Open Learning Exchange - A Global Network

[Open Learning Exchange] [A Global Network] We started OLE because we realized that there are roughly a billion children in the world who are not getting their right to have at least a basic education and so we began to create a network of local people who are using open source content using technology, to really make a difference Open Learning Exchange Bolivia Nepal, Rwanda, India, Dominican Republic People from all over the world, from developing countries, from poor countries with a common goal Making sure that their children get a quality basic education by 2015 2015 has been picked up by the United Nations, by which time all the children across the world achieve a basic education It´s a short period of time and it´s a big task We try to find local solutions, Africa´s issues are not the Caribbean issues We need national solutions, and that establishes a sense of responsibility Rwanda is a really good example, where we have an OLE Center that is making a huge difference in that country As you know, the genocide which killed hundreds of thousands of people not that long ago, had an enormous impact upon that country Today almost half the population is 18 years or younger Those kids are going to be leading that country and so our programme there is to help build a strong national digital library using technology, using the internet, and bringing in material from South Africa adapting that to Rwanda, all open source, all free and available not only then in Rwanda, but any place else in the world where that adapted material could be used We have to cohabitate together we have to remove all roots of the genocide that was actually inculcated into the minds of people, because they were not educated We are now doing this in Nepal, in India, in Rwanda Ghana, Namibia, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bolivia and now in Mexico. We are collaborating with each other Sharing their ideas, their successes, and their failures will enable them in fact to move very rapidly We are a global community which is providing global solutions and this is happening already With the internet, with new technologies, and with the awareness on the part of everyone that it is an urgent matter for us to make sure that everyone at least has a basic literacy and numeracy and an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of being a human being on this earth When you see the eyes of a child who is finding learning as something interesting, as something that he can do he is going to have the tools to grow beyond the dreams of everybody in his village that is a good thing that we are all happy to support [ole.org]