World Congress on Computers in Agriculture 2009 Workshop
From OER Commons Wiki
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Actually, some recent surveys indicate that few learning repositories do include content of rural & agricultural interest. And even in the cases where specialized learning repositories with content around topics of relevance for rural & agricultural stakeholders are developed, these are efforts that aim to serve the needs of specific communities and are not cooperating in order to exchange experiences and content. Only recently some initial steps have taken place, in order to facilitate their joint exploitation. A characteristic initiative is the Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force (AgLR-TF, http://aglr.aua.gr), which has initiated the dialogue on the potential, technologies, uses and exploitation of rural & agricultural learning repositories (http://aglr.aua.gr/econf.php). The first results have indicated that although a large number of learning resources already exist in digital format, the adoption and use of online learning repositories for agriculture, food and environment is still limited. | Actually, some recent surveys indicate that few learning repositories do include content of rural & agricultural interest. And even in the cases where specialized learning repositories with content around topics of relevance for rural & agricultural stakeholders are developed, these are efforts that aim to serve the needs of specific communities and are not cooperating in order to exchange experiences and content. Only recently some initial steps have taken place, in order to facilitate their joint exploitation. A characteristic initiative is the Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force (AgLR-TF, http://aglr.aua.gr), which has initiated the dialogue on the potential, technologies, uses and exploitation of rural & agricultural learning repositories (http://aglr.aua.gr/econf.php). The first results have indicated that although a large number of learning resources already exist in digital format, the adoption and use of online learning repositories for agriculture, food and environment is still limited. | ||
| - | One important emerging trend in the landscape of digital learning objects and repositories is also the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER). Inspired by the open-source software movement, the intentions behind OER are to increase access, use, creation, and knowledge sharing around online, publicly available, and modifiable learning objects, data, media, research, and other materials. With OER, educators are free to use, adapt, remix, and share resources, legally, to fit their needs. Recasting teachers as curriculum creators has the intention to grow their active participation in educational resource reform. There are several relevant OER initiatives related to agriculture, food, environment and other bio sciences, such as the NSF-supported BioQUEST project, Science Collaboratory: Open Participatory Learning Infrastructure for Education (SCOPE | + | One important emerging trend in the landscape of digital learning objects and repositories is also the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER). Inspired by the open-source software movement, the intentions behind OER are to increase access, use, creation, and knowledge sharing around online, publicly available, and modifiable learning objects, data, media, research, and other materials. With OER, educators are free to use, adapt, remix, and share resources, legally, to fit their needs. Recasting teachers as curriculum creators has the intention to grow their active participation in educational resource reform. There are several relevant OER initiatives related to agriculture, food, environment and other bio sciences, such as the NSF-supported BioQUEST project, Science Collaboratory: Open Participatory Learning Infrastructure for Education (SCOPE, www.bioquest.org/scope). |
'''Workshop Program''' ''(in-progress)'': | '''Workshop Program''' ''(in-progress)'': | ||
Revision as of 22:37, 15 June 2009
"Open Educational Resources and Learning Repositories for Agriculture, Food and Environment"
June 23, 2009, Reno, Nevada
This one-day workshop is aimed at bringing together educational, technology, and content stakeholders that are producing, developing and/or publishing online learning resources on agriculture, food and environment, framing a discussion on the rich potential, challenges and opportunities of online learning repositories and Open Educational Resources in these areas, and engaging participants in OER processes.
Facilitators:
Nikos Manouselis
Greek Research & Technology Network (GRNET), Greece
Jan Beniest
World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Kenya
Amee Godwin
Institute for the Study of Knowledge Management in Education (ISKME) and OER Commons, USA
Workshop Format:
- Session 1, 9:40-10:40 (1h)
- Session 2, 11:00-12:00 (1h)
- Session 3, 2:40-3:40 (1h)
- Session 4, 4:00-5:00 (1h)
Workshop Description
Recent advances in the e-learning field have witnessed the emergence of the learning object concept. A learning object is considered to be any type of digital resource that can be reused to support learning, and may include online courses, best practices, simulations, online experiments, presentations, reports, textbooks, as well as other types of digital resources that can be used for teaching and learning purposes. Their potential to facilitate learning and training in various levels and contexts is rapidly increasing. Learning objects and/or their associated metadata are typically organised, classified and stored in online databases, which are termed as online learning repositories. In this way, their offering to learners, teachers and tutors is facilitated through a rich variety of different repositories that is currently operating online.
While the present and future of rural and agricultural education is asking for synergies across education and production sectors and across age groups, interventions for learning in rural areas still tend to be dispersed and unconnected, and their outcomes scattered and uncoordinated. For example, while several initiatives are producing a growing mass of digital learning objects on topics related to agriculture, food and environment, this content is not characterized by homogeneity, interoperability or wider accessibility on the basis of commonly used specifications and standards. They are usually kept individually listed in separate Web sites, with no clear plan for their aggregation and educational exploitation beyond the narrow scope of the initiatives that are producing them.
Actually, some recent surveys indicate that few learning repositories do include content of rural & agricultural interest. And even in the cases where specialized learning repositories with content around topics of relevance for rural & agricultural stakeholders are developed, these are efforts that aim to serve the needs of specific communities and are not cooperating in order to exchange experiences and content. Only recently some initial steps have taken place, in order to facilitate their joint exploitation. A characteristic initiative is the Agricultural Learning Repositories Task Force (AgLR-TF, http://aglr.aua.gr), which has initiated the dialogue on the potential, technologies, uses and exploitation of rural & agricultural learning repositories (http://aglr.aua.gr/econf.php). The first results have indicated that although a large number of learning resources already exist in digital format, the adoption and use of online learning repositories for agriculture, food and environment is still limited.
One important emerging trend in the landscape of digital learning objects and repositories is also the concept of Open Educational Resources (OER). Inspired by the open-source software movement, the intentions behind OER are to increase access, use, creation, and knowledge sharing around online, publicly available, and modifiable learning objects, data, media, research, and other materials. With OER, educators are free to use, adapt, remix, and share resources, legally, to fit their needs. Recasting teachers as curriculum creators has the intention to grow their active participation in educational resource reform. There are several relevant OER initiatives related to agriculture, food, environment and other bio sciences, such as the NSF-supported BioQUEST project, Science Collaboratory: Open Participatory Learning Infrastructure for Education (SCOPE, www.bioquest.org/scope).
Workshop Program (in-progress):
