Group items tagged

This paper throws light on the growth and development of open repositories registered with OpenDOAR database. The study explores various facets of open repositories and tries to present a lucid picture of their overall development. The study provides a detailed description of repositories in terms of continent, country and subject wise distribution. The study further delves deep into the Asian contributions and brings to light detailed profiles of Asia

Schlitz M, Vieten C, Miller E. Journal of Consciousness Studies. 2010 July-Aug;17(7-8):18-36. "In this paper, we examine how increasing understanding and explicit awareness of social consciousness can develop through transformations in worldview." In order to develop a participatory culture which allows for participation by people from different cultural, educational and political backgrounds to the dominant Western culture in the digital domain, it is argued that Worldview Literacy needs to be cultivated, and tolerance learned for different worldviews. This would facilitate participation by all, and prevent the silencing and exclusion from agency of those from different backgrounds.

"The development of the ISP as a conceptual framework is the result of more than two decades of empirical research that began with a qualitative study of secondary school students and the emergence of an initial model, that was verified and refined through quantitative and longitudinal methods of diverse library users and further developed in case studies of people in the workplace." Very interesting to compare this model developed by Kuhlthau with Siemen's model of Connectivism.

OpenGeoportal.org is a new site that brings together geospatial professionals, developers, metadata specialists, and librarians to coordinate the Open Geoportal (OGP) project. The Open Geoportal is a collaboratively developed, open source, federated web application to rapidly discover, preview, and retrieve geospatial data from multiple repositories.

A number of universities are partnering on developing geospatial metadata and a tool that can scrape datasets from various sources to display (and overlay!) on a single, federated interface.

This site brings the concept of participatory culture to teacher professional development. I see it as an aspect of citizen activism because it is essentially taking the old idea of "professional development" (US teachers are probably all too familiar with sitting in a room while someone from a publisher makes them go page by page through a binder of photocopiable worksheets) and turns it on its head. #2minpd is teachers creating the professional development and sharing it in a format that does not demean participants.

To watch the actual videos, go to YouTube and search for the project name (#2minpd).

Report from the World Wide Web Foundation (with IDRC funding) Claims to "explore the need for a more nuanced understanding of how open data can generate outputs, outcomes and impact. We offer a series of insights and provocations, moving towards different models for thinking about open data, development and social change...We need to explore practices that present the 'best fit' for particular countries and contexts, rather than advocating interventions based on externally defined best practices." (Introduction, p. 5)

There has been a recent surge of interest in open source software development, which involves developers at many different locations and organizations sharing code to develop and refine programs. To an economist, the behavior of individual programmers and commercial companies engaged in open source projects is initially startling.

Hi there, I have just find this excelente video about the future os property rihgts and think that may be interesting for you all. "Property Rights Development: Implications for Sustainability | PRESENTER: Brian Kelly, Graduate Student Fellow, MS Candidate in Community Development and Applied Economics | 4/20/12 Modern property rights assignments and regimes are ill-equipped to adapt to increased ecological scarcity, resulting in economically-inefficient outcomes and a systemic inability to enable the development of a green economy. This presentation will discuss how property rights emerge, the viability of rights for future generations, and the how the existence of environmental externalities necessitates the inevitable emergence of common property rights regimes, grounded in the empirical example of Vermont's groundwater". Regards Julia Echeverría

The structure of MOOCs is continually evolving. Presently the major trend is the transferal of knowledge from the Western English speaking world, but this is changing. Collaboration and other countries' participation in creating this form of education are developing. I believe this is essential for specific regional needs to be satisfied and understood. It is technology and open education collaborating for the benefit of all, not only those with Western privileges. It's not education for education's sake, but brings in a more entrepreneurial approach - not only in Africa where one initiative has started. This article clearly illustrates these new developments in the MOOC arena, providing examples of projects underway and future plans for MOOC 2.0.

