Open Education Resources (Handout)

November 23, 2010

Modern technologies have allowed for the increased access to free informal and educational material. TED talks, Podcasts, RSA animated lectures, PBS online, Hulu, YouTube EDU channels, and ITunes U material are ways in which everyone can benefit and learn about creative ideas, thus encouraging lifelong learning.Today, everyone with access to the Internet can generate or contribute to the collective building of knowledge through wikis including Wikipedia, Fotopedia and online education groups (Nings, Grouply). Anyone with an internet connection has access to highly informative blogs and free newspapers including the New York Times, BBC, CNN, and the Guardian. In addition, various universities have increased the publication of their class materials freely to the online world.

Through MIT OpenCourseWare and its expansion to over 120 universities through the OpenCourseWare Consortium, thousands of classes have published their materials online including syllabi, readings, and video lectures. Many have opened forums for discussion and created group learning activities through programs such as OpenStudy and Nixty. Through OpenCourseWare, the use of Creative Commons licensing, and Open Source Software, an ever increasing array of materials with high levels of educational content are freely available to anyone with access to the Internet. In addition, many of these materials are currently being translated into various languages. Through Connexions, a Rice University OER initiative, individuals can “rip”, “copy”, “reuse”, “mix”, and “burn” high quality education material and create their own textbooks. These textbooks cost only a fraction of the price of traditional textbooks.  Other freely available material such as Open Source Software, Open Books, Open Access Journals could significantly impact the cost of an individual’s education. How can these and other Open Education Resources transform education for developing countries? Could they contribute to the development of a high quality low cost education system?

OpenCourseWare Consortium – http://www.ocwconsortium.org/
Connexions Consortium – http://cnxconsortium.org/
Linux – http://www.linux.org/
List of Linux Distributions – Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Linux_distributions
Sourceforge – Open Source Software Directory – http://sourceforge.net/
Bill Gates on OCW – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfvxfkBVLqQ
OECD – Open Education Resources – http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/35/7/38654317.pdf

Integration of Technology in the Classroom (Handout)

November 23, 2010

Traditional classrooms provider an interactive environment where students can socialize and construct a learning setting with their peers. Throughout modern history, classrooms have been the traditional location for instruction. However, as technology increasingly impacts life outside and inside the classroom, it is important for students to be familiar with modern technologies.

Hardware such as a laptops, smartboards and projectors and software such as Powerpoint, Photoshop, Scratch, Skype, and Prezi are increasingly used within the classroom. Blended learning continues to grow as traditional classrooms incorporate online components including learning management systems such as Moodle, Edu 2.0, and Blackboard, among others. Other classrooms have experimented with tools such as podcasts, blogs, and the use of virtual environments such as Second Life.

The level of integration of technology within the traditional classroom varies depending on the project from the use of a basic Powerpoint presentation to one laptop per child initiatives or an algorithm based personalized curriculum. As technologies improve at an exponential rate, how can developing countries reduce the digital divide? Should developing countries be concerned with purchasing equipment and products such as Microsoft Mouse Mischief (multi-mouse presentations and games), Smartboards, Projectors, Powerpoint (or Prezi) Presentations and other software, or is the introduction of technology increasing dependency?

Department of New York City – School of One Initiative: http://schools.nyc.gov/community/innovation/SchoolofOne/default.htm
Mouse Mischief Program – http://www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief/
One Laptop Per Child Initiative: http://www.laptop.org/en/
Exploring ICT and Learning in Developing Countries: www.edutechdebate.org
Compare Learning Management Systems (LMS) – http://edutools.info/item_list.jsp?pj=4

Online Education Changes (Handout)

November 23, 2010

According to the Sloan Consortium, Online Education is one of the most rapidly expanding sectors in education with a growth of 17% in 2008 compared to the 1.2% growth for higher education in general in the United States. Accounting for only 9.6% of post-secondary education enrollment in 2002, online education in the United States accounted for 25.3% of enrollment by the fall of 2008. Many universities are increasingly using these technologies to reduce costs, reach a broader audience, and increase the quality of their distance education program. Online education can increase the distribution of educational material, particularly to individuals living in rural areas.

The African Virtual University is one of the best examples of an accredited university with an emphasis on development. The Mexican Government has also used online education to offer a free education to Mexican immigrants in the United States and Canada (http://www.conevyt.org.mx/). While online education courses currently cost about the same as an average credit physically taken at the institution, other initiatives such as StraighterLine are offering transferable courses for as low $99 dollars. Recently, various initiatives have experimented with personal learning environments or PLEs. What is the difference between a PLE and a Learning Management System (LMS)? Will online education help developing countries increase access to a quality education for a larger percentage of the population?

MOOC – Massive Online Open Community

http://openeducationnews.org/2008/07/30/mooc-massive-open-online-course/

Africa Virtual University – http://www.avu.org/

Straighterline (99 dollars per month) – http://www.straighterline.com/

PLE vs. LMS

– http://terrya.edublogs.org/2006/01/09/ples-versus-lms-are-ples-ready-for-prime-time/

Sloan Consortium Reports – http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/index.asp 

CSCI 8970 – Colloquium Series – Fall 2010 – Eleventh Event
Tor and Censorship: Lessons Learned

Monday, November 22, 2010

Presenter: Roger Dingledine, the Tor Project

Roger Dingledine’s lecture dealt with the intricacies and changes that Tor has experienced since its development and the challenges it currently faces. To start, Roger explained the concept of Tor and how it allows through its relay operators and use of a anonymous network for users to browse the internet without being easily identified. Tor is a non profit organization that unlike other anonymity advocates, the Tor system does not generate a database. Tor has close to 500,000 users and it currently promotes its use to governments (for traffic-analysis resistance), to private citizens (for privacy), to businesses (for network security), and to human rights activists (for reachability). By contacting an ISP provider or a proxy provider, the FBI, the NSA, and other organizations are able to know what individuals or corporations are browsing for. By blending information together Tor provides anonymity and it is not possible for even the government or large corporations to know what a user is doing on the internet.

