[OLPC-Philippines] Pilot Software and Content

Jerome Gotangco jgotangco at gmail.com
Sat Oct 11 03:47:48 EDT 2008


On Sat, Oct 11, 2008 at 3:05 PM, James Shields <james at marasbaras.com> wrote:
> Browse mode ... perfect.  This would be a good way to get a lot of content
> going.  The schools sorely lack materials.  The DepEd-approved textbooks
> already exist.
>
> If distributed in HTML form, the XO and other machines can use it.  If our
> work can span both XO and other platforms with little to no extra labor, I
> think we should do it.
>
> Although, I'm not sure how a publisher is going to react when we want to
> give their work away free.

In most cases, the textbooks used in Public and Private schools are
different. Content generators create something entirely different that
supplements to existing curriculum and is and should be approved by
the DepEd (this is very true with public schools).

In the case of my daughter who is in first grade, her school (Private)
has textbooks written by some of the school staff. I'm not sure if the
same books are also used by other private schools (highly unlikely
though), but their common denominator is that it is sanctioned by
DepEd.


> What do we see as the long-term model for delivering textbooks?  Let's be
> honest with ourselves, if we want to kids to have high-quality materials,
> professionals are going to have to create them.  And, with possibly a few
> exceptions, that's not us.
>
> Do we encourage the DepEd to take up a model of paying a license fee to have
> appropriate digital content created to be distributed by XO and/or the web?
> Or, is the current thinking that we can produce material that's good enough
> and the DepEd can help us to constantly refine it?
>
> In the latter case, can the kids rely on a constant supply of enough donated
> labor to keep their materials up-to-date?
>
> Lastly, am I foolishly asking questions that have been asked-and-answers
> long ago and I've just missed the FAQ?  :)

Those are valid questions. Digitizing the content is really the next
thing to undertake, but digital content requires devices that can
interpret such. There has been a lot of private efforts being done on
this. Smart for instance, has its Smart schools program for high
school and
-- 
Jerome G.

Website: http://www.gotangco.com
Blog: http://engage.wordpress.com


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