"Goodbye textbooks, Hello Open Source Learning!" - Richard Baraniuk

Another TED talks inspiration is Richard Baraniuk, electrical engineering professor at Rice University, and founder of Connexions - a free open source online clearinghouse of educational materials.
Baraniuk has developed a digital peer-to-peer sharing system for course materials. Think back to Buckminster Fuller's recipe for change. If the academic publishing industry doesn't put up any roadblocks, and Baraniuk pursues his vision, traditional textbooks may well follow the horse and buggy.

"How is it that little children are so intelligent, and men so stupid? It must be education that does it." Alexandre Dumas

I have been on a sabbatical this year studying about Special Education at Acadia University. It has been a great experience! I have spent countless hours reading, thinking and writing about education reform. I thought I'd share with you some of what I consider to be the highlights of my journey...
One is this video presentation of a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson at the 2006 TED conference. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. It is an annual event for 1000 invited guests held in Monterey, California. The registration fee is about $4400.00 US. With travel, accommodation and other expenses on top, it's not cheap, but the event is always sold out a year in advance, and people come from all over the world to be a part of it. Why? To share ideas.

Sir Ken Robinson is author of Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative, and a leading expert on innovation and human resources. He gives a brilliant talk on creativity and how schools are designed to douse every last spark of it in our students. If you can spare 19 minutes and 29 seconds, you should watch this. Robinson is mesmerizing - hilariously funny, yet poignant. It is one of those rare transformative messages. You will never think about education in quite the same way again.