Announcement - Open Source Teaching Fellow (international)

Nominate an Open Source Teaching Fellow International

Open Source Teaching is the deep understanding and application of personalized knowledge through new media. The emerging tools of a knowledge-based economy make it possible for all learners to benefit from new forms of media, where access to people with expert, applied knowledge is the new status quo for communication, teaching, and learning. www.opensourceteaching.org.

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Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Open Source Teaching Art Fuller, Founder & Chair Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. Yi Cui, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Vanderbilt University Mike Dishman, J.D. Murphy, McLocklin, & Dishman, LLP Thomas Ford Regional Director Pearson Achievement Solutions Jessica Lewis Project Manager, Peabody College Vanderbilt University Lance Lott Assistant Superintendent Information Technology & Strategic Planning Metro Nashville Public Schools Judith Pennywell Director International Student and Scholar Services Vanderbilt University David Sevier, Ed.D. Policy Adviser State Board of Education Mary Catherine Sevier, J.D. Executive Director, Foundation Relationships (Effective July 1, 2006) Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. P.O. Box 330951 Murfreesboro, TN 37133 (615) 849 - 1170 [email protected] www.opensourceteaching.org

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Nominate an Open Source Teaching Fellow (International) Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is seeking undergraduate and graduate students willing to volunteer four (4) hours per month for a period of at least six (6) months to assist us in achieving the organizational deliverables of open source teaching, www.opensourceteaching.org. Open Source Teaching Fellows are volunteers focused on transforming new learning platforms and social networks that apply the principles of open source to teaching and learning. Open Source Teaching Fellows will serve as substantial contributors to the 24month incubation and global launch of open source teaching. Founded in April of 2006, Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is a non-profit organization focused on knowledge management and strategy for tomorrow’s world, today. We are committed to the implementation of strategies that empower students from traditionally underserved communities to attain greater access to learning networks with the capacity to share established academic capital through engaging personal perspectives. The applications of our work extend from the one lap top per child initiative (http://wiki.laptop.org) to traditional CD players, mp3 players, multi-media phones and emerging platforms for new content. Our program deliverables will emphasize academic and affective measures for students to engage in meaningful learning within and outside the context of traditional schools. We are committed to the implementation of program offerings which include measurable milestones, exemplary management, and rigorous standards for program evaluation. Over the course of the next 24-months, Sage Leadership Partners will capture the applied research of over 200 top academic professors and 200 graduate students through new media. On or before the third year of operations, this comprehensive new media archive will be provided to all learners. This new media platform of knowledge management, based on student centered descriptions of applied research, will eliminate the traditional barriers to equal educational opportunity and provide the platform for more in depth applications of open source teaching to all environments which involve training, learning, or professional development.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Qualifications: Open Source Teaching Fellow (International) The ideal candidate must have a passion and commitment to eliminate the traditional barriers to equal education opportunity through the application of innovative learning platforms and new media. The ideal candidate must be an innovator, outside the box thinker, and strategic analyzer. The ideal candidate must be adept at researching innovations, including the ability to precisely eliminate the wheat from the chaff. The ideal candidate must have a strong realization of how their existing knowledge and skills can substantially inform, contribute to, and improve the key organizational deliverables of www.opensourceteaching.org. Fellows will be provided with personal, engaging, and relevant tasks that are clearly aligned with areas of demonstrated knowledge and skills applied to the following operational areas: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

Teaching & Learning International Languages & Policy Organizational Strategy & Policy Advocacy & Outreach Digital & Streaming Media Information Systems & Technology Philanthropy Underwriting Head Hunting & Recruitment Social Networks & Community

The ideal candidate will be an undergraduate or graduate student, fluent in the emerging tools of sociology, technology, research, or communication. This individual will be committed to the concepts of open source, including application of the following kinds of technology platforms: ● www.esnips.com ● www.wikispaces.com ● http://video.google.com ● www.wikipedia.org ● www.oswd.org ● other emerging communication platforms Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Application Process: Open Source Teaching Fellows (International) Only applications sent to the following email address will be considered. [email protected] Sent directly via email to the attention of: Art Fuller, Founder & Chair Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. P.O. Box 330951 Murfreesboro, TN 37133 ●

All candidates must include a cover letter with their submission.

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All candidates must submit a personal statement of no more then 1,000 words, specifically addressing how their ideas, knowledge, and experience substantially exceed each of the indicators related to the ideal candidate.

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All candidates must submit a resume or curriculum vitae.

All applications will be thoroughly reviewed by the Board of Sage Leadership Partners, Inc.

