Talk:Education strategy (draft 2012)

OER university model

Having watched this: Webinar on the OER university model, I feel things are moving and the WMUK strategy does not really recognise this. I would suggest:

• A discussion about signing the Cape Town Open Education Declaration which I hope everyone agrees helps fulfill WMUk Objectives as expressed in teh constitution
• Develop a closer relationwhip with Wikieducator, who have taken the lead with the OER University. I think it worth noting that James Taylor's approach does not involve challenging the existing dominant University business model, but rather moving around it.

"Existing delivery models cannot address the growing global demand for post-secondary education. Many countries do not have the resources to build the number of conventional universities that would be required to meet the future demand for tertiary education. The OERu is nurturing the development of a sustainable and scalable OER ecosystem for the formal sector. The OER university project aims to create a parallel learning universe based solely on OER for learners excluded from the system to augment and add value to the formal education sector. These learners may choose to enrol at formal education institutions in the traditional way or participate in free learning provided through the OERu network."

This would also give a kick start to the "International links - outside community" in the Draft 5 Year Plan

Leutha (talk) 19:45, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

There are two different functions with Universities. They educational institutions where people learn. They provide accreditation and qualification via exams and degrees.

There is no particular reason why these functions need to be provided via the same organisation. As I understand it Oxford and Cambridge split these functions with Colleges provide education and the University provides accreditation (I could be wrong about the details - I don't know these that well).

I think Wikipedia should concentrate on education resources and leave accreditation to others. We can partner with education institutions providing laboratory space and tutorials to prepare students for the accreditation evaluations.

First step, get hold of the curricula.

Primary and Secondary schools

A few years back the 'Wikipedia for schools' CD was done. What about doing an update of that as a first step in a project to produce educational materials for primary and secondary schools? Filceolaire (talk) 21:47, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Language learning

A Wikimedia English language learning course would seem to be practical to do. We have the volunteers to to the AV recordings in every variety of English. Start with the basic module - Greetings. Add more modules. Can we get/use the Cambridge Certificate curriculum?

Adapting this to learning other languages is then something that other language volunteers can do. Filceolaire (talk) 21:54, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Theory of Knowledge

My view is that developing a Theory of Knowledge (TOK) session which can be delivered to 6th formers studying for the International Baccalaureate (IB). Of course, the IB has previously got itself in hot water for helping themselves to our material with out attributation, but perhaps we could develop am ore positive relationship with them. My reasons for specifically arguing for this are two fold:

• A lot of the negative response to Wikipedia comes from an inadequate understanding of notions of falsifiability, which is actually the basis of wikipedia, and which also relates to Karl Popper's view of an Open Society and subsequent developments by George Soros. These latter, however, need to be approached in a critical way.
• Active engagement with 6th formers can pave the way for having more editors amongst university students. Leutha (talk) 10:22, 4 May 2012 (UTC)

See also WikiSchools