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In Spring 2004, Laurie Taylor and Brendan Riley published an article in Computers and Composition on introducing the Open Source model into education to transform the nature of academic research and pedagogy. In regard to research, the authors argue that adoption of the model among authors would shift the ownership of academia’s intellectual property from publishers to academic authors. Today, the number of published works are limited by the high cost of publishing them. Adoption of an Open Source model, will expand primary publishing to electronic media and allow market demands and acclaim for each work to determine the extent of distribution. Faced with a future where continuous new knowledge production will be critical to ensure the success of individuals and organizations, integration of an Open Source-based model into academia could help ensure that knowledge production among academic professionals increases and is made available.

Adoption of an Open Source-based philosophy in the classroom that is centered on collaborative production, review, and continuous revision could support an exchange system worthy of sustaining continuous new knowledge production. In a potential classroom model, students will collaborate on a project where the continuous input knowledge contributes to the structure of the finished product. Taylor and Riley believe that by connecting with a greater community for review and evaluation of the project further enhances students project planning, design and communication skills.

Related: Other thoughts on the topic from SUNY Cortland’s English Department

Article link: “Will Arizona lead the nation in K-12 education?”

Francis Hardaway argues in an article published by AlwaysOn that a bill proposed in the Arizona state legistature could improve the state’s educational position by implementing a statewide “eLearning” system. She writes, “Arizona?s eSATS initiative is the first to be designed to transform an entire statewide school system. Its major components include teacher education and development, digital curriculum, well-supported computers and connectivity systems and assessment of student work to state standards in real time. Annual student, teacher and school performance assessments are easily derived from the data system. The two year bridging from legacy education followed by a six year build out is based on best practice innovation diffusion for long-term, systemic transformation. This approach will provide orderly and cost effective eLearning adoption. Under the plan, major K-12 support roles are funded for Arizona?s Universities and for the Arizona Department of Education.“

Outgoing Education Secretary Rod Paige likes this as it is closely aligned with the No Child Left Behind Act, but one has to ask, is the purpose of the implementation of this technology to create tech-savvy or test-savvy kids?

Further reading: eSATS eLearning system for Arizona teachers and students

Article link: What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?

The Edge Foundation posted an article containing the responses of leading thinkers who were asked: “what do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?” They note there is a focus on individuals’ consciousness of certainty in the responses and of new context creation by stretching the limits of science and technology. The editor hints (and I agree) that continuous, new context creation will perpetually redefine who and what we are as a society, culture, and -perhaps- as a species.