Open Learning ExchangeUniversal Basic Education 2015

Dr. Richard Rowe, President of Open Learning Exchange, took part in the Annual Meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York City, September 24-26. Dr. Rowe was invited to join over a thousand world leaders, investors, and philanthropists because of former US President Bill Clinton’s determination that CGI needed to do more to help Haiti. OLE Haiti’s education initiatives received close scrutiny and high praise.

The Clinton Global Initiative (www.clintonglobalinitiative.org) was begun by President Clinton in 2005. It is a non-partisan catalyst for action that brings together a community of global leaders from various backgrounds to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

CGI reaches world leaders, future leaders from college campuses, and global citizens through a community of projects evolving from CGI’s unique model that focuses on taking action. Since 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,000 commitments valued at upwards of $30 billion to impact more than 200 million lives in over 150 countries.

Click here to read about OLE’s commitment to Haiti: http://ole.org/myhaiticommitment/

‘Xiwasan sutixa’ is Aymara for ‘this is our name’  – and there is a new name in the OLE family: OLE Bolivia. Under the gifted leadership of Yamandu (Yama) Ploskonka, OLE has hit the ground running in this South American country!

While formal incorporation of a national OLE is in progress with recruitment of a national board of directors, Yama has brought together a team of local volunteers to translate the Sugar computer interface used in the XO computers from One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) into Aymara, the language spoken by over two million Bolivians.During the weekend of September 13-14 the team worked through a 25-hour-long marathon session on this important project. . A further translation project will allow OLE members to use the Course Development Studio and access the Billion Kids Library in Aymara.

The Aymara currently lack many of the educational materials that would help them obtain a quality education. OLE Bolivia will help bridge that gap by helping Aymara children have the same access to computer-based quality education as those who speak languages for which computer software is already available.

The translation project provides a stong start in creating a good foundation for OLE Bolivia. Starting with this early focus on Bolivia’s ‘first nation’ people, OLE Bolivia is dedicated to providing access to quality education and world class content to the 3.1 million children of Bolivia. This is a key step in achieving Universal Basic Education by 2015.

OLE Rwanda got a boost this summer when a senior government Minister added his support to the organization’s application for registration as a social benefit (not-for-profit) organization.

The Honorable Theoneste Mutsindashyaka, Minister of state in charge of Primary  and Secondary Education in the government of the Republic of Rwanda, wrote to the registering agency to express his support. He said, in part, “OLE Rwanda’s projects are aligned with the country’s Vision 2020 and add value to the achievement of universal basic education in Rwanda.” He noted that OLE Rwanda is cooperating with the Ministry of Education in “two important projects,

• Contextualization and localization of content for basic education,
• Digitization of the content to support and avail teaching and learning materials through the development of a Billion Kids’ National Digital Library.”

The Minister visited the OLE offices in Cambridge, MA this summer and tried out an early version of the Course Development Studio. He noted with interest that the software could be localized for Kinyarwanda, the official language of Rwanda, and said that this would vastly increase its importance for teachers throughout the country.

Dr. Richard Rowe, President of Open Learning Exchange (OLE), and Larry Direnger, Executive Director of Educators for Social Responsibility (ESR) National met in ESR’s Cambridge offices on August 14 to sign an important and far-reaching Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). The agreement permits OLE to distribute through the Billion Kids Library all of ESR’s materials on conflict resolution and aggression mediation, which have been used successfully in urban school systems throughout the United States.

Once the materials are in the Library, they will be available for use and adaption by teachers and leaders all around the world.

The agreement also anticipates OLE and ESR working jointly to provide training for OLE centers in Rwanda, Ghana, Haiti, and other locations where conflict and civil turmoil have been a key issue.

Plans are underway to help ESR localize their programs in these international areas through the inclusion of local content and references to local issues. The content of Connected and Respected a nationally respected K-6 curriculum, and ESR’s equally acclaimed Conflict Resolution in the Middle School and Conflict Resolution in the High School will become available to OLE members around the world as a complete K-12 curriculum.

–Joe Rappa