One of my most recent OER projects has been working with Michigan State University’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. In this pilot project we have captured a series of talks on issues and challenges facing Latin America. Here’s the press release:
June 10, 2010
EAST LANSING, Mich. — To address the social, educational and health inequalities in Latin America, Michigan State University has launched a virtual resource aimed at educating a variety of stakeholders, including educators and policy makers.
Latin America Learning is an open education resource, meaning the public has free access to information and can repurpose it.
A pilot project of MSU’s Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the site provides a virtual hub of material provided by nearly 150 scholars and practitioners who participated in the two-day symposium, “Regional Identity in Times of Globalization,” held at MSU in April.
CLACS is working with MSUglobal Learning Ventures, an entrepreneurial business unit at MSU, to develop effective practices for sharing information.
“MSU fosters on-the-ground solutions and scholarship with students, faculty and colleagues around the world,” said Chris Geith, assistant provost and executive director of MSUglobal. “Open Educational Resources enable us to have an even greater impact by inviting everyone to engage with us by redistributing and remixing these materials for their own purposes.”
CLACS is currently inviting researchers and academics from around the world to contribute to the resource. Latin America Learning currently includes material produced by MSU, Cornell University; Tulane University; W. K. Kellogg Foundation; Centro de Investigaciones Regionales of the Autonomous University of Yucatan; the Integrated Family Development System in Yucatán; CIESAS-Sureste; El Colegio de la Frontera Sur; Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México; and Universidade Federal da Bahía.
“This project is particularly timely,” said Robert Blake, director of the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. “Often overlooked, much of Latin America is on a path of democratic reformism, which can offer aspirations for communities in parallel situations around the world.”
