Do you speak Organic?

A survey on language barriers faced by the users of the Organic.Edunet Web portal (and not only) has been launched today by the Agro-Know team of the Organic.Lingua project. This project that aims to identify multilinguality issues and provide software solutions on the Organic.Edunet Web portal.

The survey, along with a short introduction to the whole concept can be found here. All people involved in the field of organic agriculture, agroecology and green fields in general (such as teachers, students, tutors/educators etc.) are more than welcome to participate in this survey and provide their feedback which will allow the Organic.Lingua project to work on the issues identified and hopefully come up with usable solutions!

Open Education Week - Only 10 days to go!

I am reposting a press release for an event that is really important for the open access / open education community, regarding the Open Education Week, organized by the The OpenCourseWare Consortium:

OPENCOURSEWARE CONSORTIUM DECLARES FIRST ANNUAL OPEN EDUCATION WEEK FOR MARCH 5-10, 2012

Efforts to Expand Access to Education and Knowledge to be Featured in Global Events

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., – (February 21, 2012) –The OpenCourseWare Consortium announces today the first annual Open Education Week from March 5-10, 2012.  Open Education Week is a global event that seeks to raise awareness about the benefits of free and open sharing in education, especially Open Educational Resources (OER). OER are high-quality, free and open educational materials that offer opportunities for people anywhere in the world to share, use and reuse. 

“The vision of the open education movement is to create a world in which the desire to learn is fully met by the opportunity to do so, where everyone, everywhere, is able to access affordable, educationally and culturally appropriate opportunities to gain whatever knowledge or training they desire. The movement encompasses producing, sharing, using and modifying content, as well as innovative models of educational delivery,” said Mary Lou Forward, executive director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium. “Open Education Week will showcase projects, resources, people and ideas so that people around the world can see the breadth of what has been accomplished already, and participate in discussions about the future of the movement.”

Open Education Week is being coordinated by the OpenCourseWare Consortium.  The event will take place online and in different locations around the world, with opportunities to participate in webinars, discussions and live events. Projects and events will be featured from institutions and organizations from around the world, including: University of Cape Town, University of Michigan, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, University of California, Irvine, Delft University of Technology, and Creative Commons. Participation is free and open to all. Visit www.openeducationweek.org and follow @openeducationwk for more information.

About The OpencCourseWare Consortium: The OpenCourseWare Consortium (OCWC) is a community of more than 250 universities and associated organizations worldwide. The mission of the OCWC and its member institutions is to advance formal and informal learning for educators and self-learners around the world through the sharing and use of free, open, high-quality education materials packaged as courses readily accessible on a digital platform.  The Consortium showcases its members to a global audience and provides information and training through webinars, newsletters, and free and open materials. For more information, visit http://www.ocwconsortium.org.

Puzzled by Policy

I just took a break and participated in the Puzzled by Policy survey, just to see what it is about. I found the questions to be clear and focused and the whole process was real fun! It has been really well set-up, both the content and the user interface while at the same time collecting feedback about a specific issue (immigration policy) and bringing you close to the real situation in your country.

I will not reveal the end, but it will really surprise you!

This platform is a product of the Puzzled by Policy, an ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT-PSP), part of the Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)  project.