Reclaim Open Learning

better online learning for higher ed

KA Lite

September 20, 2013 by Claudia Caro Sullivan

http://kalite.learningequality.org/

Jamie Alexandre, Foundation for Learning Equality
Richard Tibbles, Foundation for Learning Equality
Ben Cipollini, Foundation for Learning Equality
Elizabeth Vu, Foundation for Learning Equality
Dylan Barth, Foundation for Learning Equality
Guan Wang, Foundation for Learning Equality

KA Lite: Taking Khan Academy Offline

We’re currently experiencing an “online learning revolution”, which is opening up educational opportunities to many who never before had access — but what about the 65% of the world that doesn’t have internet? KA Lite is a lightweight software platform for serving and sharing Khan Academy’s educational materials within offline or isolated communities. It operates as a web-based platform, with users (students, teachers, administrators) interacting with the system through a browser, but with the server software running entirely on a locally networked computer, or directly on the user’s computer. KA Lite is made possible by the confluence of open-licensed educational materials, such as Khan Academy’s Creative Commons videos and exercises, and low-cost computing devices, such as Android tablets and the Raspberry Pi.

The users of KA Lite vary widely in age and background, from a 38 year old prisoner in Washington State who is returning to his basic math education to build his confidence and skills, to teachers and community members in Cameroon who started visiting an orphanage where KA Lite is installed, to learn and practice alongside the kids. KA Lite has become an enabler for cross-generational as well as peer-mentoring, and is re-invigorating teacher-centered classrooms through activity-based and social learning experiences. It is currently being used in over 70 countries around the world.

Beyond KA Lite, we are planning a system that will enable local teachers to author their own open content that can be shared back with their local community, and eventually with the global community. Enabling a latent pool of global talent to contribute to the Open Educational Resource movement will help fill in the linguistic, cultural, and curricular content gaps that currently exist in Western-dominated OER repositories, and will allow communities the opportunity to be not just consumers, but empowered creators of content, bringing their voices into the global dialogue.

Additional Resources:
http://learningequality.org/
http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/feature/breaking_down_barriers_to_online_education
http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/3829
http://jamiealexandre.com/blog/2012/12/12/ka-lite-offline-khan-academy/

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