<div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Apr 29, 2009 at 6:13 PM, Bryan Berry <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:bryan@olenepal.org">bryan@olenepal.org</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> > From: Bill Kerr <<a href="mailto:billkerr@gmail.com">billkerr@gmail.com</a>><br> <div class="im">> 10) Open Source software critical to high quality education ? education has<br> > to be very customised, to the kids, the teacher, the environment and the<br> > country ? not something you can design in New York city and will fit another<br> > country<br> > <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/04/olpc-nepal-project-overview.html" target="_blank">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/04/olpc-nepal-project-overview.html</a><br> ><br> > The counterbalance to that is that The Enlightenment is what made us, what<br> > created modernity, what transformed diverse cultures into our modern culture<br> <br> </div>Well, as they say "all politics are local" and the corollary "all<br> education issues are local issues" is true as well. Education systems<br> are political institutions and they require that new educational content<br> and methods fit them, rather than the other way around. Imposing a whole<br> new pedagogy is only feasible when you have a lot of political power, $,<br> and significant body of evidence to back you up. As we have none of<br> those here in Nepal, we have to accommodate the existing system as much<br> as we can.<br> <br> The Enlightenment that made western culture happened among wealthy men<br> w/ free time on their hands, or those sponsored by wealthy individuals.<br> It didn't happen w/in educational institutions of the day IIRC. But that<br> is another debate ;)</blockquote><div><br>for starters, the whole xo project is in contradiction to the above argument - or I thought it was<br> </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> > Zitat von Ties Stuij <<a href="mailto:cjstuij@gmail.com">cjstuij@gmail.com</a>>:<br> <div class="im">> > I think you're misinterpreting Bryan as having said something<br> > > culturally relativistic. Think more practical. The most practical<br> > > example for Bryan's point is that if we wouldn't make stuff that is in<br> > > line with the Nepali curriculum, week by week, subject by subject, it<br> > > would be very hard to sell here.<br> <br> </div>wow, I couldn't say it better myself.<br> <div class="im"><br> > Christoph wrote:<br> > So in this case it doesn't necessarily make sense for someone in Berlin<br> > (let alone New York) to design a Maths learning activity to be used in<br> > an Austrian school.<br> <br> </div>I disagree w/ this. Someone in Berlin or NYC can create learning<br> activities of value to those in Nepal or elsewhere but likely they have<br> to be changed in small but important ways. That is one of the reasons<br> open-source is so critical to improving education.</blockquote><div><br>that seems to me to be an important qualification of Bryan's words in the initial interview - no harm in that<br><br><div style="margin-left: 40px;"> 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<br></div><a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/04/olpc-nepal-project-overview.html" target="_blank"></a><br>Liping Ma argues (admittedly from small sample sizes) that many teachers teach elementary maths differently and *better* in China than in the USA <br> <a href="http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/03/long-multiplication.html">http://billkerr2.blogspot.com/2009/03/long-multiplication.html</a><br><br>if you are suggesting that in all cases the digital transformations should stick to existing Nepali methods - (a dubious construct since different teachers in all education systems use different methods, Nepal too would have its more thoughtful and less thoughtful teachers as do all systems) - where there is evidence that some methods work better than others then I couldn't agree with that<br> <br>on the other hand if you are saying that you don't have time to do the educational research as well as doing everything else then that is understandable. I wouldn't criticise that but I don't think it should be abstracted to become a theoretical point either, that local is in some sense superior to central. I think a formulation that there is a dynamic interaction b/w central and local is better - and leads to better global working relationships as well.<br> <br></div></div>