Flat World Knowledge

We had the bestseller "The World is flat: A brief History of the Twenty-first century" from Nobel price winner Thomas L. Friedman. Now we have Flat World Knowledge: webpage where extremely high-quality open educational resources can be produced and disseminated in a way that is sustainable over a long term. It combines free access and publishing on demand, so you might have the best of both worlds.  

First books are already online for free, and there is a catalog and a publishing list. 

Economic efficiency of open content

JISC, a committee, funded by Higher Education bodies to support "to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of of ICT to support education and research" has evaluated different publishing models, focusing, particularly, on the traditional subsrciption or toll access publishing, which involves reader charges and use restrictions, and an open access self-archiving where academic authors post their work in online repositories, making it free available to all Internet users. 

The outcome comes is that significant savings can be achieved, up to 172 million pound or 3 % from overall publishing activities. 

This is not a surprise and it is already significant. More saving is expected. We are at the beginning of a long way. Penetration of the ICT model makes the old model more and more redundant. 

I have no doubts than strategic decision-making for Kazakhstan on favor of open publishing will have a lot of benefits, even considering, that the outcomes of these decision might be appreciated only in 5 - 10 years. As usually, there is no opposition, but lack of knowledge between decision-makers. 

Competitiveness and VET

The Lisbon Strategy of the European Union aims to make the EU "the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world". It was set out by the European Council in March 2000. 

In 2005, Kazakhstan announced the objective to become one of 50 most competitive economies in the World. 

9 years after setting the Lisbon agenda and 4 years after the declaration of the Kazakh government the prelimary results are disappointing. Europa has lost competitiveness and is, nevertheless, fully involved in the current global financial and economic crisis. Kazakhstan has also lost on a wide range of factors, as a current issue of "Expert Kazakhstan" points out.  Accidentially or not, does this raises question whether official announced policies are able to do the job or whether they get used as covers for second agendas? I do not know. 

One success factor is clear: investment in the work force. Regarding VET, Kazakhstan is moving in the right direction. The sector was starving for ressources and attention since independence. We are now in the beginning of the modernization process. From this point of view, the results are no surprise. Unfortunately. 

The use of level descriptions in natioanl gualification frameworks

Key expert Martin Gibson (Curricula Development Facilitator)
All education and training systems have some principles against which “levels” of qualification can be measured. These include length of time studied for a qualification, the degree of difficulty of the subject knowledge, the amount of specialisation or application of knowledge. Such principles though are not always explicit or coherent and different principles may operate in different parts of the education and training system. As students increasingly move across national borders to progress their education and workers cross borders for employment this becomes more problematic as it may be difficult to know what they are capable of in further study or in work. This paper draws heavily on the UK’s national qualification framework to show how 3 groups of factors (Knowledge and Understanding; Application and Action; Accountability and Autonomy) are used to distinguish between levels in the national vocational qualification system.
Please let Aigul Khazzanova know if you need more information or want to discuss any points.

Key skills in VET

Key expert Martin Gibson (Curricula Development Facilitator)

Many of the skills required of the modern labour force are similar across many occupations. Employers are keen to recruit people who for example can communicate effectively, solve problems on their own, work as a team member, use information technology effectively and so on. Although the context and purpose may vary there is a wide range of skills which are needed in very many different occupations. VET needs to ensure that such skills are developed and assessed and that learners reach the appropriate level of competence. Employers need to be able to rely on new employees having such general vocational skills. The paper discusses one approach to this problem which is now widely used in the UK education system. I hope that it gives some “food for thought” and promotes some discussion.
Please let Aigul Khazzanova know if you need more information or want to discuss any points.

Modularisation in VET:a brief Guide

Key expert Martin Gibson
Discussion is beginning in the Kazakhstan VET system about the value of developing a modular-based curriculum and some institutions have begun to experiment with the idea. During the VET conference in Astana several participants asked for advice and information about modular course design. In this brief guide I attempt to summarise some of the key issues that course designers must consider if they contemplate adopting a modular design. One crucial point is that one should not regard modularisation simply as a “re-packaging” exercise, putting a new framework around an existing curriculum. More importantly it provides a chance to rethink how VET is delivered and what is delivered, how students experience their education and how teachers might provide it differently. Please let Aigul Khazzanova know if you need more information or want to discuss any points.

Differences between Kazakhstan and UK curricula development

Key expert Martin Gibson
On my second visit to the country I was asked to give my opinion on the key differences between professional standards in use in Kazakhstan as compared to the UK…not easy to do after such a short time in the country. But on the basis of a small sample of the Kazakhstan standards and discussions with many of those involved in redrafting the standards I produced a brief paper which I hope helps to answer the question. The starting point to understanding the differences seems to me to be the extent to which employers influence the standards and this in part stems from the different purposes of the standards. (In the UK for instance the occupational standards are used for recruitment, in assessing employee performance as well as a basis for training.)
I hope the paper proves informative but if you need more information or want to discuss any points please contact Aigul Khazzanova.