While Tor’s anonymity system would seem ideal for criminals, Roger argues that criminals already have in their arsenal the ability to steal computers, cell phones, develop Trojans, viruses, botnets, zombies, espionage, and extortion. Yes, while Tor could be used (and probably is used) by some criminals, to Mr. Dingledine, the benefits outweigh the negative consequences. Regarding its effectiveness, Roger reminded us that the larger the network, the more security that can be provided to users. Through the use of 3 hops, information is relayed and is hard to track .The basic Tor design uses a simple centralized directory protocol. Attackers can block users from connecting to the Tor network by blocking the directory authorities, by blocking all the relay IP addresses in the directory, by filtering based on Tor’s network fingerprint, or by preventing users from finding the Tor software, but Tor developers are constantly finding new ways in which to continue to provide anonymity.

Certain governments have blocked Tor with different degrees of efficiency. Yet despite government efforts, people in China and Iran still connect to Tor. China has traditionally blocked the program for periods of time and then unblocked it. By using bridges, people in China have continued to be able to use Tor after October 2009. If an individual wants to find a bridge, he can go to https://bridges.torproject.org/ and the site will tell one the addresses for a few bridges based on time and your IP address. Another way to find a bridge is to mail bridges@torproject.org from a gmail/yahoo address, and they’ll send one a few links. They can also be found through social networks, which can help create robust bridges. There are currently 500 bridges, but there is a need to speed the rate of change of IP addresses faster than they can be blocked. The main ways in which they are currently blocked is by block their IP address / port through a firewall. They also intercept DNS requests and give bogus responses or redirects. China searches for keywords in TCP packets. Iran uses DPI to filter SSL when they want (bought equipment from Nokia). Iran is currently putting their internet back online as they improve their capacity to monitor. Russia does not block, they simply pollute. Ninety percent of responses in forums are of people are paid by the government to disagree with other. Governments are increasingly buying fancier hardware and are using new filtering techniques that have spread through commercial (American) companies. To conclude, he mentioned how unsafe and impersonal the internet remains. Both Javascript and Flash are vulnerable. Some apps are bad at obeying their proxy settings and other programs particularly various Microsoft windows programs such as Microsoft Word that is actually a networked application compromise a user’s anonymity. Roger concluded by warning that the competition will only be increasingly more difficult. Technology is increasingly reducing privacy. According to Roger, Google is actually planning to replace still earth images with real time video of places around the globe. What are we heading into?

CSCI 8970 – Colloquium Series – Fall 2010 – Tenth Event
Data Mining Methods for Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships

Cray Distinguished Speaker Series

Monday, November 15, 2010

Presenter: Stefan Kramer, Technische Universität München

Dr. Kramer’s lecture focused on data mining methods for quantitative structure-activity relationships. He began the lecture by focusing on graph mining in which through a process that focuses on frequency and searching for patterns through different search strategies and the use of substructures in statistical learning models statistical data can be combined into structures such as (O)SAR models. Yet, while this technology is useful, it is also limited. Some of the limitations include long running times, excessive number of frequent or class-correlated substructures.

Consider the following task, given a database of tens of thousands (or more) structures, how can one find all the substructures that are over-represented in one class of activity and under-represented in another (produces bad results)? These are some of the questions his data mining team has attempted to improve upon. One of the goals is scalability by using a new practical class of substructures. This new practical class of substructures served as the backbone refinement classes (BBRC), i.e., trees sharing a common backbone. Then pick the most significant representative from this class. Latest structure of pattern mining included automatically discovering structural alerts. 3 steps: align, stack, compress. The results were for a blood-brain barrier, bioavailability.

When attempting to improve the reliability of (Q)SAR models, they concluded that the chemical space is messy. Structural clustering now uses local models. They create a training set (through a preprocessing) and then test the chemical space, diminishes the messiness. Testing it through the use of algorithms has shown that it improves on previous models. Fast conditional density estimation for QSARs relies on the prediction of distribution of activities that are not point estimates or of quantifying uncertainly. To do it faster, they are using general purpose machine learning as plug-in and ten use a histogram estimator. They use CED via class probabilities. They are equal-frequency binning. Method that provides class probability estimate using work for each training. The training time is roughly 100 times faster.

When taking in Account 3D information they address the following problems: theoretical: numerical refinement in ILP and Practical: pharmacophore discovery. With their OpenTox REST web service approach they use API, web services, domain dep./ independent, algorithms, ontologies, and used cases and demos. The target audience was composed of toxicologists, risk assessors, model builders, and computer scientists.

Regarding strategic context and goals, reach: possible reduction of test animals by using existing experimental data in conjunction with QSAR. There are also practical needs: reporting and form filling. By the OECD principles, a number of requirements to a framework like OpenTox arise. Some of its features include representational state transfer (REST): what and why? Architectural style for distributed information systems on the web, simple interfaces, data transfer via hypertext transfer protocol (GTTP), stateless.

Within the ontologies there were both formal, shared conceptualization of a domain, and distributed services need to be able to “talk to each other”, i.e. have a common understanding of endpoints, any type of property, methods, etc. Regarding their API, it was composed of a dataset with features and compounds. The interface definition can be found in the OpenTox website which can be used for distributed applications, integrating wide range of data, models, prediction methods and the integration into workflow systems for computational biology.

Dr. Kramer concluded by reviewing the data mining methods presented, the method-oriented work motivated by problems from implicated areas, the suitable representation of (2D and 3D) models, as well as still many interesting unsolved problems. OpenTox, by being available to anyone is increase the global access to knowledge. Although Dr. Kramer’s lecture hard to follow for individual for someone whose main field is computer science, they can be used on Youtube and other video up loaders.

Hope Ranch – Comparative Analysis Final

November 15, 2010

Hope Academy middle school’s norms and mission statement emphasized the importance of STEM subjects and a natural science focused curriculum. Promoting “love, order, progress” and encouraging obedience to rules, hard work, and diligence, the school supported a positivistic philosophy (Comte, 1848, p. 7).  Hope Academy’s administration had a scientific approach to education through which it attempted to educate all students and manage its staff. Despite having students and staff members from different cultures, backgrounds, environments, and world views, its scientific approach to education followed the premise of “one size fits all”.

