Open EdTech Launch PaperLaunched

OEGlobal Plaza
, ,
1

This draft paper ought to be of interest and ripe for discussion here, especially in light of recent conversations about OER Repositories and a reply by @clintlalonde to the Fediverse discussion.

The Open EdTech project has announced a paper on:

an initial vision for a complete, global system of education technology to support quality education (for humans and AI) in every sector.

The Launch Paper is available as a comment enabled Google document at https://openedtech.net/launch.

The Launch Paper’s author @moodler is here in OEG Connect and ideally would participate or share what the group hopes to do next with this work. We can hope.

We’d likely find agreements with the desired qualities to maximize and the undesired qualities to minimize:

Maximize:

  • Accuracy
  • Scalability
  • Inclusivity
  • Human-centered
  • Efficiency
  • Trust
  • Enjoyability
  • Free for life for teachers
  • Free for life for students
  • Separation of services from software
  • Safe from organisational collapse
  • Simplicity

Minimize:

  • Costs and Maintenance
  • Fragmentation of people/software/experience
  • Control by centralised power

Are there more?

And what do you think of the sectionson six major components of Open EdTech?

  • Artificial Intelligence - supporting every aspect
  • Federated Cloud - safe free hosting of data and apps
  • OER repositories - reliable storage and curation of OER
  • Learner dashboard - a space for lifelong learning
  • Classroom - a space for lifelong teaching
  • Organisation tools - supporting org development

Comment here, comment in the doc, join discussions in their chat channel – it matters not where but that you engage.

1 Like
2

So glad it’s happening!
While in Nantes, we got a bit of a teaser @moodler. Some of us were waiting with bated breath. Less than an hour ago, I was mentioning Open EdTech to the Scenari Community, noticing the new site. And, a week ago, there was a relevant thread in the Fediverse.

Martin’s partner cued me in to this video, from WHEC 2022:

To me, it’s the clearest explanation of his approach Open EdTech, in a way which makes sense to us as learning professionals.

Have yet to peruse the launch paper itself. So, some quick takes on the summary you present here, @cogdog… Just trying to play the challenge function since Martin might be ok with that. My goal is to improve what outsiders could grasp from such a pithy description (though longwinded, I do care about people’s quick impressions).

The minmax framing makes sense and does relate to our core values in OE. In fact, they sound pretty close to the criteria discussed @BarbaraClass during OE CH (Open Education Switzerland).

Order matters a whole lot, in such a list of priorities. If we optimize for enjoyability and simplicity through a human-centred approach, we might have an easier time with co-design than if we optimize for scalability and “safe from organisational collapse” (which sounds like decentralisation).

As for the six components… They’re not surprising given what Martin has in mind. As in, these fit together as a cohesive model. However… These components aren’t functionally equivalent and the logic behind this system could be hard to grasp… especially for those of us who are IT-adjacent.
It might be easier to get people engaged if we were to “cut the cake” differently. For instance, OER repositories are about content while dashboards are about learning activities. The notion of a teaching role mostly appears in the “classroom” as a space (and Martin had a whole thing to say about teachers’ changing roles). Federated cloud, AI, and org tools are closer to the usual IT components, which might mean that IT pros might fill in the blanks with their own puzzle shapes, if not with the puzzle pieces. For instance, ERPs occupy a special space among org tools and IT directors might want to focus on Free/Libre Open Source Software which fits that bill. In this context, AI is often associated with aiding decision-making, even if we say that it can support every aspect. Federation goes really well with resilience (“safe from organisational collapse”) and might call upon different ideas than the type of federated identities discussed in OE’s use of Linked Open Data with OERs as well as diverse actors. As for cloud hosting… it could lead to long discussions about (and opportunities for commercial) providers instead of keeping the lines open about offline resources à la Kiwix (cc @Anthere).

So, all in all… It’s a very exciting time for Open EdTech. Especially if we can all get involved.

3

Thanks so much for spreading this, Alan.

Limited resources to engage in too many forums around the place, but to answer your question, the next steps are at the bottom of the paper, albeit very abbreviated. :slight_smile:

Right now I just want actual feedback thoughts on this early foundation, before we plunge into some visualising.

I’m of the view right now that the best place to focus is on the Learner dashboard, that will probably be first, and for my part I’ll try to do it via a video to show better how I’m seeing it.

4

Agreed!

Can’t wait to watch it!