[A2k] Fwd: [FC-discuss] SPARC announces winners of the first annual SPARKY awards

[Andrew Rens]

--
[ Picked text/plain from multipart/alternative ]
On 22 January the Cape Town Declaration on Open Education was launched

To read or sign the Cape Town Open Education Declaration, please visit:
http://www.capetowndeclaration.org.

A press release is below in English and Spanish:



*Teachers, Students, Web Gurus, and Foundations Launch Campaign to Transfor=
m
Education, Call for Free, Adaptable Learning Materials Online*

*Cape Town, January 22nd, 2008*=97A coalition of educators, foundations, an=
d
internet pioneers today urged governments and publishers to make
publicly-funded educational materials available freely over the internet.

The Cape Town Open Education Declaration, launched today, is part of a
dynamic effort to make learning and teaching materials available to everyon=
e
online, regardless of income or geographic location. It encourages teachers
and students around the world to join a growing movement and use the web to
share, remix and translate classroom materials to make education more
accessible, effective, and flexible.

"Open education allows every person on earth to access and contribute to th=
e
vast pool of knowledge on the web," said Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia
and Wikia and one of the authors of the Declaration. "Everyone has somethin=
g
to teach and everyone has something to learn."

According to the Declaration, teachers, students and communities would
benefit if publishers and governments made publicly-funded educational
materials freely available online. This will give students unlimited access
to high quality, constantly improving course materials, just as Wikipedia
has done in the world of reference materials.

Open education makes the link between teaching, learning and the
collaborative culture of the Internet. It includes creating and sharing
materials used in teaching as well as new approaches to learning where
people create and shape knowledge together. These new practices promise to
provide students with educational materials that are individually tailored
to their learning style.  There are already over 100,000 such open
educational resources available on the Internet.

The Declaration is the result of a meeting of thirty open education leaders
in Cape Town, South Africa, organized late last year by the Open Society
Institute and the Shuttleworth Foundation. Participants identified key
strategies for developing open education. They encourage others to join and
sign the Declaration.

"Open sourcing education doesn't just make learning more accessible, it
makes it more collaborative, flexible and locally relevant," said Linux
Entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth, who also recorded a video press briefing (
http://capetowndeclaration.blip.tv/).  "Linux is succeeding exactly because
of this sort of adaptability.  The same kind of success is possible for ope=
n
education."

Open education is of particular relevance in developing and emerging
economies, creating the potential for affordable textbooks and learning
materials. It opens the door to small scale, local content producers likely
to create more diverse offerings than large multinational publishing houses=
.


"Cultural diversity and local knowledge are a critical part of open
education," said Eve Gray of the Centre for Educational Technology at the
University of Cape Town. "Countries like South Africa need to start
producing and sharing educational materials built on their own diverse
cultural heritage. Open education promises to make this kind of diverse
publishing possible."

The Declaration has already been translated into over a dozen languages and
the growing list of signatories includes:  Jimmy Wales; Mark Shuttleworth;
Peter Gabriel, musician and founder of Real World Studios; Sir John Daniel,
President of Commonwealth of Learning; Thomas Alexander, former Director fo=
r
Education at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development; Pau=
l
N. Courant, University Librarian and former Provost, University of Michigan=
;
Lawrence Lessig, founder and CEO of Creative Commons; Andrey Kortunov,
President of the New Eurasia Foundation; and Yehuda Elkana, Rector of the
Central European University. Organizations endorsing the Declaration
include: Wikimedia Foundation; Public Library of Science; Commonwealth of
Learning; Scholarly Publishing and Academic Resources Coalition; Canonical
Ltd.; Centre for Open and Sustainable Learning; Open Society Institute; and
Shuttleworth Foundation.

To read or sign the Cape Town Open Education Declaration, please visit:
http://www.capetowndeclaration.org.



 Docentes, Estudiantes, Gur=FAs de la Web y Fundaciones lanzan campa=F1a pa=
ra
Transformar la
Educaci=F3n a trav=E9s de recursos en l=EDnea, libres y adaptables

Ciudad del Cabo, 22 de enero, 2008=97 Una coalici=F3n de educadores, fundac=
iones
y pioneros
de internet instaron hoy a gobiernos y editores a que los recursos
educativos p=FAblicos
est=E9n disponibles libremente sobre el internet.

