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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Friends:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Champions of Open Access, in my opinion, should
also support the Open Course ware (or Open Educational Resources) movement.
Indeed leading scientists and scholars in the developing world, particularly
Fellows of the leading Academies, should produce high quality online educational
materials at all levels (school, college and unversity) not only in English or
French but also in their own languages. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A few weeks ago I was with two outstanding Indian
physicists (both of whom are not only known for their research but also as great
teachers and men of high integrity). Both were concerned about the poor quality
of school science textbooks produced by a government agency and widely used in
the Indian school system. Both have children in school (or college) and they
find the books have plenty of mistakes and the teachers are not up to mark, and
when they want to intervene the children do not allow them for fear of being
failed in the exam by their teachers! I suggest that these professors and others
like them should collectively produce good online educational material and make
them available via open access portals. Very similar to the MIT course ware, but
in our own languages. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The Indian Academy of Sciences has a programme for
improving education at school and college level and they do select a certain
number of teachers every year to spend a few months in a good laboratory with
Fellows of the Academy. The Academy may come forward to set up an open course
ware programme for school and college level science courses. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>About a month ago I spoke to young assistant
professors of biology at a premier Indian higher educational institutions, and
bioth of them readily agreed to contribute to such a programme. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A few days ago I was returning from Delhi and a
leading Indian condensed matter theorist was on the same flight. He told me that
of late he had started writing popular science articles in science in his mother
tongue (Tamil) and he gave me an article he had written on Einstein. It was
superb. We need many more such articles written by many mre people and all of
them should be made available free on open access portals. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best wishes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Arun</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>[Subbiah Arunachalam]</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=barrett@hq.unu.edu href="mailto:barrett@hq.unu.edu">Brendan Barrett</A>
</DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=edu@wsis-cs.org href="mailto:edu@wsis-cs.org">Edu
Mailinglist</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, November 09, 2005 7:07 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> [WSIS Edu] WSIS Parallel Event on Open Educational
Resources - 14November 2005</DIV></DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>World Summit on
the Information Society</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>Tunis, Tunisia,
16-18 November 2005</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>Parallel Event on
Widening Access to Knowledge through Open Sharing: </B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>The Growing
OpenCourseWare Movement</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>14 November
2005</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Monday, 14 November
2005, 15.00-19.00<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Saint Augustin
Conference Room, Kram Expo Centre<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><B>Background</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">The term Open Educational
Resources (OER) was first coined and adopted at UNESCO’s 2002 Forum on the
Impact of OpenCourseWare for Higher Education in Developing Countries. OER
champions the sharing of knowledge worldwide to increase human intellectual
capacity and can best be understood as the open sharing of educational content,
enabled by tools (such as the World Wide Web) and defined by standards (such as
Creative Commons), for use and adaptation by the global community of educators
and learners. <O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">OpenCourseWare (OCW), a critical
component of the OER movement, is defined as a free, publicly accessible, and
openly licensed digital resource that offers high quality learning materials
structured around courses and presented in a reasonably consistent format. An
OCW is a publication of course materials created by faculty to support teaching
and learning. For any given course, the published materials should fully convey
the parameters of the course’s subject matter and ideally represent a
substantially complete set of all the materials used in the
course.<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify">For many educators and learners
in the developing world, up-to-date material in science and technology is in
particularly short supply. The value in openly sharing quality OCW resources is
that they foster the process of educational change, as societies seek to bring
their educational institutions into the Knowledge Age. The use of external
resources for educational improvement is not a new idea — colleges and
universities all over the world are accustomed to using publications from many
sources, facilitating exchanges involving students and faculty, and seeking
information via the Internet. The OCW Movement, however, takes the principle of
sharing and cross-institutional exchange to the next level, enabling open access
to a vast library of high-quality educational materials in key curricular areas
from a wide array of institutions all over the world. <O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B>Outcomes</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none">The
intended outcomes for the event are that participating institutions and
organizations: <O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Symbol>·</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Develop a common
