[IAEP] Where should we put Lesson Plans? Currwiki?

[Edward Cherlin]

On Thu, Sep 10, 2009 at 9:57 AM, Chris Rowe <chris at ole.org> wrote:
> Caroline,
>
> We at Open Learning Exchange (OLE) have been working towards a solution for
> this over the past 2 years and have a working prototype with the most basic
> functionality we think is needed. You are welcome to try it out at
> library.ole.org

Interesting, but impossible to evaluate properly with so little
content. What is your plan for populating the prototype?

> There are several sites on the web that are trying to create a place for
> curriculum to be shared but none of them that I know of are addressing the
> needs of developing countries. We have done a lot of work to address the
> diverse needs of countries with limited internet access and feel we have a
> solution that will be very powerful in the near future.
>
> We are working with our centers around the world to identify the key success
> factors in making a Global Learning Library as well as several partners like
> the Siyavula project in South Africa and Connexions at Rice University to
> leverage existing work done in this area.
>
> In addition, we have begun talks with Sugarlabs to use our library as a
> repository of educational materials that incorporate sugar activities. It
> would be very helpful for us to get your feedback on what we have and to
> work with you on integrating it with your work and the work of the Sugarlabs
> community.

+1

> Some of my thoughts on other solutions.
>
> Sugarlabs wiki: There is too much other content on the sugarlabs wiki that
> is not relevant to teachers. Just like activities.sugarlabs.org is a place
> to find and download activities I think we need a place designed
> specifically for curriculum materials.

Right. Navigating Wikis and creating the needed community to maintain
one in a form suitable for new users are both difficult, in very
different ways.

> Moodle: Moodle is a great tool for creating structured, interactive lesson
> plans and for deploying them in classrooms but it is not designed as a
> library or repository of materials. Our plan is to start by allowing people
> to create Moodle courses and share them on our library for others to
> download and use on their own Moodle servers. We are also working with a
> developer to integrate work he has done on Moodle import/export into our
> library in the future.

I used Moodle at Presidio School of Management, and I agree that it is
good, it needs work, and it isn't suitable as a library.

> Curriki: Curriki is the closest thing to what we think is needed but it
> lacks the ability to be deployed on a country by country basis. We feel
> strongly that a learning library needs to be customizable for each country,
> each school and even each student.

I'm not clear on this. Curriki is based on XWiki, which can be
localized and repurposed. We would need serious librarian and
community support to redo it for any particular country, but as far as
I can tell that is true for any library software. The hard part seems
to be creating content in local languages that meet other local
requirements. Existing curriculum standards are one such set of
requirements, usually fairly definite. Some topics require much more
extensive adaptation to local law, including business and civics
education. Culturally appropriate topics, language, color schemes, and
illustrations are thornier and less clearcut.

> Curriculum alignment: There are many features that we we feel are an
> integral part of making a library of curriculum materials successful that we
> have not implemented in our library yet. Curriculum alignment is at the top
> of that list. Because of the complexity of many of the worlds curriculum
> standards we want to make sure we do not overload teachers with too much
> information.

Has anybody created a library of curriculum standards? Has anybody
thought about how to align lessons to all of these curricula at once,
at least in a subject like mathematics?

> Chris
>
> Chris Rowe, CTO
> Open Learning Exchange
> +1 (512) 553-0852 | skype: eworsirhc
> http://ole.org
> Sent from Austin, TX, United States
>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
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>



-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://earthtreasury.org/