What we’re learning from online education
A 3rd generation Ph.D who is passionate about education, Stanford professor Daphne Koller is excited to be making the college experience available to anyone through her startup, Coursera. With classes from 16 top colleges, Coursera is an innovative model for online learning. While top schools have been putting lectures online for years, Coursera’s platform supports the other vital aspect of the classroom: tests and assignments that reinforce learning.
Listen to Daphne Koller and her vision to bring the best education in the world for free online.
“We should spend less time at universities filling our students’ minds with content by lecturing at them, and more time igniting their creativity … by actually talking with them.”
Boosting connectivity in developing countries
Despite the fact that few parts of the world remain completely disconnected from the Internet, user-generated content is still mainly created in the West. In a recent article in the Guardian, contributor Mark Graham argues that this needs to change.
Graham refers to this as “the internet’s highly uneven geographies of information”, and points to the importance of boosting local digital content. “It is crucial to keep asking where visibility, voice and power reside in an increasingly networked world”, states Graham.
Through MKFC Stockholm College’s work, the boost of local digital content that Graham refers to is made possible. We support inclusive learning in developing countries, where all participants (students, tutors, and members of local communities) are, essentially, the creators and innovators.
Read more about our work here.
Source: The Guardian.
Written by Fanny Johansson
2011 – a good year in education
New technology in classrooms, significant investments in education in Africa, and increased work towards gender equality in schooling. Those are three of the main themes mentioned when the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) summarizes the year 2011.
As we are leaving 2011 behind and looking forward to a new and bright 2012, UNESCO has summarized the year 2011 in education. In March, the UN agency published a report concluding that armed conflict is robbing 28 million children worldwide of an edcuation. But, there were also some happier news. In April, another report showed that Sub-Saharan African countries increased their real expenditure on education by 6% every year during the past 10 years. The year 2011 was also characterized by an increased understanding of the importance of broadband access and new technologies in order to bring quality education to all. At a meeting in June, UNESCO’s Director-General pointed out that “new technologies and broadband Internet access offer formidable opportunities for increasing access to education”. And, in December, the first UNESCO Mobile Learning Week was held, exploring the potential of mobile learning.
Read more here.
Source: UNESCO.
Written by Fanny Johansson
Today we will reach 7 billion – follow the countdown!
Today, on October 31, the world’s population is projected to reach 7 billion. On the Worldometers website, you can follow the countdown live.
At the time of writing, we are 6,999,922,103 people in the world. But that is soon about to change – in 9 hours, the total population is forecast to hit a breathtaking 7 billion. Join the countdown here!
According to figures from the 2009 World Population Data Sheet, 97 percent of global growth will take place in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean over the coming 40 years. And, almost 90 percent of today’s 1.2 billion youth live in developing countries.
Worldometers also offers a large range of other interesting figures on health, environment, water, technology, and lots more.
Source: Worldometers and CNN.
Written by Fanny Johansson
The State Award for Public Information to the founder of ENO Programme
MKFC Stockholm College long time partner , the founder of the ENO Programme, Mika Vanhanen, received The State Award for Public Information today. It was given to him by the minister of education and science, Mr Jukka Gustafsson in the Government Banquet Hall in Helsinki, Finland.
The Committee for Public Information submits the annual shortlist for the State Award for Public Information. The State Award for Public Information is granted for printed or other information products intended for the public at large and published during the previous calendar year. The products may be books, radio or television, newspapers or periodicals. The Award can be conferred on an individual author, journalist, producer or a team. The Award can also be granted to a person for a distinguished life’s work in public information. The Ministry of Education instituted the State Award for Public Information in 1967. From 1968 to 1971 the recipients were proposed by a jury. In 1972 the jury was replaced by the Committee for Public Information. The award amount is decided on annually and this year it was 15 000 Euros.
The Committee for Public Information states: “Mika Vanhanen founded and coordinates Environment Online – ENO, a global web school and network that runs in 150 countries amd covers 7 000 schools. It involves hundreds of thousands of students, and the network is spreading.
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