Opening the doors to learning (4)

"In 10 or 20 years from now, computers will be very cheap, so wouldn't it be great if people in less developed parts of China and the world could have an education on a par with Harvard or MIT, through the Web and also local communities? I think that is a future that is both possible and practical, and that is also one of the dreams that I have," Ye says.

He is doing more than advancing his dream online. Ye now works with 1KG, a non-profit organization that aims to open source charity through microphilanthropy. In April, he helped 1KG organize a TED event at a rural school in the mountains of Yunnan province, four hours from downtown Lijiang. The presentations were designed to broaden children's perspectives, with topics like the story of the alphabet.

The experience opened Ye's eyes to the limitations faced by the students, some of whom were 16 but still in sixth grade. After the presentations, they were cheering.

Ye and many others in the volunteer translation community hope that in the future China will also export open educational resources.

In 2004, China started its own national version of open courseware called Chinese Quality Open Courseware. China Open Resources for Education (CORE), a consortium of universities, including Tsinghua and Peking University, is organizing the translation of representative Chinese courses into English.

While volunteers have translated written materials from classes like Modern Chinese Literature and Medical Diagnosis, there are no subtitled lecture videos available online. Lu Jian of CORE's partnerships office says that in the future they plan to provide them, but they do not yet have the necessary resources. CORE's current efforts focus on introducing open courseware from overseas.

"Translation projects like these need support from society," Lu says, "both in skills and funding."

While none of the volunteer translation groups are lacking in enthusiasm or energy, limited financial resources do make the future uncertain. Even so, they are determined to continue their work as long as possible.

"Simply by surviving it means the education market can tolerate a renegade like OOPS, and this is very meaningful and important," Chu Hsueh Heng says.

Source: China Daily
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