Open source licensing, Wiki projects, and other collaborative approaches to learning have profoundly changed the shape of modern education. Having said this, open source is not new to education, rather it marks a return to the more collaborative environment for ideas that preceded the industrial age.
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Creative Commons
| Licensing information for creative commons copyright standards. Although several versions of open source licenses exist (some innate to education, most derived from the open source software movement), these are my favorite in terms of the ease of communicating choices on the variations available.
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FlatWorld Knowledge
| This amazing collection of open-source textbooks also provides means for students to access online digital copies for free, and download or order print copies for a small charge. We virtually use them exlusively at Athivia.
Genius.
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Moodle
| No index of OER would be complete without mentioning Moodle. While I have seen great inroads from Google sites (the project I founded was converted to Google Sites just as I was handing it off), as a stand alone course delivery platform Moodle is still my favorite.
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OER Consortium
| I started following the consortium on twitter this year. While it has a decidedly post-secondary focus, it seems like a pretty passionate group of people dedicated to the open-source movement.
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Globally, we are undergoing a profound change in the way we understand post-secondary education. Three factors are primarily responsible for this
the increasing mobility of the educated workforce
the availability of credible mechanics for educating people at great distances
the increasing role education has in economic reform due to the inderdependence of state interests in an educated population and the great investment being made by governments at all levels on the education of their populaces
My own experience in the post secondary world came as director of a small private vocational college franchise, following which I was tasked with creating the online distance education division for the corporate head office. Now I am involved in creating a free, international business college (see the Athivia College sponsored link, below).
Wikipedia
Colleges
by Region
| What is meant by the term college varies greatly from region to region, this is a good summary article of the uses of the term worldwide.
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US Dept. of Education Accreditation
| Summary of Accreditation environment, process, regulation and licensed bodies for the United States. Note that accrediation varies greatly by jurisdictions, and prospective students and employers are encouraged strongly to examine the appropriateness and accreditation requirements of any training received to ensure compatibility.
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I love teaching, especially to a full classroom. It is a pleasure I seldom got as college administrator, and I can remember the surprise my staff expressed when I was called upon to fill in for an unexpected absence, I suspect they did not anticipate that their collegial principal would become so animated.
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US Govt Teachers Resources
| Recognizing the value in a strong support system for teachers, the United States Government has a vast and comprehensive resource for teachers available for free online.
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Teaching EAL to Adults
| Teaching adults shares many similarities to teaching kids, but there are important differences. Some of these are developmental and cognitive (children's capacities for language, for example) and some of these are relational (typically, the adults have more choice in their participation in education).
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The Small Business Association
| If you are interested in self employment in education or other small business ventures, please make use of the resources available to you and get all of the help you can. As my father once said: when business is working there is no feeling like it, but when business has rough times it can make you wish you had died as a baby.(grin)
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My mother spent most of her life teaching and administrating in a K to 12 setting. One of my favorite childhood memories was watching her (almost 5' tall) stare down a 6' tall grade 9 boy.
Ironically, the 1 room schoolroom that she had growing up in rural Canada is now the reality in so many parts of the world. Fortunately, unlike when she was growing up, the internet makes a myriad of resources available to those working in that environment.
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1Goal
| I originally encountered the 1Goal movement while following HRM Queen Rania of Jordan on Twitter. Queen Rania has a strong interest in education initiatives that can help her people (and the world at large) emerge from difficult economic challenges.
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Dr. Cathy Cavanaugh
| If you are at all interested in the field of distance education for the Kindergarden to Grade 12 levels, then I recommend reading the publications (and research, if you have a hankering to) of Dr. Cathy Cavanaugh at the U of Florida.
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Lifetime earnings from education
| As if education for its own right was not innately rewarding enough - here is some sobering documentation about the earnings impact of education over time.
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Curriculum and OER
College
K-12
Teaching
The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
~Alvin Toffler
EDUCATION NEWS
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