La Declaraci=F3n de Educaci=F3n Abierta de Ciudad del Cabo, lanzada hoy, fo=
rma
parte de un
esfuerzo din=E1mico de hacer disponibles en l=EDnea recursos did=E1cticos y=
 de
aprendzaje, sin
importar el nivel de ingresos o la ubicaci=F3n geogr=E1fica.  Alenta a doce=
ntes
y a
estudiantes alrededor del mundo a unirse a un movimiento creciente y
utilizar la red
para compartir, reutilizar y traducir recursos para permitir que la
educaci=F3n sea m=E1s
accesible, efectiva, y flexible.

"La Educaci=F3n Abierta permite a cada persona en la Tierra acceder y
contribuir al vasto
conocimiento en la web," dijo Jimmy Wales, el fundador de Wikipedia y Wikia
y de uno de
los autores de la Declaraci=F3n. "Todos tienen algo que ense=F1ar y todos t=
ienen
algo que
aprender".

Seg=FAn la Declaraci=F3n, docente, estudiantes y comunidades se beneficiar=
=EDan si
editores y
gobiernos facilitan el acceso en l=EDnea de recursos educativos. Esto les
otorga a
estudiantes acceso ilimitado a recursos de alta calidad, innov=E1ndose de
forma continua,
tal como como Wikipedia lo ha hecho en el mundo del conocimiento de
referencia.

La Educaci=F3n Abierta hace la conexi=F3n entre la ense=F1anza, el aprendiz=
aje y
la cultura
cooperativa de Internet. Incluye el crear y compartir recursos educativos,
as=ED como
nuevos enfoques de aprendizaje donde las personas crean y construyen el
conocimiento de
forma mancomunada. Estas nuevas pr=E1cticas prometen proporcionar a
estudiantes con
recursos educativos adaptables al estilo de aprendizaje. Hay ya m=E1s de
100.000 de estos
recursos educativos disponibles en el Internet.

La Declaraci=F3n es el resultado de una reuni=F3n de treinta l=EDderes de
Educaci=F3n Abierta en
Ciudad del Cabo, Sud=E1frica, organizado a fines del a=F1o pasado por el
Instituto Open
Society y la Fundaci=F3n Shuttleworth. Los participantes identificaron
estrategias claves
para desarrollar la Educaci=F3n Abierta. Ellos alentan otros a unir y firma=
r
la Declaraci=F3n.

"Abrir la educaci=F3n no solo promueve mayor acceso al aprendizaje, lo hace
m=E1s
colaborativo, flexible y localmente pertinente," apunta Mark Shuttleworth,
emprendedor
de Ubuntu-Linux, que registr=F3 en video tambi=E9n una sesi=F3n informativa=
.
"Linux triunfa
exactamente a causa de este tipo de adaptabilidad. La misma clase de =E9xit=
o
es posible
para la Educaci=F3n Abierta".

La Educaci=F3n Abierta tiene particular relevancia para econom=EDas emergen=
tes y
paises en
v=EDas de desarrollo, creando potencial para textos escolares y recursos
educativos
asequibles. Abre la puerta a productores de peque=F1a escala de contenidos
locales de
crear una oferta m=E1s diversa que las casas editoriales multinacionales.

"La diversidad cultural y el conocimiento local son una parte cr=EDtica de =
la
Educaci=F3n
Abierta," dijo la Eve Gray del Centro para la Tecnolog=EDa Educativa de la
Universidad de
Ciudad del Cabo. "Pa=EDses como Sud=E1frica necesitan comenzar a producir y
compartir
recursos educativos construidos sobre su propio patrimonio cultural. La
Educaci=F3n
Abierta promete que esta clase de publicaci=F3n diversa posible".

La Declaraci=F3n ya ha sido traducida a m=E1s de 15 idiomas y la lista crec=
iente
de
signatarios incluye: Jimmy Wales; Mark Shuttleworth; Thomas Alexander,
ex-Director de
Educaci=F3n de la Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development OEC=
D;
Lawrence
Lessig, fundador y CEO de Creative Commons; Andrey Kortunov, Presidente de
New Eurasia
Foundation; and Yehuda Elkana, Rectora de la Central European University.
Organizaciones que han firmado incluyen: Wikimedia Foundation; Public
Library of
Science; Scholary Publishing y la Academic Resources Coalition; Canonical
Ltd.; Centre
for Open and Sustainable Learning; Open Society Institute; and Shuttleworth
Foundation.

Para leer o firmar la Declaraci=F3n de Educaci=F3n Abierta de Ciudad del Ca=
bo,
por favor
visita: http://www.capetowndeclaration.org.