacher, the environment and the
> country ? not something you can design in New York city and will fit another
> country
> http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/04/olpc-nepal-project-overview.html
> 
> The counterbalance to that is that The Enlightenment is what made us, what
> created modernity, what transformed diverse cultures into our modern culture

Well, as they say "all politics are local" and the corollary "all
education issues are local issues" is true as well. Education systems
are political institutions and they require that new educational content
and methods fit them, rather than the other way around. Imposing a whole
new pedagogy is only feasible when you have a lot of political power, $,
and significant body of evidence to back you up. As we have none of
those here in Nepal, we have to accommodate the existing system as much
as we can.

The Enlightenment that made western culture happened among wealthy men
w/ free time on their hands, or those sponsored by wealthy individuals.
It didn't happen w/in educational institutions of the day IIRC. But that
is another debate ;) 

> Zitat von Ties Stuij <cjstuij at gmail.com>:
> > I think you're misinterpreting Bryan as having said something
> > culturally relativistic. Think more practical. The most practical
> > example for Bryan's point is that if we wouldn't make stuff that is in
> > line with the Nepali curriculum, week by week, subject by subject, it
> > would be very hard to sell here. 

wow, I couldn't say it better myself.

> Christoph wrote:
> So in this case it doesn't necessarily make sense for someone in Berlin 
> (let alone New York) to design a Maths learning activity to be used in 
> an Austrian school.

I disagree w/ this. Someone in Berlin or NYC can create learning
activities of value to those in Nepal or elsewhere but likely they have
to be changed in small but important ways. That is one of the reasons
open-source is so critical to improving education.


-- 
Bryan W. Berry
Technology Director
OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org