The school emphasized obedience to superiors within a clearly delineated hierarchical structure. As argued by Weber (1922), “the authority to give the commands . . . [was] distributed in a stable way and is strictly delimited by rules” (Weber, p. 73). The rules by which the school was regulated were extensive. As Frederick Taylor (1926) suggested, both students and teachers had clear “daily written instructions . . .  detailing tasks and time allowances for each task” (Marion, 2002, p. 25). The high number of rules and strict regulations led to tension, a “hyperrationalization,” and irregular implementation of some rules (Ibid.). Yet policies were still strictly enforced by the foreign male staff members.

To increase efficiency and the quality of instruction, Hope Academy did not offer its staff tenure and teachers were evaluated regularly throughout the year. As a consequence, with no guarantee of a contract renewal, there was a high staff turnover rate during the first two years of operation. The lack of a tenure system and low financial remuneration decreased how much these positions were sought after (Marion, 2002).

Within the staff there was a clear bureaucratic division, a clear “office hierarchy . . . a firmly ordered system of super- and sub-ordination in which there is a supervision of the lower offices by the higher ones”  (Weber, 1922, p. 73). The school hoped to continue its initial success in FCAT examinations, and the natural science teachers experienced a closer relationship with the administration. As a STEM academy, the teachers of natural sciences regularly attended additional meetings with both the principal and the assistant principal in the principal’s office.

Since all the STEM teachers were foreign and male, out-group members had suspicions that they were being excluded for being American women. Aside from myself and a Turkish female foreign language teacher, the staff was divided into two groups. Emphasizing a scientific management approach, the administration gave limited attention to the needs and social pressures of the staff members, resulting in out-group staff members’ “soldering” or the deliberate decision of the workers to disregard norms and output requirements (Marion, 2002).

Elton Mayo (1945), who developed human relations theory, was concerned with developing policies that took into account the human needs of the worker. Working with General Electric, Mayo found that workers in groups often led their supervisor to believe their tasks were harder than they actually were to reduce their productivity (Marion, 2002; Trahair, 2005). Hope Academy did little to discourage “soldering,” encouraging the formation of two contrasting informal groups.

These two informal groups at Hope Academy shared two basic functions: “they provide[d] a social outlet for their participants, and they provide[d] greater control over the environments that they would have individually” (Marion, 2002, p. 54), yet they were very different in their demographics and methodology. The out-group at the school provided a space where the female American teachers and staff members could openly express their opinions about the school and their concerns about their lack of job security.

Conversations within the in-group were very different. Conducted in Turkish, what was discussed in STEM staff meeting remained part of the in-group knowledge. The accountant and the two male Turkish interns who were training to be elementary school teachers the upcoming year were, at times, invited. Yet, the female Turkish teacher was not a part of these meetings.

Interestingly, while the informal in-group had a clear leadership figure in the principal, there was not a leader in the out-group. Yet, while there was no organization in the opposition to the administration, the philosophical differences between the members of the staff confused the students as to what was acceptable behavior. The mixed signals sent to the student body, the clear division in teaching attitudes between groups, as well as their ethnic and gender differences, led students to declare allegiance to one group, usually the American teachers.

When analyzing the case through positivistic theories, it appears that most of the organization’s problems were the result of its management philosophy. Emphasizing a “lean and mean” format rather than “investing” in their workers, there was a high level of dissatisfaction at Hope Academy (Bolman & Deal, 2003). Had a more inclusive policy been promoted, out-groups may have lost influence. Nevertheless, while positivistic theories provide a descriptive analysis of what happened or could have happened, the use of such theories did not provide a macro understanding of why these events took place to begin with.

In order to address this issue, it is necessary to see the organization through culture and critical theory perspectives. Hope Academy was particularly influenced by larger societal differences. As Bolman and Deal (2003) state: “cultural conflict occurs between groups with differing values, traditions, beliefs, and lifestyles. Cultural conflict in the larger society is often imported into the workplace” (p. 198). At Hope Academy, the organizational culture developed from the interplay between the in / out group individuals’ cultural identities and their relationship with the organization’s norms and philosophy.

According to Schein (1993), a culture is summarized primarily by ten characteristics, which are: observed behavior regularities when people interact (staff interactions), group norms (interactions that are considered proper), espoused values (publicly announced principles), formal philosophy (broad ideological statements), rules of the game (The way things are usually done), climate (physical layout) and embedded skills (shared competencies by members of an organization), habits of thinking (construction of reality through language and culture), shared meaning (common understanding about certain things) and root metaphors (belief, rituals and organizational myths) (Schein, 1993; Marion, 2002).

While Hope Academy’s formal philosophy and espoused values were secular in nature and promoted a congenial interaction between workers, freedom of religion and tolerance across cultures, the climate and the group norms promoted by the in-group exacerbated the differences between them and the out-group at the school, marginalizing the former.

It was apparent that the group norms of the math and science teachers were different from the out-group norms. Students were dismissed from the math and science classroom for offenses that were not considered problematic in other classrooms. The STEM teachers were given smart boards before the rest of the staff and their classrooms were closer to the offices of the administration. Members of the in-group would communicate primarily with each other. Feeling alienated, the out-group was visibly dissatisfied. This climate of malaise and frustration among the out-group led a palpable decline in productivity.

The discrepancies between the out-group and in-group cultures contributed to the formation of a dysfunctional institutional culture (Marion, 2002). While cultures can increase efficiency and establish norms that will benefit most members of society, Pfeffer (1978) noticed that this relationship tends to be complex (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978; Marion, 2002). The fear of authority or promotion of traditional values could reduce an organization’s efficiency or damage the morale of its members (Marion, 2002). However, because of their different cultures, the administration may have believed, within their habits of thinking, that they were not promoting the formation of out in/out groups but rather acting for the common good.

While there were symbolic attempts by the administration to bridge the cultural divide, such as promoting an international day event and a trip to Atlanta for the Turkish Olimpiad, unifying events were sporadic and limited in scope. Out-group staff members were not asked for their opinions regarding administrative decisions. Compliance rather than cohesion was advocated by the administration. While culture can serve to “control aggression by distributing and legitimizing power and status” (Marion, 2002, p. 232), the clash of culture at Hope Academy resulted in instability and a “clash of civilizations” (Huntington, 1996).

The religious differences had been there before, but the organization had previously promoted a different culture, one without a conduct point system or cameras in every classroom.  Functioning as a “panopticon,” cameras promoted a sensation of constantly being monitored by the principal. Akin to Foucault’s (1984) “panopticon,” there were questions as to whether the cameras around the school recorded, yet despite the uncertainty, the devices encouraged everyone within the organization to follow its norms (Foucault, 1984).

