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Project Summary
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Our Broken Education System
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Facts: cameron sinclair-TED06
 * 1 billion people live in abject poverty
 * 4 billion in growing but fragile economies
 * 1 in 7 people currently live in a unplanned settlements
 * In 20 yrs 1 in 3 people will live in a unplanned settlement or refugee camp
 * Starting in 2 years 100,000,000 One Laptop Per Child will be given out per yearref

Tomes have been written on our failing education system that worsens yearly in America. In comparing our education to the few that do get education in Asian countries, our system is a joke ref. Our children get three months summer vacation with no study requirements. In contrast Japanese kids get only a month with mandatory summer school and a ton of homework. But these facts say nothing of the billions that lack the education to get out of their situation. As Larry Brilliant, Google foundation states..."early detection...early prevention." By the end of this century we will have an estimated 10 billion people. How are going to build enough schools, train teachers for them. How will we transition them into a meaningful vibrant workplace? In two years over 100m laptops will start being disseminated... A link to Google or wikipedia isn't enough. We need to do more and K12 will.

The simple fact of the matter is, we are trying to hold onto an antiquated teaching system that is extremely redundant given modern technology such as web 2.0\web 2.0and what we know about learning. Our high schools and universities are chocker-block full of poor excuses for teachers, administrators and school boards playing God to benefit personal gain and dogma instead of establishing collective virtues to strive for.

We also understand that there are amazing, dedicated, and passionate teachers out there that deserve to get heard by the entire World, and never forgotten; but because of paperwork, marginalization, and bureaucratic hurdles, the important impacts that could have been created by these teachers are limited and contained to geographic areas, and of these amazing teachers pass away are forgotten. The bottom line is that our society and children are suffering. We must start to act now with a grand and bold vision for global education built upon a open source model that will empower generations to improve upon.

America's tenuous future
Is there anything that America can claim as their own? Is America loosing its competitive edge? We were once the greatest production might in the world. Recent research shows that college students aren't learning what they need to know in the sciences and that we may be facing a significant shortfall (1), (2). Our education system is failing Americans.

One of the problems is that ours is educational systems are  closed education systems They lacks standardization and the flexibility to adjust to societies' needs and demands. Teachers can't keep up with all the new information. Parents don't know what their kids are learning in their science classes and lack the skill sets to learn with them. Fundamentalist and fractured school boards across America dictate what students learn, and the result is that students don't get the education that they need to compete in an ever-flattening globalized marketplace. Science and Math education is of paramount importance, and kids in America aren’t getting what they need.

We are living in the first modern age of the Internet -- the most revolutionary communications medium ever devised or facilitated by the human species. In today's society, time and distance have been eradicated. It used to be that friends were found at the playground or at the mall, but now friends are found at places like [www.Myspace.com|www.Myspace.com], and on massive online gaming platforms like Everquest and World of Warcraft. The traditional bricks and mortar, “sage on the stage” education system is fats becoming obsolete. They are broken educational vehicles of the late 20th century, not the models that will take our children successfully into the World's digital information future.

American education should not be fire-walled, it should be open source. The goal and purpose of Wikitube is to be the open source platform to launch K12: a dynamic immersive software that utilizes the latest web 2.0+ technologies to make education better, faster, stronger, and more diverse. In short, we want to give education a make-over or a tune-up if you will. Education should be a fun, immersive interactive vehicle that inspires discovery and awe in the universe around us. Possibilities should be endless, not behind a closed system crippled by bureaucracy, fractured standards, and ultimately, a failing status-quo.

We encourage you to experience it for yourself, so sit back, relax and watch this fascinating video or read this PDF  by MIT distinguished professor Woodie C. Flowers.

Flatting the Global Education System
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Imagine every child in the world competing on the same K12 system. Hello, K12 Games. Whether in China, Ethiopia or America. Kids everywhere will be competing for iPods, PS3s, xBox's, and scholarships to leading high schools, universities etc. Teachers will be competing to be the best in their field by getting top global ratings for their lectures and materials. For a few K12 will rocket them into stardom for the rest they will get an education far exceeding current models.

Imagine being able to get a complete K-12+ education from online... for free. Think about it, why is it important to attend a class to watch a "sage on a stage?." Why can't we do that on a PC or with an iPod in the park? The social components of school and the role they play in childhood development are absolutely important and necessary. Schools should be labs where information is applied. Education needs to be flattened. Imagine waiting for the school bus with an iPod and being able to review the talking points from the previous week of lectures...or maybe you really love math and get enough of it--why should you be limited by a broken system?. Why shouldn't students have the option to listen to lectures as they work out in the gym or go for their morning run? As a teacher, wouldn’t it be great to spend your limited class time doing applied learning activities and applying the knowledge to real-world examples for your students? Teachers would much rather teach a dynamic class of self-empowered students all learning together. As parents, wouldn't it be great to know that your kids are learning from the best lecturers in the World? And not from someone teaching from a very limited perspective. Imagine, no more grading homework, no more coming up with tests, instead having a class that runs like a lab or workshop.

Many universities, such as MIT through its MIT OpenCourseWare initiative, are placing their courseware online, they are not going far enough. Every course needs podcast lectures, videos, transcripts, mind-maps and more -- The wikitube platform will facilitate the learning process. Many universities are also putting online, terabytes of videos and lectures, such as MIT world. These are great but they lack a learning stucture. History os one of the most boring subjects in K-12, but it doesn’t have to be...Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything (pdf), (mp3) (discuss) should be our middle-to-high school history courseware. Imagine really listening to a chapter and then watching video etc of related material. Another reason for moving to a virtual immersive education platform is to enable educators to collaborate to create a dynamic educational system for all, regardless of socio-economic background.


 * Online Is the Future of Education

"Early detection...Early prevention."
(discuss) In a time of a mounting global warming crisis, where our leading scientists have given us just 10 years to change, could anything be more important? Yes, the very foundation of who we are as a country. [The last sentence might be counterproductive. If "K12" is intended to be attractive to, and embrace a global stakeholdership, a clause such as "who we are as a country" smacks of pan-nationalism - n'est ce pas ?]

We are living in a time of an awakening Asian dragon that emboldens to steal America's remaining competitive edge -- our innovation (Prestowitz video).

This project is of paramount importance given the religious, political and economic climate that America is facing. The reality is that unless we can radically change our education system to retain our competitive advantage, America will not be as successful as we have become used to being. A recent National Science Board Report predicts we will not be producing enough senior scientists and technicians to fill the necessary leadership positions (ref).

In the not too distant future, the US [again - poor choice of words - alienating a global partnership] will be playing second fiddle to China. For many individuals such as, Clyde Prestowitz, former counselor to the Secretary of Commerce in the Reagan Administration and now president of the Economic Strategy Institute the writing is clearly on the wall--we must act to reform our ways before it becomes to late. Improving the ways we learn is crucial. Education reform can't be implemented over night, it takes time. If we are to keep our competitive advantage, we must take action today and create an education platform that unleashes student potential and increases the impact that good teachers, past and present, can have on future generations and the evolution of the human knowledge system.

Setting Our Targets
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Our target is simple we want a comprehensive learning platform in place by 2008 and to make it available for all regardless of their social, economic condition. [This sounds like an admirable goal, free of all prejudice including nationalism :)]

Our focus initially will be on mathematics. Ultimately, it is hoped that everyone should have access to the free K-12+ education wikitude built on open source technology utilizing cutting edge modular web 2.0+ technologies, which combine imbedded video/mp3 capabilities and flexible and powerful communication/collaboration vehicles like courseware.