Introduction - derek keats

I want to welcome Derek Keats and thank him for agreeing to contribute to the Impact of Open Source Software and Open Educational Resources on Education series. Derek will be sharing some of his thoughts about how the products and processes of Digital Freedom, such as personal learning environments, recognition of learning achieved, and collaborative cross-institutional virtual classrooms, have the potential to create new opportunities for education.

Derek’s research interests include e-Collaboration and lessons for international collaboration from Free Software (open source) and related initiatives; next-generation e-learning systems and Education 3.0; Free and Open Source Software and Free/Open content in higher education. He is passionate about the potential of ICT-based collaboration to unify expertise within Africa and stimulate development, establishing the African Virtual Open Initiatives and Resources project, along with a number of like-minded colleagues around Africa, for this purpose. He has developed a number of initiatives in the fields of educational and environmental informatics, Free Software, Free and Open Resources of Education (FORE, often called OER) and has published around 80 research papers in biology and in the application of technology.

I am very excited about having Derek contribute to the Impact series and look forward to some active participation and development of dialog. Derek’s post is scheduled for June 1, 2008. Please feel free to comment (early and often!), ask questions, build on the conversation, and enjoy.