Comprised mainly of first year teachers, with a one year contract, facing a limited economic market and under surveillance, out-group teachers were practically “powerless”. Being closely coupled and monitored, staff members could not act freely and use the methods they considered most suitable for their work. The tightly coupled nature of Hope Academy exacerbated conflict within the organization (Weick, 2001). In addition to the use of cameras, teachers were required to provide a detailed plan of each class, which included a minute by minute activity breakdown.

Aside from cultural differences, conflict within the school was a struggle for power. The power relationships within the school are best analyzed through critical theory (Marion, 2002; Bolman and Deal, 2003). More than efficiency, the administration wanted to exert its control. As Pfeffer (1997) stated, “control, not efficiency, is the objective of organizing arrangements and . . . when there are trade-offs involved, efficiency concerns are frequently subservient to the achievement of control over the labor process” (Pfeffer, 1997, p. 180). In accordance with Pfeffer’s (1997) four categories of control, the principal at Hope Academy could overrule any decision made by another staff member, staff members in the school were not part of the teacher’s union, a large amount of money was spent on control mechanisms, and the school focused primarily on teaching the FCAT and improving test scores.

From a feminist critical theory perspective, it is revealing to note that Hope Academy had no plans to hire women for administrative or STEM teaching positions, despite the fact that within the out-group, most of the women had obtained degrees at American institutions and had student taught before obtaining their teaching license. Two of the women were finishing their graduate degrees. By contrast, most of the in-group men did not have any prior form of teaching experience and only the assistant principal had attended graduate school.

The use of both positivistic and anti-positivistic theories allows for a more comprehensive analysis of the conflict within the organization by providing both a micro and macro perspective on the case study. Through a positivistic perspective, it could be concluded that positions within the organization were partly the result of merit or longevity by some members of the staff as well as school’s prioritization of the study of math and natural sciences. The greater importance given to STEM subjects resulted in its instructors having a more direct and reciprocal relationship with the principal and assistant principal.

Yet from the anti-positivistic discussion it can be seen that issues such as cultural differences, gender differences, religious differences, and conflicting worldviews encouraged the development of in-groups and out-groups. This resulted in certain staff members holding particular positions within the administration, not as a result of their credentials but rather due to cultural similarities with the principal. While the previous administration had harnessed the diversity of the staff to improve the educational experience of the students at the school, the new leadership did little to discourage the formation of negative informal groups, and Hope Academy transformed into a conflictive rather than nurturing learning environment.

Works Cited

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2003). Reframing Organizations: Artistry, Choice, and Leadership. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Comte, A. (1848). A General View of Positivism. London: Routledge and Sons.

Foucault, M. (1984). The Foucault Reader. New York: Pantheon Books.

Huntington, S. P. (1996). Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order. New York: Touchstone.

Marion, R. (2002). Leadership in Education. Long Grove: Waveland Press, Inc.

Pfeffer, J. (1997). New Directions for Organization Theory: Problems and Prospects. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). External Control of Organizations: A Resource Dependence Perspective. In J. Sharfritz, S. Ott, & Y. Suk Jang, Classics of Organization Theory (pp. 521-532). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

Schein, E. H. (1993). Defining Organizational Culture. In J. Sharfritz, S. Ott, & Y. Suk Jang, Classics of Organization Theory (pp. 360-367). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

Trahair, R. C. (2005). Elton Mayo: The Humanist Temper. New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

Weber, M. (1922). Bureaucracy. In J. Sharfritz, S. Ott, & Y. Suk Jang, Classics of Organization Theory (pp. 73-78). Belmont: Thomson Wadsworth.

Weick, K. E. (2001). Making Sense of the Organization. Malden: Blackwell Publishers.

Using the concepts of Memes, Design, and Culture, please construct a 3-page DramaTech in which you act as national-level consultant to the Dominican Republic for the purpose of helping that entity create its projected 22nd Century before 2050.

You should quickly review which sections of your previous readings have relevance for this assignment, and you should bring your work into a synergistic relationship with your term paper project.

November 15, 2010

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Scenario: By using a future oriented development plan, the Dominican Republic has achieved a higher standard of living than most countries in the region and the world. Seen as the pearl of the Caribbean, it is difficult to ignore the advantages that the Dominican Republic has over other countries in the region. In addition, the Dominican Republic along with other Latin American countries to bring Haiti out of the pervasiveness of poverty. Haiti, the first Latin American country to become independent in 1811 has not faced a major humanitarian crisis in 20 years. What’s more, the partnership between Haiti and the Dominican Republic has led to a further blending of cultures as more Haitian move to the Dominican Republic and vice versa. Who would have thought that the countries which at various epochs were at war or conflict now strengthen one another?

To continue with the successful development the Dominican Republic will continue to promote a sustainable innovation driven society. Through its use of sustainable technologies and state of the art architecture, a plentitude of people living in less tropical places in the world would love to have access to its beach front property. Unfortunately for late comers, immigration to the island has become increasingly difficult. Through the use of satellites and biometric identification methods illegal immigrants face greater difficulties than before. Also, most of the best available property is owned by wealthy Dominicans. Luckily for visitors, a large number of very attractive locations remained available for tourists to visit. Tourism, the industry which provided the surplus capital that allowed for universal higher education to spread throughout the island continues to be a major industry in the Dominican Republic. As an extension to its fancy resorts and hotels, the Dominican Republic developed a large number of theme parks and stadiums. Currently no Latin American country is as attractive to tourists as the Dominican Republic.

AJSC – National-Level Consultant:

Having achieved the national goal of universal open higher education and having a per capita income level of 45,000 dollars a year, our goal now must be to continue with our previous success and design an environment in which Dominicans are happier and living longer than before. Also, accidents continue to be a major cause of tragedy in our society. Having eradicated poverty and with a average life expectancy of 115 years, it is our goal to further increase life expectancy to 130 years by the year 2075. To meet our goals, cancers research, body regeneration, and natural disaster prevention need to continue to improve.

