Open Source

The importance of creative solutions for education

In opening the conference, the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia Muhammad Nuh praised Universitas Terbuka for its work in overcoming challenges in the provision of access to education: “We have to be creative – open and distance learning has to be used as widely as possible to narrow social gaps”.

A personal story about educational opportunity

Hal Plotkin, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Under Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education drew on his own life story to highlight the opportunity that distance education can bring to underprivileged sections of society. On the verge of losing the family home, 17-year-old Plotkin left high school to work as a waiter until a newspaper article about school dropouts provoked him to write a reply, the beginning of a career as a writer and journalist. His formal education came through the US community college system which has no requirements for previous formal education: “Only 5% have real opportunities to enter higher education and among the other 95% could be geniuses capable of finding the cure for diabetes and solutions to the world’s economic challenges – open education is the only tool to unlock talent and capacity and to extend economic growth”.

Investments in access to education

Plotkin reported on massive investments in open education being made by the Obama administration in the United States through the federal Online Skills Laboratory, an initiative to build open resources for learning. The Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training Grant Program (TAACCCT) will invest $2 billion over the next four years in initiatives including free to access materials.

Keynote speaker Duk Hoon Kwak of the Korea Educational Broadcasting System (EBS), a public television network dedicated to lifelong public education noted similar investments planned in Korea for 2012-2015. All Korean students will be provided with digital textbooks by the end of this period.

Access challenges in developing countries

Onno W Purbo an IT evangelist from Indonesia spoke of how 6 million children enter school annually, but only 600,000 graduate from higher education. While learning materials are ever more freely available, the predominance of English language creates barriers, though Google translate is widely used. Students and teachers use USB memory drives to overcome the problems of slow internet connection, while kitchen utensils are used to extend the range of Wi-Fi hotspots.

From a Brazilian perspective, Stavros Xanthopoylos spoke of the challenges to creating and distributing free educational content when quality education is only available through private universities and colleges: “the value chain is based on profit and this goes against what they are about”.

Academic perspectives

Lawrence Lessig, lawyer, activist and founder of Creative Commons, an initiative to provide certificates for the licensing of scientific and educational materials spoke passionately about the injustices of commercial scientific publishing which restricts access to knowledge to the most privileged: “copyright is 18th century rules in a 21st century world”.

Respected academics working with open educational resources including Gráinne Conole from the University of Leicester, UK, and Rory McGreal from Athabasca University, Canada spoke on the role of technology in learning. McGreal advised colleagues to create educational materials for mobile devices first: “a third of the world’s population can only access the Internet from mobile devices”.

Conference website: www.ut.ac.id/icde2011

For information about the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE): www.icde.org/en/about

Contact: Gard Titlestad, Secretary General, ICDE, Mobile: +47 48 10 80 96, titlestad@icde.org

The aim of EDEN Open Classroom 2011 is to familiarize teachers, policy makers and learning community stakeholders with leading edge educational technologies, innovation methods, opinion sharing, collegial discussions and training experiences that will provide an alternative to crisis: new educational tools, inclusive strategies and creative best practice methodologies.

The more than 60 submissions will provide an interesting and diverse programme and will give basis for inspiring debates.

Keynote Speakers

On the first day of the Conference, 27 October, the plenary speakers, Vassilis Koulaidis from the Greek Ministry of Education, Stavros Savas and Demetrios Sampson will help to draw up the conceptual frame of the conference with strategic keynotes. On Friday, 28th Alan Bruce will introduce the "Open Classroom: Vision, Challenges & Perspectives", Claudio Dondi will speak about the "Shared agenda, modest impact - What is wrong with school innovation policy?", Costas Tsolakidis will discuss the "Distance Learning in Crisis: To be Rediscovered" theme. On Saturday, Erik Duval will highlight the development of systems and tools, Nikitas Kastis will speak about the "Schooling and the lifelong potential of unlearning" and Kirsti Lonka will present the "Engaging Learning Environments - Blending Physical, Virtual, Social and Mental Spaces of Learning".

Workshops selection

• Thinking Worlds - Rapid Development of 3D Games for Meaningful Learning
  Andrew MacPherson, Learn TPM Ltd, United Kingdom
• Learning can Make People Fly: How can Teachers Transform Schools into Creative Environments?
  Claudio Dondi, SCIENTER, Italy
• UniSchooLabS: Connecting Schools with Universities’ Remote Laboratories
  Eleftheria Tsourlidaki, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece
• Discover Open Science Resources: The reinforcement of the science teaching methods by introducing organized open digital educational resources and real or virtual visits in museums
  Fotis Kouris, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece
• Developing Programming Skills by Means of Modern Educational Programming Languages
  George Papadopoulos, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece
• Universe in the Classroom
  Rosa Doran, NUCLIO / GTTP, Portugal
• Bringing Change in a Rural Environment – the Role of Education and Training in Changing the Perceptions and Lives of People Living in Rural Areas
  Argyris Tzikopoulos, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece
• Augmented Reality in Education
  Sofoklis Sotiriou, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece
• Exploring Science Cafes in Education - Discussing: “A Crisis Wasted?”
  Pavlos Koulouris, Ellinogermaniki Agogi, Greece

Registration

The EDEN Secretariat is taking care of the registration for the 2011 Open Classroom Conference. Please, use the Online Registration Form.

The registration fee includes all conference facilities, the Conference Proceedings on CD-ROM, the Welcome Reception on 27 October, lunches and coffees on 28-29 October.

We offer combined EDEN membership and Conference fee discounted packages as well. For detailed information on conference fees and on how to register, please visit the Conference website.

Social Events

Ellinogermaniki Agogi will kindly host the Welcome Reception in the evening of 27 October.

On Friday, 28 October, a guided tour to the Acropolis Museum will be offered to all delegates before the conference dinner.