UNESCO Interview with Dr. Barbara Kurshan
12/19/07
Original Article: http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=55165&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Interview (PDF): http://www.unesco.org/education/interviews/Currikidirector.pdf
Dr. Barbara - Bobbi - Kurshan, Executive Director of Curriki, has founded several successful companies focused on technology and education. Her vision is a global community that will provide the best open source curricula just a click away.
Why was Curriki started?
Curriki was founded to help eliminate the education divide by providing free access to quality instructional materials that are developed and improved by the global education community. This is the right thing to do since knowledge should not be proprietary. Our vision is that every student and educator will have access to quality curricula aligned to frameworks to support learning.
Are global education communities like Curriki the future of education?
I believe open source will have a significant impact on the development and sharing of instructional materials. Open source curricula are created by the aggregate knowledge of the community which is enhanced by the power of social networking. Education will be improved around the world by bringing together communities that are able to mix and remix open source educational content. Curriki provides access to a platform that is specifically designed to provide the educational support needed to develop open source curricula.
What difference will winning the 2007 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize make?
This prize will provide a platform to promote the use of open source curricula and open platforms to globally improve teaching and learning. The selection of Curriki by the UNESCO prize committee is an honour for Curriki as well as the many other projects and organizations that are exploring the use of open education resources to improve education at all levels. We hope to work with UNESCO to find ways to leverage the content and communities of the whole open source movement.
Dr. Barbara - Bobbi - Kurshan, Executive Director of Curriki, has founded several successful companies focused on technology and education. Her vision is a global community that will provide the best open source curricula just a click away.
Why was Curriki started?
Curriki was founded to help eliminate the education divide by providing free access to quality instructional materials that are developed and improved by the global education community. This is the right thing to do since knowledge should not be proprietary. Our vision is that every student and educator will have access to quality curricula aligned to frameworks to support learning.
Are global education communities like Curriki the future of education?
I believe open source will have a significant impact on the development and sharing of instructional materials. Open source curricula are created by the aggregate knowledge of the community which is enhanced by the power of social networking. Education will be improved around the world by bringing together communities that are able to mix and remix open source educational content. Curriki provides access to a platform that is specifically designed to provide the educational support needed to develop open source curricula.
What difference will winning the 2007 UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize make?
This prize will provide a platform to promote the use of open source curricula and open platforms to globally improve teaching and learning. The selection of Curriki by the UNESCO prize committee is an honour for Curriki as well as the many other projects and organizations that are exploring the use of open education resources to improve education at all levels. We hope to work with UNESCO to find ways to leverage the content and communities of the whole open source movement.