The Robots, Androids and Cyborgs (RAC) Council believes more needs to be done against anti-machine activists. Since the introduction of advanced AI, terrorism has increased globally as a reaction to the increasing number of intelligent machines being produced and developed. After the introduction of the knowledge enhancer and connectivity brain implant (KECBI), which allows for individuals to have an automatic basic understanding of most traditional knowledge fields as well as to virtually link with databases and communicate with anyone globally without the use of other equipment,  more and more humans have decided to become cyborgs and have been increasingly attacked by individuals who consider such modifications “unholy”, “decadent” and “violating what it means to be human”. The Dominican Republic must continue to support the RAC Council in promoting understanding, cooperation and peace between different reason capable organisms.  Information within KECBI is constantly reorganized through a remotely updated algorithm highlighting memes that are of current relevance and importance.

Minister of Education and Knowledge:

I am aware of these problems, yet why are you so sure that this is the avenue to follow? There has been a strong reaction by the Catholic Church and other conservative groups who feel that if we do not place limits, there will increasingly be knowledge inequalities and erosion of what traditionally constituted a human being.

AJSC – National-Level Consultant:

Since most of the implants can be used best by individuals who were implanted at an earlier age, and not everyone has access to implants (by choice or by financial limitations), as we move away from a credentialist society into a society that individuals are assessed regularly solely for their job performance, our economy would suffer if parents cannot purchase implants for their children when they are young. If we do not meet this need, the government would have to expand in order to provide the longer schooling required for children without implants. The needs of these two groups are very different. Individuals with access to advanced technologies are taught to use their knowledge repositories, why they must obey the law and to act ethically. We need to continue to subsidize implants so that they are accessible to everyone in society.

Stakeholders (Citizens, Congress): Results from a recent poll show that a large number of individuals support implants being subsidized. They are also concerned with a mass failure of the implants which could in the worst case scenario kill everyone using an implant. It is necessary to develop both different types of implants with similar capacities to KECBI and continue researching potential health consequences. If support for these issues is perceived in the poll, it is likely that new legislature in support for subsidies will be introduced.

Minister of Education and Knowledge:

The University of the Dominican Republic which develops an index of memes that are relevant to Dominican society is also supportive of the government promotion of KECBI and its subsidy at a national level. Developing new technologies at an exponential rate, the Dominican Republic is experiencing a singularity of innovation. The president of the university recently argued that “It is becoming increasingly difficult keep up with the rapidly changing world without the use of KECBI or similar knowledge implants. To avoid a tragedy of culture and to steer the country adequately into the 22^nd century, implants must be made available to everyone in society irrespective of their economic condition. Failure to do so will result in increase alienation from a sector of society and conflict as more individuals attempt to return to a less technological world.”

AJSC – National-Level Consultant:

We need to continue to move forward together as a country. Subsidizing KECBI will allow us to most adequately meet the challenges of tomorrow without limiting our growth and development by spending our time and energy diffusing the conflict generated by the reaction against new technologies. We are divided between a large number of scenarios and possible futures, yet those that promote unity rather than division are likely to bring greater aggregate returns. We must also continue to help Haiti, and if possible allow all Haitians access to KECBI technologies. (The United Nations and its department of Open Knowledge also partnered with KECBI to reduce its costs and increase global access to the technology)

Hope Academy – Comparative Analysis 

November 15, 2010

Hope Academy middle school’s norms and mission statement emphasized the importance of STEM subjects and a natural science focused curriculum. Promoting “love, order, progress” and encouraging obedience to rules, hard work, and diligence, the school supported a positivistic philosophy (Comte, 1848, p. 7).  Hope Academy’s administration had a scientific approach to education through which it attempted to educate all students and manage its staff. Despite having students and staff members from different cultures, backgrounds, environments, and world views, its scientific approach to education followed the premise of “one size fits all”.

The school emphasized obedience to superiors within a clearly delineated hierarchical structure. As argued by Weber (1964), “the authority to give the commands . . . (was) distributed in a stable way and is strictly delimited by rules” (p. 73). The rules by which the school was regulated were extensive. As Frederick Taylor (1926) suggested, both students and teachers had clear “daily written instructions . . .  detailing tasks and time allowances for each task” (Marion, 2002. p. 25). The high number of rules and strict regulations led to tension, a “hyperrationalization,” and irregular implementation of some rules (Ibid.). Yet policies were still strictly enforced by the foreign male staff members.

To increase efficiency and the quality of instruction, Hope Academy did not offer its staff tenure and teachers were evaluated regularly throughout the year. As a consequence, with no guarantee of a contract renewal, there was a high staff turnover rate during the first two years of operation. The lack of a tenure system and low financial remuneration decreased how much these positions were sought after (Weber, 1964 in Shafritz et al 2005, p. 74).

Within the staff there was a clear bureaucratic division, a clear “office hierarchy . . . a firmly ordered system of super- and sub-ordination in which there is a supervision of the lower offices by the higher ones” (Weber, 1964, p. 73). The school hoped to continue its initial success in FCAT examinations, and the natural science teachers experienced a closer relationship with the administration. As a STEM academy, the teachers of natural sciences regularly attended additional meetings with both the principal and the assistant principal in the principal’s office.

Since all the STEM teachers were foreign and male, out-group members had suspicions that they were being excluded for being American women. Aside from myself and a Turkish female foreign language teacher, the staff was divided into two groups. Emphasizing a scientific management approach, the administration gave limited attention to the needs and social pressures of the staff members, resulting in out-group staff members’ “soldering” or the deliberate decision of the workers to disregard norms and output requirements (Marion, 2002).

Elton Mayo, who developed human relations theory, was concerned with developing policies that took into account the human needs of the worker. Working with General Electric, Mayo found that workers in groups often led their supervisor to believe their tasks were harder than they actually were to reduce their productivity (Marion, 2002). Hope Academy did little to discourage “soldering,” encouraging the formation of two contrasting informal groups.

These two informal groups at Hope Academy shared two basic functions: “they provide(d) a social outlet for their participants, and they provide(d) greater control over the environments that they would have individually” (Marion, 2002; p 54), yet they were very different in their demographics and methodology. The out-group at the school provided a space where the female American teachers and staff members could openly express their opinions about the school and their concerns about their lack of job security.

