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Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Motivational Videos - OER - CI5323 Assigment - Week 6

As part of a UMN Class, I recently had to send to the instructor a motivational video for week 6 of the course. The course online learning communities is taught by Cassie Scharber and has been an interesting experience.

- Steve Johnson: "Where Good Ideas Come From"



> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NugRZGDbPFU (Riverheadview) - Looks like an RSA Animate

- Tim Berners-Lee: The year open data went worldwide



> http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/tim_berners_lee_the_year_open_data_went_worldwide.html (TED Talk - Short - 6 mins)

Together these videos symbolize how we can all benefit from the growth of Open Education Resources, not only could individuals anywhere in the world obtain access to high quality educational materials, increase lifelong learning and perhaps help some individuals with limited financial means to obtain a university degree, but how the development of OER can also contribute to worldwide innovation.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Other videos by Steven Johnson:

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7a5YZ_m0Ys (Fora TV - 5 mins)

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0af00UcTO-c (TED Talk - 16 mins)

Other videos by Tim Berners-Lee:

> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM6XIICm_qo (TED Talk - 16 mins)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IQFjTnDozo (UnitedBritannia - 3 mins)

Friday, January 14, 2011

Youthwork - Conflict Societies

THE PERILS, PROMISE, AND PRACTICE OF
YOUTHWORK IN
CONFLICT SOCIETIES

We are the children of an epoch,
the epoch is political.

Everything of yours, ours, theirs,
daytime affairs, night-time affairs,
are political affairs.

Like it or not,
your genes have a political past,
your skin has a political hue,
and your eyes a political aspect.

What you speak about has resonance,
What you hush has a voice
more or less political.

Even walking through field or forest
you take political steps
on a political basis.

Apolitical verses are also political, and the moon above
is shining a thing no longer moonly.
To be or not to be, that is the question.
What kind of question? answer, my dear.
A political question.

From Children of an Epoch, Wislawa
Szymborska, trans. Walter Whipple available
http://www.mission.net/poland/warsaw/
literature/poems/epoch.htm

Monday, September 6, 2010

TED Talk - Nov 2009 - Pranav

One of my favorite TED talks. If you have the time to watch it. Hopefully technology and the physical environment merge increasingly merge in the future. Its great to know some of these innovations will be open sourced.







http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/guj/pranav_mistry_the_thrilling_potential_of_sixthsense_technology.html

Service Learning

In a meeting with Dr. Andrew Furco while discussing service learning, we talked about ways in which UMN could design a course together with Argentina - FLACSO in which undergraduate students could learn about the capability of youth in bringing about global change and the different programs in the world where this has taken place, analyzing both advantages and disadvantages. The class currently is conceived as a six credit course in which students could learn the theory and its history during the spring semester of 2011 at the University of Minnesota, where the students divided in groups of 3 to 4 students will partner with a local organization and help their youth members conduct a service learning project. The goal is not to help the children directly but rather have the students work side by side with the young adults and children taking part in this project and learn the capabilities for youth to bring about change. With few assessed limitations and a high level of idealism children are at times more willing to tackle issues that adults would be hesitant to be involved with.

While continuing to dialog about the subject, Dr. Furco elaborated on the capabilities of children led movements by talking about a previous child led initiative in which children at an elementary school when discussing slavery in America asked their teacher if slavery still took place in the world. Being a good teacher, she researched the topic and explained to the children how slavery was still taking place in Sudan, where at times when the parents were indebted, they would sell their children as laborers. When the young students learned about this, they decided to take action and coordinating with an NGO they collected thousands of dollars to buy the freedom of a number of child slaves in Sudan. While purchasing slaves raises some moral questions, including whether or not it alleviates the problem or perhaps exacerbates it, as slave owners may see the purchasing of slaves by NGOs as a way to generate revenue, what is unquestionable is that from a simple classroom
idea, children in the United States were able to organize a movement to free children from the bondage of slavery half way across the world.
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Webinar - Technology Innovations in Higher Education - Univ. of Phoenix

Despite missing the actual webinar, I was able to listen this online session later through a Phoenix Online courtesy email. The webinar overviewed the changes to the online education industry over the years, where online education is moving towards, and how the University of Phoenix plans to take advantage of social networks within their education program to enhance their online platform. The speakers, Adam Honea and Michael White, contend that the proper use of technology can promote a more student centered, constructivist, personalized, social, and convenient form of education.

Here is the link to the webinar recording. The interface also allows the viewer to download the presentation slides as a pdf file. Hope you enjoy it!

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We heard a wide range of viewpoints on “Technology Innovations in Higher Education” from University of Phoenix leaders Bill Pepicello, President; Adam Honea, Provost; and Michael White, Chief Technology Officer.

If you would like to view a recording of the Webinar, please visit http://event.on24.com/r.htm?e=234475&s=1&k=93ED6BC452966C814B7DCF069E4CFD50. We encourage you to forward this e-mail to any colleagues who may have also missed this session.

To gain a better understanding of how University of Phoenix is supporting our communities through higher education, please visit http://www.phoenix.edu.

Best Regards,

University of Phoenix


The original event was broadcast on:
Date: Thursday, August 19, 2010
Time: 2:00 PM EDT
Duration: 60-minutes