VANCOUVER/CRANBROOK, B.C. -- WikiEducator has received a donation of 100 Math and English lessons from the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook, BC. These learning materials will be freely available under a Creative Commons license.
WikiEducator was launched in 2006 by COL, the Commonwealth of Learning, an intergovernmental organization created by Commonwealth heads of government to encourage the development and sharing of open learning/distance education knowledge, resources and technologies.
COL is headquartered in Vancouver, BC and is the world's only intergovernmental organization dedicated solely to promoting and delivering distance education and open learning, and is the only official Commonwealth agency located outside Britain.
WikiEducator is a website (www.WikiEducator.org) that provides free eLearning content that anyone can edit and use. WikiEducator is being used extensively to develop educational resources for the Virtual University for Small States of the Commonwealth.
Wayne Mackintosh, COL Education Specialist, eLearning and ICT Policy noted, "The donation of the Math and English lessons illustrates a growing trend towards sharing of learning materials in academia. The College of the Rockies is showing real leadership in making their materials freely available through WikiEducator. We hope that other institutions will recognize the enormous good that can be accomplished by offering free content to learners, particularly in developing countries."
Dr. Nick Rubidge, College of the Rockies President and CEO, is pleased the College is participating in this international project. "The College of the Rockies has a strong commitment to increasing student access through online delivery as well as to increasing our participation in international educational initiatives. This project encompasses both aspects," Dr. Rubidge continued. "The College of the Rockies participates in a provincial educational repository but this is the first time the College has been involved in an international learning content collection. I believe we are the first Canadian college to become involved with WikiEducator."
Gina Bennett, College of the Rockies' eLearning Specialist and author of the learning material donated by the College, agrees the donation provides a win-win opportunity for both WikiEducator and the College of the Rockies. "Our College benefits from the open content provided by other institutions and it's great that we can give something back," said Bennett.
COL is supporting a workshop in Ghana in January where educators from Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone will transform the Canadian Math and English materials into Wiki format. This will make it easy for users to store, revise and use the content.
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Further information:
www.WikiEducator.org
www.cotr.bc.ca
www.col.org
www.col.org/wmackintosh
Dave Wilson
Communications Manager
Commonwealth of Learning
info@col.org
Wayne Mackintosh
Education Specialist for eLearning and ICT Policy
Commonwealth of Learning
info@col.org
