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

[Christoph Derndorfer]

Zitat von Bryan Berry <bryan at olenepal.org>:

>> 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.

Mmm, I still would argue that now in some cases - especially when 
relevant changes end up being quite significant - it might be easier to 
basically start from scratch rather than adapting and modifying an 
existing activity.

I think (and I'm basically just repeating what others have said 
before;-) what's best in the long-run is to have a common framework for 
educational activities or at least sub-categories of such activities. 
This framework should allow for basic functionalities such as tracking 
student progress, dynamically adapting exercises to a student's 
capabilities and things like the basics of Maths exercises or a typing 
tutor to be taken care of. These basic building blocks can then be 
shared across the globe while making it easier and quicker for people 
to build learning activities tailored to the specific requirements of 
their country, province or town.

But I'm really preaching to the choir here so I'll just shut up and 
finish my lunch-break:-)

Christoph

--
Christoph Derndorfer
co-editor, olpcnews
url: www.olpcnews.com
e-mail: christoph at olpcnews.com