Speaking at Sun's Worldwide Education and Research Conference in New York, CEO Scott McNealy launched a new nonprofit that he said would launch the process of "open-sourcing education."
Speaking at Sun's Worldwide Education and Research Conference in New York, CEO Scott McNealy launched a new nonprofit that he said would launch the process of "open-sourcing education," ExtremeNano reports. The Global Education and Learning Community, which currently has 2,700 members and more than 370 projects, which will deliver self-paced, Web-based, free, open content for the K-12 market.
McNealy said, "[The] opportunity here is to apply all the community development to textbooks, curriculum and assessment for K-12. So with the help of some folks at Sun we created the GELC, with 2,700 members worldwide and 370-plus projects."
McNealy introduced Barbara "Bobbi" Kurshan as the newly appointed executive director of GELC. Kurshan said she sees GELC as "a great way to look at how open source can impact learning. I think we have a phenomenal opportunity to make reform in education." Kurshan added that her initial areas of focus will be on fund raising, ensuring that the organization maintains a strong Web presence, and developing new partnerships. Kurshan also said she is considering a new name for the organization.
McNealy also promoted the company's STAR program, which donated $8 million in hardware annually, the Sun Grid, which has granted 100,000 of research time to 10 institutions, and the Java Enterprise System, which, he said, has signed up 40% of major universities.
He added: "Everyone and everything is participating on the network, and that's a good thing … Our cause is to eliminate the digital divide." Noting that by 2007, only in one in four people will be online, he said Sun has "some interesting technologies and strategies around open source" to address the digital divide.