Es interesante notar que la propuesta educativa del MOOC sigue transformándose y expandiéndose. También me resulta desafiante que el terreno de aplicación del MOOC 2.0 sea el Asia (naturalmente, por la proporción de jóvenes) y no México. Esta es una interesante área de oportunidad.

I think MOOC will be much more effective as tool for learning exchanges between countries, especially developing stakeholder, rather than replacing high education.

An interesting opinion/confessional piece on one academic's experience of publishing in the developing world. The author points out cultural pressures and differences that could possible contribute to the expanding knowledge gap.

It is very fascinating articles, thank you for posting this. I myself, most of the times, focus on the publisher issues rather than the author himself. However, after read this I realise how important it is to pay attention to the authors because their contribution can really affect the quality of researches that they involved in. Regardless how successful the authors are, they are still human beings who are also affected by the national cultures.

This is an interesting piece but raises the question - why is the institution placing the pressure? It says, tacitly, a lot about the culture of the academic institutions in the country as a whole - and this culture is often shaped by funding patterns from central government, or major funders. The institution then responds to these funding patterns by pressuring staff to produce what is funded. In South Africa this is very much the pattern, with central government funding articles published in selected journals (see the readings for the module 11). However, there has been a rethink and there is proposed changes in now supporting book publication to a much greater degree. So whereas the pressure was on to produce articles, now the universities are looking at book production to a greater extent. As has been said as a truism; "Follow the money" - and in this case we see how this affects what should be, in effect, academic freedom.

"MOOCs offer opportunities but are also pose the danger of further exacerbating existing educational divisions and deepening the homogeneity of global knowledge systems."

Very interesting! Thanks. "MOOCs and MOOC-type courses have added a new dimension to the educational landscape by strengthening the non-formal educational space and providing opportunities to experiment with the disaggregated components of the educational experience"

After watching the Willinsky video, this hit home even more. I think the value of quality education is extremely important, and creating a "global village" of learning is still in its growing pains. Having a face-to-face instructor/professor/facilitator lets you ask the questions that pop to mind and being in a classroom setting allows an idea to flow and develop into other ideas. There are a lot of social media tools that are familiar to a lot of students living in a Western culture, but those social tools are not always available to developing countries; many do not have access to schools or even have a computer - as this article indicates, MOOCs are certainly a venue that opens learning opportunities for those who do not have access to learning in a formal environment, but may have access to the internet. What I particularly found interesting were the various MOOC categories - Gateway: MOOCs for prepping to get into higher learning; Research showcase: promote an institute's research areas; Professional skills: MOOCs for those who need to "upskill" or specialize…and there are others. The main reason for taking this course was to improve my knowledge of what social media is out there (MOOCs are part of it), how it is being used, and how useful is this "new" media is within the publishing realm. It is a challenge.

Open development is about making information and data freely available and searchable, encouraging feedback, information-sharing, and accountability. We've opened our data, knowledge and research to foster innovation and increase transparency in development, aid flows, and finances. Learn more here.

I think technology has very important role that we should mention. everything that we mentioned above is possible because of technology revolution. and here is the thing; the low-developing countries is the places that need education the most but people in those countries have minimum access to technology like internet and computer. So in this case, can open education really change the world?

By: Matthew LeBar Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are often described as the future of education - or at least a significant part of it. But there may be a significant problem with them: a very small proportion of students who start them actually finish. This poses a serious threat to their legitimacy.

This brings up the question of what it means to complete something? And why is it so important to us? And why 'productivity', a thing somebody defined ages ago, is so important to our humanity? .. or is it anymore?

Because I am taking a MOOC course but also on campus at University, I receive credits and grades where this is definitely one of the motivations for me to contribute. Although I agree that completion of the course is not essential to attain knowledge, what about our motivations to learn? And what about our incentives? Not saying MOOCs are not interesting nor helpful, I like MOOCs, but I think people like recognition too. I think to just receive the "statement of accomplishment" is not enough to prove efforts made within the course. However MOOCs are not as well developed at this stage, there definitely will be adjustments in the near future.