Conversations within the in-group were very different. Conducted in Turkish, what was discussed in STEM staff meeting remained part of the in-group knowledge. The accountant and the two male Turkish interns who were training to be elementary school teachers the upcoming year were, at times, invited. Yet, the female Turkish teacher was not a part of these meetings.

Interestingly, while the informal in-group had a clear leadership figure in the principal, there was not a leader in the out-group. Yet, while there was no organization in the opposition to the administration, the philosophical differences between the members of the staff confused the students as to what was acceptable behavior. The mixed signals sent to the student body, the clear division in teaching attitudes between groups, as well as their ethnic and gender differences, led students to declare allegiance to one group, usually the American teachers.

When analyzing the case through positivistic theories, it appears that most of the organization’s problems were the result of its management philosophy. Emphasizing a “lean and mean” format rather than “investing” in their workers, there was a high level of dissatisfaction at Hope Academy (Bolman and Deal, 2003). Had a more inclusive policy been promoted, out-groups may have lost influence. Nevertheless, while positivistic theories provide a descriptive analysis of what happened or could have happened, the use of such theories did not provide a macro understanding of why these events took place to begin with.

In order to address this issue, it is necessary to see the organization through culture and critical theory perspectives. Hope Academy was particularly influenced by larger societal differences. As Bolman and Deal (2003) state: “cultural conflict occurs between groups with differing values, traditions, beliefs, and lifestyles. Cultural conflict in the larger society is often imported into the workplace” (p. 198). At Hope Academy, the organizational culture developed from the interplay between the in / out group individuals’ cultural identities and their relationship with the organization’s norms and philosophy.

According to Schein (1992), a culture is summarized primarily by ten characteristics, which are: observed behavior regularities when people interact (staff interactions), group norms (interactions that are considered proper), espoused values (publicly announced principles), formal philosophy (broad ideological statements), rules of the game (The way things are usually done), climate (physical layout) and embedded skills (shared competencies by members of an organization), habits of thinking (construction of reality through language and culture), shared meaning (common understanding about certain things) and root metaphors (belief, rituals and organizational myths) (ibid, p. 10; Marion, 2002, p. 228).

While Hope Academy’s formal philosophy and espoused values were secular in nature and promoted a congenial interaction between workers, freedom of religion and tolerance across cultures, the climate and the group norms promoted by the in-group exacerbated the differences between them and the out-group at the school, marginalizing the former.

It was apparent that the group norms of the math and science teachers were different from the out-group norms. Students were dismissed from the math and science classroom for offenses that were not considered problematic in other classrooms. The STEM teachers were given smart boards before the rest of the staff and their classrooms were closer to the offices of the administration. Members of the in-group would communicate primarily with each other. Feeling alienated, the out-group was visibly dissatisfied. This climate of malaise and frustration among the out-group led a palpable decline in productivity.

The discrepancies between the out-group and in-group cultures contributed to the formation of a dysfunctional institutional culture (Marion, 2002). While cultures can increase efficiency and establish norms that will benefit most members of society, Pfeffer (1997) noticed that this relationship “is often complex” (Pfeffer, 1997, p. 122 in Marion, 2002, p. 235). The fear of authority or promotion of traditional values could reduce an organization’s efficiency or damage the morale of its members (Marion, 2002). However, because of their different cultures, the administration may have believed, within their habits of thinking, that they were not promoting the formation of out in/out groups but rather acting for the common good.

While there were symbolic attempts by the administration to bridge the cultural divide, such as promoting an international day event and a trip to Atlanta for the Turkish Olimpiad, unifying events were sporadic and limited in scope. Out-group staff members were not asked for their opinions regarding administrative decisions. Compliance rather than cohesion was advocated by the administration. While culture can serve to “control aggression by distributing and legitimizing power and status” (Marion, 2002, p. 232), the clash of culture at Hope Academy resulted in instability and a “clash of civilizations” (Huntington, 1996).

The religious differences had been there before, but the organization had previously promoted a different culture, one without a conduct point system or cameras in every classroom.  Functioning as a “panopticon,” cameras promoted a sensation of constantly being monitored by the principal. Akin to Foucault’s (1997) “panopticon,” there were questions as to whether the cameras around the school recorded, yet despite the uncertainty, the devices encouraged everyone within the organization to follow its norms.

Comprised mainly of first year teachers, with a one year contract, facing a limited economic market and under surveillance, out-group teachers were practically “powerless”. Being closely coupled and monitored, staff members could not act freely and use the methods they considered most suitable for their work. The tightly coupled nature of Hope Academy exacerbated conflict within the organization (Weick, 1978). In addition to the use of cameras, teachers were required to provide a detailed plan of each class, which included a minute by minute activity breakdown.

Aside from cultural differences, conflict within the school was a struggle for power. The power relationships within the school are best analyzed through critical theory (Marion, 2002; Bolman and Deal, 2003). More than efficiency, the administration wanted to exert its control. As Pfeffer (1997) stated, “control, not efficiency, is the objective of organizing arrangements and . . . when there are trade-offs involved, efficiency concerns are frequently subservient to the achievement of control over the labor process” (Pfeffer, 1997, p. 180 in Marion, 2002, p. 256).

In accordance with Pfeffer’s (1997) four categories of control, the principal at Hope Academy could overrule any decision made by another staff member, staff members in the school were not part of the teacher’s union, a large amount of money was spent on control mechanisms, and the school focused primarily on teaching the FCAT and improving test scores.

From a feminist critical theory perspective, it is revealing to note that Hope Academy had no plans to hire women for administrative or STEM teaching positions, despite the fact that within the out-group, most of the women had obtained degrees at American institutions and had student taught before obtaining their teaching license. Two of the women were finishing their graduate degrees. By contrast, most of the in-group men did not have any prior form of teaching experience and only the assistant principal had attended graduate school.

The use of both positivistic and anti-positivistic theories allows for a more comprehensive analysis of the conflict within the organization by providing both a micro and macro perspective on the case study. Through a positivistic perspective, it could be concluded that positions within the organization were partly the result of merit or longevity by some members of the staff as well as school’s prioritization of the study of math and natural sciences. The greater importance given to STEM subjects resulted in its instructors having a more direct and reciprocal relationship with the principal and assistant principal.

