Haiti's University of the People Embraces Online Education ...

In an attempt to get the country?s higher education back on its feet, The University of the People has launched online courses and study centers for Haitians.

After the earthquake in Haiti destroyed much of the country?s higher-education infrastructure, the University of the People decided to set up three computer centers there, inviting English-speaking students from nearby tent cities to come and work for four hours a day, writes by Tamar Lewin at the New York Times.

?They don?t have electricity, they don?t have computers, there are university students who have to carry water on their head from another mountain,? said Shai Reshef, the Israeli entrepreneur who spent $1 million to create the free university two years ago.

?They come in two shifts, for four hours a day, to study. Their need was to the point that we began a feeding program.?

In each class, 20 to 40 students are assigned weekly reading material and are required to post their responses and comment on others? responses. The course materials are deliberately low-tech, with no audio or video, so that students can use them anywhere.

?People can study almost everything online nowadays,? writes Reshef at his blog on the University website.

?With the support of the Gates Foundation, well-known educational author, Anya Kamenetz?s was able to put together a reference book, The Edupunk?s Guide to a DIY Credential. Available for free download, the pdf book is a great starting point if you are looking to study online as it details ways to get an affordable education. Anya starts the book off by explaining that DIY, or Do-it-Yourself, doesn?t ?mean that you do it all alone. It means that the resources are in your hands and you?re driving the process.?

University of the People is a part of the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement. Reshef believes it is important to highlight resources that assist the growth of the OER movement.

?It?s based on peer learning, so just like at the gym, what you get out of it depends on what you put in,? said Shay David, a software entrepreneur with a Ph.D. from Cornell who taught introductory computer programming.

Joe Jean, a 23-year-old Haitian says that the University of the People was the only option for college.

?When I heard it was tuition-free, I didn?t think it would be very good,? said Mr. Jean, who hopes to be a computer entrepreneur. ?But I?ve learned a lot, and I like the way the instructors support the students and the students support each other.?

The university is not accredited, and it offers programs only in business administration and computer science, writes Lewin.

However, it has just received two shining endorsements:

New York University has announced a partnership under which unusually promising but needy University of the People students might be able to enroll at N.Y.U.?s Abu Dhabi campus and receive financial aid.

And Hewlett-Packard has announced an internship program, saying it believed strongly ?in the work UoPeople is doing to democratize higher education.?

?We?re building a model to show that education can be way cheaper than it is, that in developing countries, they could choose to educate every person for not much money,? said Mr. Reshef, who has started and sold other education businesses, but sees the University of the People as a philanthropic contribution to global development.

Source: http://www.educationnews.org/ednews_today/160220.html

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