AcrossWorld Education is an international education company that empowers institutions, educators and students with the ability to maximise the resources available to them in the digital age. The company believes in accelerating the evolution of learning through the next generation of shared content and enables the new knowledge economy by evolving platforms to find, discover, collaborate and improve upon Open Content and Open Educational Resources (OER). Stephan Thieringer, AcrossWorld?s President & CEO, recently met with FE?s Diana Ningthoujam and Vikram Chaudhary, and shared how the company is enabling cost-effective innovation in the classroom, how the rise of digital content has presented educators with the opportunity to become facilitators, and more. Excerpts:
How we provide education to our children has evolved a lot over the last 2 decades, where do you fit in? And how are you different from the numerous education companies operating in India?
I see a lot of ?providing solution? companies operating in the market. I do not doubt their capabilities, but the fact remains that, in India, there is a big number of graduates who still remain unemployed, primarily because there are no resources where their skills can be applied.
As for us, we are not a US company who drops in with a parachute and says, ?Here is the solution.? The reason we are different is that we aim to make education more affordable and accessible, and really connected to the people. We operate in two markets, which is from the eighth grade till the 12th grade, and the higher education. I must add that we are not a content company that will say: ?Here is your electronic box, and this is what you have to do with it.? We actually figure out what are the resources we can provide to teachers so that they can become more effective educators. After all, how can you expect teachers to become better if they do not have access to information and resources? We make a very distinct separation between pedagogy, knowledge and information.
What exactly is Open … source, service, resources, etc?
Open Source is an approach to the design, development and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to the software?s source code. Open source software is published under licences that ensure that the source code is available to all to inspect, change, download and explore. This code?the language in which the software is written?can be accessed and improved by anyone with the right skill set.
Open Service, also known as Software as a Service (SaaS), is a service provided by a software application running online, over the Internet via a browser or another interface. SaaS products, such as our EducationBridge and KnowledgeKey, allow the user to access the tool through the Internet as opposed to traditional software that is downloaded and stored to a hard drive.
OERs are free educational materials and resources offered for anyone to use and, in some cases, under licence agreements, to re-mix, improve and redistribute. They are part of an Internet-empowered worldwide community effort to create an education commons.
What are EducationBridge and KnowledgeKey?
EducationBridge provides institutions with free content and a platform for a new level of collaboration, leadership and continuous improvement for teachers, students and the greater academic community. A combination of best practices in 21st century Web 2.0 technology engages teachers, students and academics worldwide through a practical and motivating dialogue. KnowledgeKey, currently under development, is being designed to deliver specific content using cutting-edge technology.
How do OERs benefit teachers and students?
Teachers have access and benefit from the most relevant, up-to-date content and no longer need to be dependent on expensive and outdated textbooks. They gain the ability to create and deliver customised learning materials that support individual student needs. They are also able to participate in the active community of educators committed to the creation, collaboration and sharing of open-content materials. Lastly, teachers have the ability to discover and find the resources and connections that will make them more effective educators.
As far as students are concerned, they are able to access education materials beyond the traditional textbook, to content and formats that best fits a student?s learning style and needs. They can connect with communities to share knowledge and provide feedback to challenges, and can interact and collaborate with teachers, and a broader range of fellow students, in ways that are more engaging.