Cuba USA
The Khan Academy is arguably the most important source of online learning on the Internet. Over 39 million teachers and learners have used their collection of 57 innovative, highly modular courses for students from grade school to university.
The Open Courseware site of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hosts teaching material that has been used in over 2,300 classes during the last 15 years. The material has been provided by professors in 31 departments (not all technical) and is viewed by over 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
Online access to these sites is impossible for the vast majority of Cubans, but there are offline versions of both.
These could be used by individuals for self-study or installed on local area networks in schools, universities, Youth Computer Clubs, etc. and accessed offline. The site software and teaching content could be distributed on portable drives. An Internet connection would be needed for periodic updates -- MIT recommends a connection speed of at least 1 mbit/second. Updates could be distributed on portable drives to users without connectivity.
I've summarized this proposal in a few sentences, but nationwide, regular distribution would require organization and support. Could a Cuban University, the Youth Clubs or the Ministry of Education create El Paquete Educativo?
Cuba would become more than a consumer of educational material. Necessity is the mother of invention and Cubans have developed innovative solutions -- the Youth Clubs, offline software, El Paquete Semanal, "frankenstein" motor bikes, etc. for themselves and others. (ELAM, the Latin American Medical School comes to mind -- watch this TED Talk if you are not familiar with it).
Similarly Cuba could be a source of Spanish-language educational content. This is a time of global innovation in online education and the institutions surrounding it. Exposure to software like MIT's Open Courseware or the Khan Academy would inspire Cuban developers and educators.
I have posted short descriptions of the Khan Academy and MIT's Open Courseware Project online. If you have good Internet connectivity, you can also visit their sites -- MIT Open Courseware, the Khan Academy in Englsih and the Khan Academy in Spanish.
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Update 3/29/2016
You can see a Spanish translation of this post at:
http://laredcubana.blogspot.com/2015/10/trying-to-clarify-latest-u-s-opening-to.html
- Paquete Semanal, S. A.
A legitimatized "Paquete Semanal, S. A." could distribute Netflix content in Cuba today. To the extent that we are allowed to see it, Cuba's plan for the Internet focuses on connectivity in homes and public places and support of areas that are considered...
- Cuban Apps In Google's (or Anyone Else's) Online Store?
A Google delegation, led by Scott Carpenter, Deputy Director of Google Ideas, and Brett Perlmutter, who had accompanied Eric Schmidt on his Cuban visit earlier this year, is in Cuba. They have visited two important technical universities and some of the...
- Cuba's Sneaker Net
Yaima Pardo, 34, in her home in Cuba as she describes her project PaSA (Paquete Semanal Autnomo), an independent weekly digital-media package for CubaA recent article (English or Spanish) describes the black market distribution of music, soap operas,...
- Is The U. S. Blocking Cuban Internet Access?
In a recent post, I looked into the charge that Coursera had blocked access to their educational material at the request of the U. S. Government. Subsequently, Cartas Desde Cuba charged that the US Government had ordered satellite ISPs to block access...
- How Does One Post Material On The Cuban "sneaker Net?"
Warhol P has written a Havana Times post on the Cuban "sneaker net" -- the circulation of movies, TV shows, software, etc. on flash and hard disk drives. He reports prices of 50 Cuban Pesos (around $2) for 80 to 500 gigabytes of material and 10 Cuban...
Cuba USA
Teaching material for Cuba -- El Paquete Educativo?
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| Locations of deploying organizations and installations of the offline Khan Academy. |
The Khan Academy is arguably the most important source of online learning on the Internet. Over 39 million teachers and learners have used their collection of 57 innovative, highly modular courses for students from grade school to university.
The Open Courseware site of the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) hosts teaching material that has been used in over 2,300 classes during the last 15 years. The material has been provided by professors in 31 departments (not all technical) and is viewed by over 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
Online access to these sites is impossible for the vast majority of Cubans, but there are offline versions of both.
These could be used by individuals for self-study or installed on local area networks in schools, universities, Youth Computer Clubs, etc. and accessed offline. The site software and teaching content could be distributed on portable drives. An Internet connection would be needed for periodic updates -- MIT recommends a connection speed of at least 1 mbit/second. Updates could be distributed on portable drives to users without connectivity.
I've summarized this proposal in a few sentences, but nationwide, regular distribution would require organization and support. Could a Cuban University, the Youth Clubs or the Ministry of Education create El Paquete Educativo?
Cuba would become more than a consumer of educational material. Necessity is the mother of invention and Cubans have developed innovative solutions -- the Youth Clubs, offline software, El Paquete Semanal, "frankenstein" motor bikes, etc. for themselves and others. (ELAM, the Latin American Medical School comes to mind -- watch this TED Talk if you are not familiar with it).
Similarly Cuba could be a source of Spanish-language educational content. This is a time of global innovation in online education and the institutions surrounding it. Exposure to software like MIT's Open Courseware or the Khan Academy would inspire Cuban developers and educators.
I have posted short descriptions of the Khan Academy and MIT's Open Courseware Project online. If you have good Internet connectivity, you can also visit their sites -- MIT Open Courseware, the Khan Academy in Englsih and the Khan Academy in Spanish.
-----
Update 3/29/2016
You can see a Spanish translation of this post at:
http://laredcubana.blogspot.com/2015/10/trying-to-clarify-latest-u-s-opening-to.html
- Paquete Semanal, S. A.
A legitimatized "Paquete Semanal, S. A." could distribute Netflix content in Cuba today. To the extent that we are allowed to see it, Cuba's plan for the Internet focuses on connectivity in homes and public places and support of areas that are considered...
- Cuban Apps In Google's (or Anyone Else's) Online Store?
A Google delegation, led by Scott Carpenter, Deputy Director of Google Ideas, and Brett Perlmutter, who had accompanied Eric Schmidt on his Cuban visit earlier this year, is in Cuba. They have visited two important technical universities and some of the...
- Cuba's Sneaker Net
Yaima Pardo, 34, in her home in Cuba as she describes her project PaSA (Paquete Semanal Autnomo), an independent weekly digital-media package for CubaA recent article (English or Spanish) describes the black market distribution of music, soap operas,...
- Is The U. S. Blocking Cuban Internet Access?
In a recent post, I looked into the charge that Coursera had blocked access to their educational material at the request of the U. S. Government. Subsequently, Cartas Desde Cuba charged that the US Government had ordered satellite ISPs to block access...
- How Does One Post Material On The Cuban "sneaker Net?"
Warhol P has written a Havana Times post on the Cuban "sneaker net" -- the circulation of movies, TV shows, software, etc. on flash and hard disk drives. He reports prices of 50 Cuban Pesos (around $2) for 80 to 500 gigabytes of material and 10 Cuban...