Introducing Intel Education Initiative (IEI)

Intel Education Initiative site brings you very rich technology teaching techniques & resources that you can deploy in your school. I have compiled the site info into presentation slide so that I can share this with teachers when needed. It is a definitely a great site to start with for any school. The material suits students from Primary to Secondary and even into University.

I just want to draw your attention to some of the highlights of teaching materials/methods that deserved your attention, for now.

(1) Thinking tools designed for teachers to use are Visual Ranking (Identify and refine criteria for assigning ranking to a list; and then debate differences, reach consensus, and organize ideas), Seeing Reason (Investigate relationships in complex systems, creating maps that communicate understanding) and Showing Evidence (Construct well-reasoned arguments that are supported by evidence, using a visual framework). These tools lure students of all ages into thinking odyssey when participating in activities that require ranking choices, reasoning with cause and effect mindset and arguing with facts/data. You only need to adjust your topic/theme relevant and suitable to each age groups and the tool is there ready for you and your students. Most importantly, Intel has compiled a good set of examples to kick start your teaching journey.

(2) You will be spoilt with excellent 21st century teaching resources to use like "Designing Effective Projects", "An Innovation Odyssey (contains more than 350 stories of technology enriched projects from classrooms around the world) and "It's a Wild Ride" (an interdisciplinary project uses roller coaster design to engage students in math, science, and language arts).

(3) As a teacher you also find these student learning resources are useful to make you technology literate:
Technology Literacy ›Cultivate technology literacy and digital citizenship for students ages 11-15 with learning that is active, creative, exploratory, and collaborative.
Design and Discovery ›Interest youth in design and engineering with this free curriculum; it provides a hands-on, inquiry-based experience with identifying and designing creative solutions to everyday problems.
The Journey InsideSM ›Take an interactive journey to learn about what is inside your computer.
The Intel manufacturing process ›Resources for your students to learn about the science and process behind the microchips we use every day.
skoool* ›Media-rich resources free to students and teachers in Ireland, the UK, Sweden, Thailand, and Turkey, emphasizing math and science.

(4) Science & Math : It is a must try for teachers specializing in these subjects. Design Squad: An Intel sponsored PBS reality series for kids, parents, and educators. Discover how you can share your real-life excitement of engineering with your community through this program. Design and Discovery: A free curriculum that provides students with a hands-on, inquiry-based experience with identifying and designing creative solutions to everyday problems. Skoool.com : A free online resource designed to help secondary-level students understand and explore key science and mathematics concepts.

If you are still not convinced of the extensiveness of Intel commitment and contribution into education for the world. Check out Higher Education Program & Community Education too.

That's it. Have fun and remember to support Intel by buying their products :) :)

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Where are the Open Source Courses?

This concept of Open Course is not new and started 6-8 years back in US. Famous university like MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) has lead the effort of creating free online courses for everyone 6 years back. Enabling the free learning for those not affordable/qualified to study in these famous oversea universities. It is the open sharing of quality knowledge with the world that is admirable. Open Course concept is pretty similar to Open Source in the software world. And, it is the trend that we Malaysian can embrace and tap into. You do not even need to spend single $ to get your child to learn from the best. Pls catch this Open Course train fast! :)

I manage to scout some Open Course sites for your reference. Use them wisely! Share with anyone you know!

(1) MIT Open Courseware (OCW) :

First OCW site that I use many years back. I like the vision of "Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds". It is so touching, holy and admirable. Letting everyone to access freely to MIT IP. I can't believe it when I first encounter with this site recently!

MIT OpenCourseWare is a free publication of MIT course materials that reflects almost all the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. They disclaims the followings:

• OCW is not an MIT education.
• OCW does not grant degrees or certificates.
• OCW does not provide access to MIT faculty.
• Materials may not reflect entire content of the course.

Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT. No registration required. MIT OCW contains University and High School courses. High School courses cover Biology, Chemistry, Computers and Electronics, Engineering, Foreign Languages, Math, Media, Music and The Arts, Physical Education, Physics and Social Sciences and Writing and Literature. As for University courses, it consists of standard univerisity classes in departments like Architecture, Engineering, Science, Art, Management, etc. It has total 1800 courses and still growing. You can find each course's Syllabus, Calendar, Lecture Notes, Assignments, Exams, Vidoe Lectures and Course Material just like attending classroom training.

One key strength of this open course is that the lectures/trainers are very experience expert in their own field and well known around the globe. The course material is FREE and of highest standard. What else can we ask for?

You need to dowload Real Player & Adobe Reader to access to its course material. Have fun.