understanding of OCW and the broader OER movement;<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Symbol>·</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Enhance their
awareness of the growing international body of OCW resources; and<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol"><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face=Symbol>·</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Find effective
ways to adapt and use OCW materials for teaching and learning, and ultimately
raise the general standard of global higher education.<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0px"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none">In
addition, an intended outcome for the event is to emphasize the importance of
open sharing of educational materials as a critical component of the Plan of
Action.<O:P></O:P></P><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: " New Times
EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US? Roman?;mso-ansi-language:><FONT
class=Apple-style-span face="Times New Roman" size=4><SPAN
class=Apple-style-span style="FONT-SIZE: 16px"><BR
style="PAGE-BREAK-BEFORE: always" clear=all></SPAN></FONT></SPAN>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>World Summit on
the Information Society</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>Tunis, Tunisia,
16-18 November 2005</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>Parallel Event on
Widening Access to Knowledge through Open Sharing: </B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>The Growing
OpenCourseWare Movement</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><B>14 November
2005</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Monday, 14 November
2005, 15.00-19.00<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-ALIGN: center" align=center>Saint Augustin
Conference Room, Kram Expo Centre<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<DIV class=MsoNormal><B>Draft Agenda</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B></B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B>15.00-
15.30</B><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"><B>
</B></SPAN><B>Keynote address</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1in; mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none">Speaker:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Dr. G. M. (Mike) Reed, Director of the United Nations University
<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.5in; TEXT-INDENT: 48px">International
Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST) <O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0px"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B>15.30-
16.40</B><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"><B>
</B></SPAN><B>Setting the Context: The World of Open Educational Resources
</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: 48px">Moderator:<SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN>Marshall Smith, Education Program Director, William and
Flora<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.5in; TEXT-INDENT: 48px">Hewlett
Foundation<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: 48px">Panelists<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Derek Keats,
Executive Director of Information and Communication Services, University of the
Western Cape<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Paula Le Dieu,
Director of Creative Commons International<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Karen Lynch,
Communications Director, Development Gateway Foundation<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0px"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B>16.40- 17.50
</B><SPAN style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal"><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</SPAN></SPAN><B>The Growing International OpenCourseWare Movement
</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: 24px">Moderator:
<SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Shigeru
Miyagawa, Professor and Faculty Advisor, MIT OCW<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.25in; TEXT-INDENT: 0px"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: 48px">Panelists<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=FR
style="mso-ansi-language: FR">Yoshimi Fukuhara, Professer, </SPAN>Keio
University<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN lang=FR
style="mso-ansi-language: FR">Divina Frau Meigs, Professer, Université Paris
3-Sorbonne</SPAN><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Mary Lee,
Associate Provost, Tufts University, and Dean for Educational Affairs, Tufts
University School of Medicine<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0px"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="mso-pagination: none; mso-layout-grid-align: none"><B>17.50-
18.45</B><SPAN
style="mso-tab-count: 1"><B>
</B></SPAN><B>Benefits and Challenges to Using and Adapting OpenCourseWare
Materials</B><B><O:P></O:P></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: 24px">Moderator:
<SPAN style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </SPAN>Brendan
Barrett, Academic Programme Officer, UNU<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="TEXT-INDENT: 0px"><O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0.5in; TEXT-INDENT: 48px">Panelists<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Kuzvinetsa Peter
Dzvimbo, Rector, African Virtual University<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Elizabeth
Longworth, Director of the Information Society Division, UNESCO<O:P></O:P></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN-LEFT: 1.25in; TEXT-INDENT: -24px"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: " New?? Courier><FONT class=Apple-style-span
face="Courier New">o</FONT><SPAN
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 7pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; FONT-STYLE: normal; FONT-VARIANT: normal"
Roman?? New Times> </SPAN></SPAN>Chunyan Wang,
Professor at Renmin University of China School of Law, and the China and Project
Representative for Creative Commons<O:P></O:P></P>
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