Yet from the anti-positivistic discussion it can be seen that issues such as cultural differences, gender differences, religious differences, and conflicting worldviews encouraged the development of in-groups and out-groups. This resulted in certain staff members holding particular positions within the administration, not as a result of their credentials but rather due to cultural similarities with the principal. While the previous administration had harnessed the diversity of the staff to improve the educational experience of the students at the school, the new leadership did little to discourage the formation of negative informal groups, and Hope Academy transformed into a conflictive rather than nurturing learning environment.

Journals and Goals

November 13, 2010

Journals:

Comparative Education Society

Comparative Education

International Education

The International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning

The Open Education Journal

Latin America Research Review

Latin American Perspectives

Associations

CIES – Comparative and International Education Society

LASA – Latin American Studies Association

IATED – International Association for Technology, Education and Development

ISTE – International Society for Technology in Education

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Plan / Meetings

Submit abstract to CIES conference

Submit abstract to INTED (IATED) conference

Meet with Dr. Chapman once more this semester

Meet with Dr. Doering regarding an Online Education Certificate

Meet with Dr. Harkins about the innovation lab and future studies

Meet with Dr. Fry

The “Digital Divide”: Present, Futures, and Development Implications

The “digital divide,” a term coined in the late 20th century, highlights the growing disparity in access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) between and within countries (Norris, 2001; Compaine, 2001; Warschauer, 2003).  This concept, its meaning, and its implications for states across the world have been topics of widespread research and debate since the beginning of the 21^st century (OECD, 2000; Attewell, 2001; Goldfarb & Prince, 2007; Katz, 2008; Trucano, 2005; Mar, 2004; Chapman & Mahlck, 2004). Within the United States and abroad, public libraries and public computing centers have attempted to diminish the gap between technology haves and have nots, but some areas, and some people, still lack access to computers, broadband internet, and even mobile phones (Krebeck, 2010; InfoDev, 2010; The Economist, 2010; The Economist, 2005; Richardson et al., 2000). In addition, while the use of mobile phones is growing; smart phones remain inaccessible for the majority of individuals in developing countries. Nevertheless, it is unclear whether reducing these inequalities will help countries “develop” and “modernize” or whether it will increase reliance on imports, and promote capital flight while perpetuating global inequities. This essay evaluates ICTs through three different paradigms: modern cultural perspective, conflict paradigm, and post-modern paradigm.

In a post-modern critique, Warschauer (2003) criticized the discourse of the “digital divide” and contended that the term should not be seen as a binary conception. He argued that such a notion “can even be patronizing because it fails to value the social resources that diverse groups bring to the table” (pg 7). The relationship between different groups of people and technologies vary and the development of a new technology does not by definition imply a benefit to the society. Warschauer (2003) reminds us of that technology is not a panacea. The material realities of ICTs extend beyond the discourse and its semantics (Peet & Hartwick, 2009). The unequal access to ICTs helps to perpetuate the economic differences between the core and periphery states, as the periphery continues to be dependent on the industries and products developed as a result of the knowledge accumulated by the core (Peet & Hartwick, 2009).

One of the primary reasons for the difficulties faced by poorer states in catching up with richer states has been the rapid, usually exponential, rate of innovation in technology through improvements in circuit technology. Since 1965, Moore’s law, or the exponential rate of technological innovation, continues to be supported by quantitative studies (Schaller, 1997; Kurzweil, 2005). Countries have increased their access to technology worldwide, yet the “divide” is a dynamic concept that changes as new technologies develop.

In a study of 179 countries, Norris (2001) illustrated that there were three main “digital divides”, one between countries, or a “global divide”, one between social classes, or a “social divide,” and one between those who use resources and those that do not, or a “democratic divide.” Access to ICTs could be categorized in a different number of ways, and Norris’ categories highlight some of the differing implications of the “divide” depending on how it is conceptualized. It is also important to note that, similar to the use of the term “globalization,” the division between “information haves” and the “have-nots” is not a new concept; rather modern technologies have accentuated historical trends (Friedman, 2007; Sheppard et al., 2009; Compaine, 2001).

ICTs allow people to connect instantaneously worldwide, flattening certain aspects of international trade and communication (Friedman, 2007). Individuals can now find information about a large number of subjects without going to a library. Technology has transformed society, and it will continue to do so for years to come, and at a very fast pace. As such, Friedman (2007), along with other modern cultural paradigm writers, have encouraged countries to invest in ICTs (Steinmueller, 2001; Friedman, 2007; Norris, 2001). Investments in ICTs are seen as a “stage” or objective to be met for a country to modernize and develop.

The rapid growth of ICT industries and their implications for states have led to transformational changes in society (Moravec, 2009). The first Apple personal computer, Apple Lisa, was released in 1984, the internet was created in 1990 by Tim Berners-Lee, and the first mobile phone was developed by Motorola in 1974. Within just a few decades, mobile phone subscriptions extended from 12.4 million in 1990 to an expected 4.6 billion by 2009, the internet has reached most places in the world, and “research firm Gartner, Inc., predicts that there will be 2 billion computers in use worldwide by the year 2014” (Katz, 2008) (Heeks, 2008) (International Telecommunication Union, 2010). Despite the dot-com bubble (1995-2000) and subsequent stock crash in the year 2000, technology industries and their stocks rebounded and have kept rising. Apple and Microsoft stocks are currently valued at over 200 billion dollars, a figure that Google may soon also reach (Satariano, 2010). Facebook, a social network site which launched only in 2004, already has an estimated value of over 30 billion dollars (Hardy, 2010).

In some fields, ICTs have brought very positive changes such as improvements in disability learning tools, distance education tools, long distance communications, and media creation. In various areas of the world citizens are becoming amateur reporters, recording and blogging about events that repressive governments attempt to censor (Diamond, 2010). Yet despite a large number of positive possibilities, some of these technologies are used to a large extent for entertainment purposes.