Other University OCW URL available at OCW Consortium

(2) Open Stanford on iTunes University

Standard iTunes University's vision is Stanford to go. In your home, In your car. In your pocket. Bring the learning experience to your convenience, anytime anywhere. COOL!

This Open Course is Stanford University pilot project with Apple, beginning in the spring of 2004, to deliver supplemental course content to registered students using iTunes. They realized that the same platform would be an elegant and cost-effective way to deliver Stanford content to alumni and the public as well. The project has proven to be a great fit between Stanford and Apple. Apple provides Standford with an intuitive and broadscale method for distribution, as well as the storage and bandwidth for our content. Standford focus on the content quality.

Standford not only covers standard U classes from department like Science and Technology, Arts and Humanities, Business, Law and Politics, Communication and Media, Health and Medicine, etc., it provides essential university info like Campus Life, Travel study, What's new and etc.. It is a real U on iTune.

Standford courses give you a different perspective in learning. You can choose to listen to it or view it or read the pdf presentation file. You can download them to your iTune player to play them anytime anywhere you like. They skip the detail traditional university curriculum study which emphasizes on curriculum, assignment, reference, exam and etc.. Pretty cool concept of giving the learning pleasure back to the student. Standford is working on Podcast subscription model now so that downloading the course material can be automatic, making the learning a breeze.

You need to download Apple iTune software to access to its course material. Have fun.

(3) Open Learning Initiative by Carnegie Mellon University
CMU called its OCW as Open learning. It does not register to OCW Consortium. I therefore mention it here as a separate university effort. OLI focuses on science, maths, statistic and engineering courses. The site UI is intuative, virtual lab for chemical class is unique and fun, Statistics course comes with StatTutor tool supporting your statistical problem solving, many more special course features enhancing your online learning experience. This site is worth take a look!

Accessing the site is pretty much web based but you may need to download QuickTime software to access some of its multimedia material.

(4) Open Yale Courses (just cut the introduction note from site....will add more comment if possible later :))

Open Yale Courses provides free and open access to a selection of introductory courses taught by distinguished teachers and scholars at Yale University. The aim of the project is to expand access to educational materials for all who wish to learn.
Open Yale Courses reflects the values of a liberal arts education. Yale's philosophy of teaching and learning begins with the aim of training a broadly based, highly disciplined intellect without specifying in advance how that intellect will be used. This approach goes beyond the acquisition of facts and concepts to cultivate skills and habits of rigorous, independent thought: the ability to analyze, to ask the next question, and to begin the search for an answer.
We hope the lectures and other course materials on this site will be a resource for critical thinking, creative imagination, and intellectual exploration. All lectures were recorded in the Yale College classroom and are available in video, audio, and text transcript format. Registration is not required and no course credit is available.


Final Note:
So far only encounter a few different OCW presentations & approaches sites, will add more as I come across new and interesting OCW in the future. If you happen to know others, do let me know. Hope you enjoy this collection for you.

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Excellent Internet Education Sites by MNC

Before creating my training material and rolling out training in stages for teachers, it is good for teachers to start get their hands wet by toying around the resource in these education sites run by Multinational companies. They are free and of high quality:

1. Intel Skoool: It is a site sponsored by Intel Corp, leader in Processor/Chipset Design and Manufacturing business. This site provides an education framework focusing on Math & Science education only.
2. Oracle Education Foundation : It is a site sponsored by Oracle, leader in enterprise database applications/solutions. This site opens for School to register only to share the education resources. It covers all the posibble learning categories in the world. :)
3. Apple Education: It is a site sponsored by Apple. This site tries to create a framework around its iTunes Store for education. Stanford University is collaborating with Apple to leverage on this framework for Open Course project. You can download multimedia course material for free. Aside from Standford project, Apple itself also provide many free to affordable (US$1-US$9) education application for you. Check it out!
4. BBC Movie Making: It is a site sponsored by BBC for kid to learn making movie. It is called Me and My Movide. In fact, it is a fun site for all ages. On top of this, it has a mega link mother site http://www.bbc.co.uk/learning/ that hooks you up with many high quality learning sites for almost everything that you can think of. Amazing!

Related to Non MNC run sites:

1. Nortel LearnIT: It is an initiative of Nortel Community Relations, non profit organiation to prepare teachers, students and learners of all ages to develop 21st century skills that will provide a basis for their ongoing engagement in learning and personal achievement. This site integrates technology into teaching/learning process iwth a wide variety of resources & practival guidesheets and with best parctice models/bodies of knowledge to share.
2. ....more...

Let me find time next round to walk you through these site in next blog. Stay tuned.

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