Hello Michael,
I'll pop my head up on this one and risk the heavy handed come backs that seem to get dealt in these forums...
I work for an educational institution. We specialise in vocational training, trades education and some degrees. I saw a potential with wikiversity and wikieducator where by we would offer up our training and educational resources to the wiki platforms, perhaps benefit from others editing it, translating it, extending it.. perhaps not. Main thing is that we had our resources out there for others to access and use, and for our students to access and use.
In my trial of Wikiversity, I started putting contact details for the facilitators we use for the course materials we put up. This was intended as a way for people to make contact with others who could help them with their studies. Of course, wikis being wikis - other people are able to put their contact details in as well, and there we would be creating a teaching and learning network around topic areas. Premise being, content is one thing, contact is where learning is enriched.
Unfortunately, listing contact details was seen as promotional activity on the wiki and was criticised by some Wikiversity people. I think this was because some of those contact details were associated with our educational institution - thus promoting our educational institution.
I envisaged in my trial, a potential scenario where a person could engage with a range of content that we helped manage. In our management of the content, we would try to make sure that content and activities aligned as much as possible with our assessment criteria. Our assessment criteria would be made explicit along with any other formal education participant's listing their assessment criteria. A potential student could access and engage in learning content and activities, including forums and discussion with facilitators, they could do all the course up until assessment. At this point, if the student wanted to gain a credential or formal recognition for their learning, they would negotiate a fee with a participating institution.
That fee might be paid in kind, by mentoring or facilitating another learner, or through a recognition of prior learning process - which asks a much reduced fee...
That's it. From an institutional perspective, where our existence unfortunately relies to a large part on fee paying income, was the closest I could think of getting us to a free and open education system. For a pictorial depiction of this idea - see
the pay it forward learning slide show.
But I don't think my institution - or the wikiversity platform are in the mood for such thinking.
On 5/2/07, Michael Wehrle <mwehrle@gmail.com> wrote:
I appreciate all the various posts and attendant points of view heretofore set forth in this list. Since I am the one who started the thread, allow me to express and clarify where I am coming from.
No one would doubt the power of the Internet to disseminate information, lots of it to lots of places around the world. I'm confident that I don't have to convince anyone on this list of the intrinsic power of the Internet, or if you prefer, the world-wide-web. Seeing as we have this great medium through which information can be transmitted, shouldn't we harness this great power to the betterment of the world at large? especially the 3rd world, or those who would otherwise never have access to higher education?
Can the requirements of accreditation be met, while making it freely (monetarily speaking) available to all who are motivated and willing to meet the requirements? Is it fair to put a price-tag on degrees when society stands to benefit from individuals securing them? Wouldn't the advantages of "free" degrees far outweigh the disadvantages of offering free degrees? Wouldn't the net result be a worldwide increase in productivity and entrepreneurship, etc.? Wouldn't it help alleviate poverty in the 3rd world and elsewhere?
Since the world by and large doesn't seem to recognize learning for learning sake, but only that learning that is done within the confines of "degree seeking," isn't anything that would result in the obtaining of more degrees by more of the worlds people be a good thing?
I guess I am just an advocate of leveling the playing field. In my Utopian world there would be true equal-opportunity. And part and partial of that would be free education for all, including higher education. Please tell me am I lost in my own little Utopian dream world? Or do could my wishes have a basis in reality as a result of this new technology we call the web?
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Leigh Blackall
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