Open Learning ExchangeUniversal Basic Education 2015

Open Learning Exchange today announced its intention to launch Learning Innovations Review, an online periodical that will review significant innovations for primary through secondary education.  The Review will provide  in-depth reviews of a wide variety of learning innovations that may be applicable to teachers and students seeking to achieve Universal Basic Education by 2015.

Modeled after Consumer Reports, each innovation in the Review will include a narrative report describing the innovation, its demonstrations and the outcomes from those demonstrations.  Each review will highlight the evidence that a given innovation is effective for a given purpose in a given setting.  Reviews will include overall approaches to learning, specific subject matter course materials and information and computer technologies that are appropriate for basic learning.

A key feature will be a summary template with standardized ratings covering several dimensions of the innovation including results related to students, teachers, parents, community and the nation. This will enable users to compare the relative effectiveness of different innovations.   Each review will also provide an estimate of the total cost per student and the scalability of the innovation.

OLE is searching for a social entrepreneur who can serve as the editor for the Review. Anyone interested in learning more about the position should go to www.ole.org/editor.

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.