[Olpc-open] OLPC Afghanistan Briefing Note

[Edward Cherlin]

On Mon, Apr 5, 2010 at 01:13, Mike Dawson <mikeofmanchester at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> Here in Afghanistan we have worked over the last couple months to put
> together a thorough briefing note on the state of education here; the
> barriers to effective education as they are understood through
> conventional research and how OLPC can rapidly change the input
> variables to effective education.

I love your work. What sorts of research do you plan? You can't get
useful answers if you don't ask the appropriate questions. For
example, is the current curriculum designed on the basis of what the
country needs right now, or are parts of it inherited from the various
earlier systems under British, Russian, Taliban, and US rule?

> I'm quite sure that a lot of the challenges mentioned in the Briefing
> Note in Afghanistan are applicable to quite a few other countries.

Even the US there are issues of poverty, community violence, ideology,
and lack of funding.

> Just to be clear here in Afghanistan we and I'm sure no one else is
> arguing against the need to improve conventional educational systems
> like school buildings, teacher training, etc.  But unfortunately
> Afghanistan doesn't have the luxury of waiting as long as this might
> take.
>
> http://www.paiwastoon.af/olpcbn/
>
> Any comments/ discussions more than welcome.

What is available in English on the Afghan education system,
particularly on curriculum?

http://english.moe.gov.af/

is rather sparse.

> Please feel free to
> reference / quote the document / use it to construct new arguments;
> just we ask for attribution.  If anyone is interested in helping out
> here in any way (advocacy, software, etc) please do email info at olpc.af
> .

How are you planning to transform The Ministry of Education standard
curriculum into interactive books with support materials for teachers?
I am working on a similar project with a school system in Indiana, and
there are many other such projects.

http://www.earthtreasury.org/wiki.cgi?ReplacingTextbooks

Here is one in California.

http://www.clrn.org/fdti/
Free Digital Textbook Initiative
Review Results

16 math and science texts are available from the California FDTI. Many
others on many subjects are listed at

http://www.librarianchick.com/
free and open educational resources

> Regards,
>
> -Mike
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>



-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/