One of the greatest beneficiaries of the growing use of ICTs has been the video game industry. It alone  has grown tremendously in recent years –  from 10 billion in 1990, to 20 billion in 2000, to 50 billion in 2010 (Chatfield, 2010). Alongside it, video game addiction is increasingly considered by some as a medical condition (American Psychiatric Association, 2007). One of 10 youth gamers between 8 and 18 was considered addicted to video games according to an Iowa State University study (Gentile, 2009).  With today’s youth estimated to spend an average of 10,000 hours playing video games, sending and receiving over 200,000 emails, watching over 20,000 hours of television, and 10,000 hours talking on digital phones before they turn 21 (Prensky, 2003) (McGonigal, 2010); ICTs do not seem to be primarily being used for learning, particularly within traditional formal education. Video games may, in the future, be seen as a way to better engage students and help them learn certain topics effortlessly or without feeling as if one is learning, yet they currently serve primarily as a distraction to formal learning.

From a conflict theory perspective, as long as states remain primarily importers of technology, rather than developers and producers, ICTs will perpetuate inequality. When the technologies are fully appropriated and the local population not only modifies and improves on the technology, but generates new technologies, the “digital divide” and knowledge dependency will diminish. Conflict paradigm theorists such as Carlos Torres (1998) and Robert Arnove (2001) criticized the asymmetrical and negative effects globalization has had in poorer states and the implications for the implications for their education systems (Torres & Arnove, 2007; Arnove, 2001; Torres C. A., 1998). To reduce inequality, education policy experts should focus on increasing access to Open Education Resources (OER) rather than simply attempting to “catch up” with richer societies by emulating their current use of ICTs (Downes, 2007).

As Schultz (1971) contended, states can benefit from investing in education and developing their human capital resources (Schultz, 1971). Schultz (1971) and other modern cultural paradigm theorists such as Rostow (1960) and Sachs (2005) remained hopeful about the ability of states to develop through investments in human capital and diminishing trade barriers (Peet & Hartwick, 2009). While inequalities remain, Sachs (2005) argued that aggregate conditions for humans across the globe have improved during the past decades. Variables such as life expectancy and access to education have improved worldwide, meaning that an average man in Africa today lives better than an average western European man in the 1820s. To Sachs (2005), technology has resulting in a “cascade of technological change” (Sachs, 2005, p. 42).

Yet, human capital has not always provided the rapid returns to investment that were expected. Despite substantial investments in primary and secondary education in Africa during the past four decades the economic returns have been minimal (Easterly, 2002). This has been partly the result of the large gap in education and training. While Education for All (EFA) focused on increasing access to primary education across the world, advanced economies are trying to increase their higher education enrollment and graduation rates. Whereas Friedman (2007) and Sachs (2005) tend to emphasize the positive aspects of globalization, other modern cultural scholars such as Stiglitz (2003) have been more critical of globalization and promote a Keynesian approach to economic development (Stiglitz, 2003).

The proper use of ICTs could help bridge the knowledge and information gap, and aid in achieving a “new stage” of development. Countries could leapfrog past other states through a not yet developed, advanced system of online education which builds and intertwines aspects of Open Education Resources such as OpenCourseWare, Open Source Software, Open Universities, Open Books, Open Access Journals, Creative Commons licenses, and the cumulative creations made through Open Resource Economics (Jonestone, 2005; Downes, 2007; Benkler, 2008). By following Ted Berners-Lee’s call to “raw data now” and taking advance of free materials such as YouTube EDU, ITunes U, Connexions, as well as the future development of more open and freely accessible universities, poor states could use the internet to perhaps eventually provide higher education for all, lifelong learning for all, and break away from the high costs associated with higher education and chains of credentialism (UNESCO, 2009; Faber, 2002; Lubas et al., 2004; Baraniuk, 2006; Berners-Lee, 2009). By using ICTs to create a more open and equitable society, and increase the local development of knowledge, states following a conflict theory approach, could move towards the development of “critical consciousness” and create their own path toward the future (Freire, 1974).  As another scholar within the conflict paradigm, Rodney (1972) emphasized it is important to use the tools of advanced countries primarily for one’s benefit, rather than continuing to fuel a dependent relationship with wealthier economies (Rodney, 1972).

In a post-modern perspective, the growing use of technologies will also allow for the strengthening of local voices, and to move away from the politics of knowledge and the professionalization of development. ICTs are increasingly allowing its users to “rip”, “copy”, “reuse”, “mix”, and “burn” (Baraniuk, 2006). As Napster and peer-to-peer sharing transformed the Music industry, OER may transform our understanding of education. In his recent book, The Tower and The Cloud, Richard Katz (2008) wondered whether: “if a 300-year-old institution like Encyclopedia Britannica [could] be threatened in five years by Wikipedia, [could] other aggregators of expertise (aka colleges and universities be similarly challenged?” (Katz, 2008).

Yet, more than a challenge, OER offers an alternative. OER can help local communities preserve their documents, materials, and extend the reach of their limited human capital through initiatives such as HP Brain Gain, the African Virtual University initiative, and other programs which focus on increasing access to education for all. Rice University Connexions initiative of free textbook materials allow for the customization of chapters, free digital access to quality educational resources, and printing of cheaper materials (Connexions, 2006).

Sen’s (1999) human development writings promoted a local discussion of what “capabilities” were relevant for every community. Sen argued that “capabilities” should be decided upon by the local “voice”, through an open debate (Sen, 1999). Latin American countries, including the Dominican Republic, could use ICTs to include local “voices”, and reduce inequalities. The decision regarding whether or not to introduce new technologies should be carefully scrutinized, as they could also increase inequality and further marginalize local voices. ICTs should be used by the local community to amplify the reach of and dissemination of the local discourse, and thereby increasing its power and influence (Foucault, 1970).

Through INDOTEL, la Camara TIC and a number of small NGOs, the Dominican Republic has attempted to reduce the digital divide. Among the recent impacts of ICTs in the Dominican Republic is the growing access to mobile technology. According to INDOTEL (2010), in the Dominican Republic the use of mobile phones has grown rapidly and there is a currently a rate of 0.91 cellular phones per person. Internet use has rapidly expanded in recent years, from 183.687 Internet accounts in 2006 to 508.603 Internet accounts by June 2010 (INDOTEL, 2010). Based on the average users per Internet connection, INDOTEL believes that 33% of Dominicans, or 3,214,371 people, had access to the Internet by June 2010. Yet, how are ICTs being used in the Dominican Republic? Are they increasing or decreasing inequality? What are their implications for education? What are the government’s objectives and how does the Second Plan Decenal (2008-2018) address and integrate ICTs within its education development plan?

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