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Post details: Curriki - a free textbook repository

2007-02-14

Permalink 09:12:05, Categories: General, Knowledge Management   English (EU)

Curriki - a free textbook repository

Former Sun CEO says nonprofit Curriki Web site encourages learning (San Francisco Chronicle)

Sun Chairman Scott McNealy has spent most of the past year as the leading pitchman for Curriki, a nonprofit group that's trying to build a mega-Web site of educational materials that teachers, students and parents anywhere in the world can use, modify, critique and expand on. And they can do all that for free.

"There is no reason why in California (we) need to spend $400 million a year on textbooks when we can open-source. ... If we had half of the annual California textbook budget -- and we just need it one time -- we think we can become self-funding." -- he says.

Some trivia (new for me):

As the chief executive officer of Sun, McNealy often pointed to education as an arena where network computing can make a major difference. He routinely cites the tech giant's origins as a startup formed by a group of Stanford and UC Berkeley students who early on had to decide what to call their company.

"The big decision was to call it Stanford University Network or Berkeley University Network, and 'Sun' won over 'Bun,' " he quipped. "We've always been looking to pay back, share back, if you will."

Currently I did not find too much material in there, but it is a good idea to follow. I believe that we can only benefit from freely available education materials. (Still some prefer to lock them down).

This reminds what a colleague from E-Learning cluster said yesterday that in the future people will acquire most of their knowledge via informal learning. Or are we already doing that?

Comments, Pingbacks:

Comment from: Bobbi Kurshan [Visitor] · http://www.curriki.org
Just a heads up to folks about what's happening over at Curriki. The site has been adding content and updating tools so that members can develop, publish, and access open source curricula. The new Curriki.org includes something called the Currikulum Builder - it's an editing tool that allows members to develop curriculum materials through a collaborative, wiki-based platform. Here's an interesting lesson that one educator created using the Currikulum Builder:

http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Coll_rmlucas/Stoichiometry

There's lots of great stuff and the more the community uses it, the
better it will be. If you haven't already, check it out.

www.curriki.org
PermalinkPermalink 2007-06-18 @ 21:49

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