Open Source Food and Genetic Engineering - Michael Pollan

2010-03-25T13:58:31.843Z

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2009/05/05/Michael_Pollan_Deep_Agriculture"The real key to genetic engineering is control of intellectual property of the f...

Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning (the thought behind my evokation)

2010-03-24T08:22:18.065Z

"Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk explains the vision behind Connexions, his open-source, online education system. It cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share and modify course materials freely, anywhere in the world."

Without rehashing the thoughts I put down in a previous blog, "Make it inexpensive", this is the wave I want to catch. Having worked a bunch of years in libraries, I appreciate the challenge of getting the right bit of knowledge to the right person at the right time. Collaborations like Connexions, MIT's OpenCourseware, iTunesU, Appropedia (for appropriate, sustainable technologies), and others provide an incredible resource for helping expand education to the many.

But the barrier to entry remains the skills needed to access the information, assess its value, and formulate an educational program from it. It is the old time library patron walking in, staring at endless drawers of card catalogs, and not knowing where to begin. How many people come to the door, but don't enter. Let's open the door and invite them in.

In my evokation (and yours if you want to collaborate), I'd want to provide a space where open source educational materials can be aggregated and evaluated and organized into suggested programs of study. (On the technical side, each course/lesson/homework would be treated as an object that would have both curricular and user feedback traits allowing appropriate materials to bubble into programs of study and rise or fall with user feedback).

I know, it sounds ... boring. A mother or father surfs in to get supplemental algebra help for their child in a British Curriculum. At that is boring, useful, but boring; however, we as parents or educators can accept the cost.

Yet, we could do more. What if we had a kids section with programs of study that may be more appropriate to them ... My younger daughter wants to be a princess when she grows up. Why not? Program of study - history of nobility, heraldry, history of fashion, etc. Or if she changes her mind and wants to become a pirate ... history of pirates, sailing ships, fencing, how to train a parrot, etc.

In grad school, a great teacher of mine took me under her wing and one of the first things she did was give me a reading list to make sure I knew enough of the right sorts of things. (If you ever want to talk about theater and playwriting, you can see if it took).

Wouldn't it be remarkable, if we could put the right sorts of reading lists and video lists and audiio lists and computer simulation lists into the hands of children and adults worldwide? What do you think? Are you interested? Want to collaborate? Want to mentor? Want to just cheer us on?

Cheers.

All Videos Tagged source (Urgent Evoke) - Urgent Evoke

Open Source Food and Genetic Engineering - Michael Pollan

Richard Baraniuk on open-source learning (the thought behind my evokation)