[P2P-F] Building a Shared Free Technology Master Curriculum

Tue Jan 25 17:40:44 CET 2011

Dear all,

first of all, I follow with great interest the activities going on in 
the P2P Foundation. And after some discussion with Michel, he suggested 
me to post here this small message, or better: an invitation. Let me 
first explain it briefly.

With a network of universities and specialised groups we are working on 
the development of a shared master curriculum on Free Technologies (FT). 
We understand FT to include Free Software (OSS / Libre Software), Open 
Standards, Free Hardware. And with specialised tracks on Free Culture 
and Peer Production.

Our aim is to help the adoption of these technologies and production 
methodologies through helping universities and higher educational 
institutes to participate and incorporate (parts of) the shared 
curriculum in their study programmes.

One of the things we are looking for is people and organisations willing 
to contribute to the curriculum. A large part is already there, but 
especially in areas such as Free Hardware we could use more people who 
are in the frontline of developments. Maybe some of you know of existing 
courses and educational materials that may be of interest, or case 
studies about interesting projects. If you're interested, read on!

This work builds further on what several universities and specialist 
groups have started years ago and that we are now continuing together 
under the umbrella of the Free Technology Academy (FTA).

Let me summarise then a few  main aspects that hopefully help to clarify 
our pursuit:
* we are building a common framework for a shared master curriculum with 
shared norms, rules and procedures as well as copyleft educational materials
* this facilitates the autonomy of each university interested in 
adopting parts of it, while assuring compatibility between programmes 
and courses
* we like distance learning through the Internet, while also having 
face2face options at concrete locations
* the developed educational methodology is based in full course books, 
that are openly published under free licenses
* we are opening up the development process and feedback through 
web-based tools, open standards and team work
* the books are generally worked through in (online) class rooms and 
continuous assessment activities are done by the participants, guided by 
a mentor from one of the universities
* did I say that we practice what we preach? Indeed, the technologies 
used are free as in freedom.
* we strive for recognition of the course certificates by universities
* we strive for double degrees and ultimately for a joint degree
* we build the curriculum with all interested parties willing to use and 
contribute to it. Only as a wider community or ecosystem can we develop 
this in a sustainable way.

A draft for the shared curriculum we are developing in the FTA Campus 
Wiki: http://campus.ftacademy.org/wiki/index.php/Master-Curriculum

A substantial part of the courses are already active, here you can find 
the course books: http://ftacademy.org/materials and courses are 
conducted for example at the FTA: http://ftacademy.org/courses/programme 
and are recognised by the partner universities.

If you would like to contribute, even by just adding some useful 
pointers, please do so in the course pages in the Master-Curriculum 
wiki-page.

There are more people interested in working on this with us. And even 
more willing to take the courses. I look forward to hearing from you 
through this list, personal email or directly in the wiki. Your inputs 
are more than welcome and very much needed.

best regards,
-- 
Wouter Tebbens
--
Free Knowledge Institute /Unlocking the knowledge society/ 
http://freeknowledge.eu/
Free Technology Academy /Online education about Free Software/ 
http://ftacademy.org/