FAQ
1. What level of financial support will OLE provide a given Center?
The level of support is customized for the needs of each Center and situation. Some organizations will be starting from the beginning; other OLEs will be incorporated inside of existing non-governmental organizations. Organizations and groups interested in becoming an OLE Center in their country should submit a proposal on this website by going to the Application (http://ole.org/apply/).
2. What countries are of interest to OLE?
Open Learning Exchange is focusing on encouraging, creating and supporting OLE Centers in countries with low levels of literacy.
We are also open to assisting the development of OLEs that focus on children in communities in other parts of the world without adequate comprehensive educational services, including within Europe and North America.
3. Why does the OLE Center have to be a non-governmental organization?
While responsibility for ensuring basic education for all is primarily a government responsibility, OLE believes that the changes that are needed in education are more likely to be accomplished with the support of a non-governmental organization that is focused on that one goal and that brings together the public and the private sectors in a coordinated campaign. Such an organization will work in close partnership with public education at all levels.
4. What do you mean by “free and open source”?
By “free” we mean that any person or group of persons may use the curricula and related materials on OLE libraries without paying a fee. Normally the creators of such materials have licensed them under a Creative Commons license making such use free of any charges. There may be occasions where a world-wide license fee, without limit of time, is paid to the creator of a given set of materials in order for it to be used in that way.
By “open source” we mean that the portions of the content can be extracted from the materials and mixed with other materials to create “new” content. In most such cases, the origin of the source materials must be closely identified with those materials. The license terms may, or may not, include a prohibition for “commercial use” by which is meant that the original material cannot be sold as a part of a new package, for commercial purposes.
5. Do you respect copyright laws?
OLE has great respect for copyright laws. As such we support and work with the licensing systems developed by the Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/).
6. What is your relationship to textbook publishers?
We are eager to work with publishers of materials that may be useful as curricula for primary and secondary level education. Some such discussions are currently underway. All of the curricula that OLE supports on its website are free and open source materials. Only those school textbooks that are free and open source will appear in our library.
7. What is your relationship with the Open Courseware Consortium and other Open Education Resources programs?
The Open Courseware Consortium (http://www.ocwconsortium.org/) comprises over 200 universities throughout the world that are providing free and open university-level courseware over the internet. In many respects OLE is the basic education version (elementary and secondary school level) of the OCW Consortium. However there are some important differences. The members of the Consortium are established universities. OLE Centers are not a part of the existing educational system but are non-governmental organizations in a public-private partnership working with educators. In addition, the role of textbooks is more pronounced at the basic education levels. As such, one of the major tasks of OLE members will be to develop high quality free and open source textbooks for the elementary and secondary levels of their schools.
The Open Education Resources movement, stimulated by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (http://www.hewlett.org/Default.htm), has supported many elements needed for universal basic education. OLE plans to build on these investments by helping each country in the lesser economically developed parts of the world deliver basic education through a coordinated effort that emphasized both the unique requirements of each country and the benefits of sharing of ideas and content among countries through the internet.
8. What is your relationship with the One Laptop per Child project?
Dr. Richard Rowe was formerly the President of the One Laptop per Child Foundation and in that role advised the One Laptop per Child program and assisted in setting up the OLPC Foundation. In that process it became clear that, in addition to distributing laptops, there was a need to focus on helping educators in developing countries develop open source curricula, prepare teachers and generate public support for the goal of universal basic education. Ideally, such work should be initiated well in advance of the arrival of the technologies. Given those concerns Nicholas Negroponte, the founder of the OLPC program and Richard Rowe agreed that OLPC would focus on the “top down” provision of laptops throughout the developing world and that OLE would focus on the “bottom up” preparation and support of basic education at the country level.
9. Will OLE work with other technologies besides the XO (One Laptop per Child device)?
OLE will support whatever technologies and educational approaches that are chosen by each Center. However, while we are “technology neutral”, we believe that goal of universal basic education requires the introduction of a variety of information technologies including laptops that are owned personally by each student. Even though the laptop, by itself, will not guarantee universal basic education, we believe that such universally distributed technologies, when integrated with effective curricula, teacher development and public support, will be effective.
10. Do you sell laptops?
OLE does not sell laptops. However we will work with OLE Centers in acquiring any technologies they need for their programs.
11. How do I apply to recognition as a OLE Center?
Organizations and groups interested in becoming an OLE Center in their country should submit a proposal on this website by going to the Application (http://ole.org/apply/)
12. How can I volunteer my time and skills for an OLE project?
Please fill out the OLE Volunteer form and we will contact you regarding next steps.
(http://ole.org/volunteer/)
