Pie EduSols/About

Pie EduSols: Calling for Freedom in Learning.

In his video, ‘a call for freedom’ to the opening of a Digital Freedom Exposition conference (2007) at the University of the West Cape, South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu signalled the impetuous whole movement that was rapidly gaining momentum in free sharing of open resources world wide”. The movement arose out of initiatives such as: Free software, Open Source, Free and Open Resources for education, new ways to create and share cultural artifacts such as music, writing and art among others.He empasized that these movements were changing the world for the better by promoting social economic status and livelihoods. Based in Kenya, Pie EduSols is a sounding board in enhancing widespread use of Free/ Libre and Open Source Technology Tools and Free Content. Much of the knowledge among Kenyans is inaccessible and unaffordable. Most people lack opportunities for sharing and others use their knowledge only for business gain. Therefore most knowledge is locked behind restrictive cultural and copyright provisions that have not kept pace with advances in digital technology. Pie EduSols advocates for freedom in developing and sharing resources without restrictions and enhances social, economic and political freedoms and justice for all citizens. Pie EduSols serves as a portal where different people in the community, including educators and learners converge to learn, share and develop resources for a free and open education curriculum by 2015.

Motto

The Motto for Pie EduSols is that education is a common good and that knowledge that is sustainable and scalable grows with reuse. Therefore learning materials should be free and open to all.

Objective

Pie EduSols core’s objective is to introduce high-quality courseware in line with research within and around the world and employing innovative technologies, methodologies and content for teaching and learning.

Mission

Pie EduSols mission focuses on providing a framework for different levels of learners in Kenya to participate in the shared, global network of courseware with leading global institutions all over the world and to assist in customizing Open Educational Resources to reflect national, institutional and individual needs.

Using Open Education Resources in Kenya

The demand to access quality learning has been growing in Kenya as rapidly as the mushrooming institutions of learning at all levels of learning including the Universities, middle cadre colleges, secondary schools, primary schools, early childhood education non-formal learning for youth out of school, adult and continuing education and technical colleges and polytechnics. The purpose of ‘Pie EduSols’ is to strengthen cost effective ways of using teaching learning resources by educators, learners and people in the community through open sharing and customizing or developing tailor made resources to meet the needs of the client. Pie EduSols promotes use of Open Educational resources in urban, rural and remote areas in Kenya for all levels of learning. In Kenya, many Educators and Learners lack skills on how to access and make use of OERs. At Pie EduSols, each user shall undergo basic ‘Learning for Content Skills training then get mainstreamed into the 'wikieducators' community. Needless to say, the design and development of quality materials requires the inputs from a range of skilled people including subject matter experts, learning designers, multimedia and language professionals. The varied expertise are invited to offer their services.