10 Sept 2009: My Passion is "The Question"

Spring-Boarding from My Passion to My Question:

Read the Tootle Train book

TOPIC
How do we sustain the light of literacy? How do we help newly-literate learners continue to self-learn? What scaffolding is needed? How do we continue progressing once funding is finished (in a low-cost, low-maintenance manner)?

What possibilities are afforded by open content, digitized and freely available educational tools, training (toolkits) for localization for sustaining literacy in developing countries?


COMMUNITIES I WANT TO SERVE
- youth-managed resource centers
- community multimedia centers
- literacy buddy program
- family reading program
- reading corners in personal homes
- mobile mentors on bicycles
- women's literacy groups
- microcredit borrowers groups
- female community health volunters
- rural health clinics
- agricultural cooperatives


REALITIES RIGHT NOW
- there is a severe need for content
- we have groups who are ready to use the tools
- tech is there but limited (issues with bandwidth/electricity/training/experts)
- it would take a lot of time if I try to evaluate the impact of open content
- Manohar: inventory of what is the current context for accessing/sharing/localizing content
- 3IE: baseline of current context regarding content & 5-year impact of OC4D in rural areas?
(baseline, intervention, control group)


WHAT IS RESEARCHABLE RIGHT NOW?
- what is a useful interface [design] for disseminating OC4D - especially focus on ProLiteracy?
- what necessary tools (toolkit) build capacity for change agents to access/share/localize OC4D
- what benefits/obstacles are faced when incorporating OC4D into rural tech centers?


WHAT IS MY FOCUS?
- OC4D interface (portal) design
- OC4D toolkit to help change agents use tools
- OC4D tools themselves?
- accessing, localizing, sharing content
- only accessing content?
- only localizing content?
- only sharing content?


PROCESS
- substitute variables
- look at synonyms
- phrases / terms that have baggage (be careful and conscious about politics of word choices)
- look at subtleties / nuances of language and concepts (esp. history / professional debate)
- zoom in and zoom out on the issue

- clarify what you are asking
- clarify what you are not looking for
- clarify what methods
- clarify what units of measure


QUESTIONS

- How do (open content) (literacy) (tools) increase (sustainability) of (literacy) (programs)?

- How does (OC4D) increase (access) to (knowledge) in (rural) (communities)?


KARL FISCH: The Fisch Bowl (What if?)