US: An Interview with the Director of the Open Course Project
CC Talks With The Open Course Library Project
By Jane Park, Creative Commons
3/4/10
Late last year, I caught wind of an initiative that was being funded by the Gates Foundation—it had to do with redesigning the top 80 courses of Washington State’s community college system and releasing them all under CC BY (Attribution Only). The initiative was called the Washington State Student Completion Initiative and the specific project that was dealing with redesign and CC licensing was the Open Course Library Project. I decided to find out more, so I set up a Skype date with Cable Green, the head of the project. Below is the transcribed interview, edited for clarity and cut as much as possible for 21st century attention spans.
MALAYSIA: Meeting the Needs of New Learners
By Dr. Theva Nithy, Malaysia Star (Opinion)
2/21/10
The current evaluation system in schools does not measure a dynamic learner’s capabilities. To be globally relevant, we need to encourage innovative thinking.
The Internet’s effects on education have been vast. Neither governments nor education stakeholders foresaw the extent to which it would revolutionise educational systems, educators, learners, educational delivery and research platforms and mechanisms.
Today, at the beginning of a new decade, events are repeating themselves. The same cohort of controlling players, especially governments, still do not acknowledge that the Internet is again transforming learners’ demands – and the very concept of learning.
UAE: Adapting Classrooms to the 21st Century
New Learning Environments Mean Keeping Up with Technology; Changing Learning Methods
By Rania Moussly and Amelia Naidoo, GulfNews.com
2/21/10
Although youngsters have been exposed to a range of multimedia and interactive learning methods at a young age, classrooms of today still resemble those of 25 years ago.
This has led to student "disengagement" which has led educators and institutions to realise the need for engaged teaching environments and faculty development to keep up with the pace of technological change.
To maximise learning, the 21st century classroom must adapt to students' preferred learning styles, technology and creative teaching methods that work.