Salary: Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is looking to add two voting student members to our board. Each of these future board members will serve terms of at least one year as either an undergraduate or graduate student board member of Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. If you feel that your ideas, innovation, and passion align with our cause, we would love to learn more about you through your work as on Open Source Teaching Fellow. This is a completely volunteer position for like minded individuals committed to the principles of open source teaching. Location: Must have access to a high speed internet connection.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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“The Why” Behind Open Source Teaching. There are many social barriers which limit open access to equal educational opportunity. Access to knowledge, assumed as the norm within middle class families, is not easily injected through “programs” in ways that empower individuals to become immersed in the benefits of independent motivation, creativity, and thought. The daily operationalized norms of bureaucracies empathize allegiance to the system. Particularly for individuals trapped within such systems, traditional education strategies for intervention do not yield results with staying power or that reinforce independence in thought, motivation, and drive. The political dynamics of negotiating scarce education resources generally migrates such “programs” towards incremental improvements on the status quo which pose no immediate or long term threat to entrenched norms. In contrast, the focus of open source teaching is the learner, making evident the relevance of providing users access to engaging people willing to share their academic drive and expert knowledge as a platform for others to deeply explore their own areas of personalized interest. Stated in another way, students from “the ghetto” do not often become exposed to a diverse array of people describing their professional passion and how one can receive the affective, social, and economic benefits of pursuing personal areas of interests. Open source teaching will provide multiple, relevant examples and opportunities for all users to become exposed to such experts, including a specific articulation of the social, economic, and cultural norms that are tacitly assumed within areas of research and institutions of higher education. Unrestricted access to the entire catalog of open source teaching will be provided to all users at no cost, with a specific focus on reaching aspiring first generation college students. The economic feasibility of such an initiative is due to the extremely low overhead and high degree of efficiency within the organizational structure and operations strategy of Sage Leadership Partners. As a board and management team we currently maximize open source tools as our primary means for board communication, board meetings, policy development, executive management tracking, strategic planning, and operations delivery. Sage Leadership Partners is a constantly learning organization and we are committed to the demonstration and practice of what we preach. Sage Leadership Partners will facilitate partnerships providing unrestricted access to citizens within metropolitan cities, considering city-wide wireless connections, undergraduates within targeted institutions of higher education, and students within districts that are early adopters of instructional technology. Our existing board has the internal capacity and social networks to partner with institutions of higher education and enlist the emerging innovation within undergraduate and graduate student communities. The diversity of expertise within our board will also provide the opportunity to demonstrate our methods through guest open Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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source lectures at institutions of higher education and conferences, related specifically to our areas of doctorate level expertise. Such strategies will serve as a profound avenue to foster and share our work with wider communities and associations. Open source teaching is not confined or defined by the traditional notions of time. The learner is the central focus and the personalization of people with expert knowledge is our bottom line. ●

Open to all learners

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Maximizing and adapting to all emerging new media tools for communication.

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A learner’s existing strength’s are used to build the foundation for developing new knowledge and skills.

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The learner is engaged based on their personalized interests and choices.

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Depth is valued substantially over breadth.

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The learner can choose multiple people with expert knowledge.

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Knowledge is conveyed from an expansive selection of diverse experts.

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Knowledge is conveyed using all forms of media- based tools and technology.

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Knowledge is personalized based on the preferences of the learner and supported by open source facilitators.

The benefit of open source teaching is equal and pervasive access to learners of diverse perspectives, interests, and socioeconomic capital. Users will become immersed in new paradigms of learning networks where the deep understanding and application of personalized knowledge is the overwhelming and primary expectation.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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The Traditional Paradigm of Teaching Defined Roles (1) Student, (2) Teacher, (3) Curriculum, (4) Community, and (5) Traditional Notions of Instruction and Time Curriculum covered within a particular training, course, classroom, or school during a defined scope of mandated time.

A single teacher within a single section of the day. Primarily

Peers Community Expectations

Collaboration networking, and dialog

lectures, tests, and research papers.

Student Primarily passive, periodically engaged. Many interests and skills under utilized.

Many students arrive in classrooms with a multitude of multi-tasking and knowledge-based skills that are untapped by traditional methods of instruction. The traditional paradigm of teaching and training does not provide the articulated platform for learners to build upon their existing expertise to acquire new knowledge. The goal within the traditional paradigm is to cover the material, regardless of whether a learner’s existing strengths are maximized. Open source teaching begins by allowing individuals to maximize their existing knowledge, interests, and skills as the basis for transformational environments that incorporate the expert knowledge of people, using media-embedded strategies and concepts of open source.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Open Source Teaching Defined Roles (1) Learner, (2) Open Source Facilitator, (3) New media archive of people with expert knowledge

Global Economy

Global Economy People with

expert knowledge

Learners Open source facilitators

Global Economy

Knowledge, & Media Tools

People with

Open source facilitators

People with

expert knowledge Open source facilitators

Global Economy

expert knowledge

People with expert knowledge. Interviews of professors, students, business professionals, and educators will not only capture subject-matter expertise and applied knowledge, but also provide insight related to the academic and personal experiences which drive an individual to become an expert. All interviews remain the property of the individual and will not be posted on any media platform without their express written consent. Open source facilitators. The primary function of open source facilitators is to maximize the capacity of individuals to take full advantage of a digital media archive of people. Digital media tools. Digital medial tools include all forms of emerging technology and platforms with the capacity to convey digital media. Learners. All learners, ages three through adult.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Our Board Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is comprised of seven board members focused on the organizational management, implementation, and institutionalization of open source teaching. The founder and chairman of Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is Art Fuller, Executive Assistant and Fiscal Budget Officer for the Tennessee State Board of Education. Mr. Fuller has served in the field of education for twelve years holding public policy, project management, professional training, information technology, media consultant, and teaching positions. The vice-chairs of Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. are Judith Pennywell, Director of International Student and Scholar Services at Vanderbilt University, and Mike Dishman, J.D., partner of McLocklin, Murphy & Dishman, L.L.P. The secretary of Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is David Sevier, Ed.D., a policy adviser for the Tennessee State Board of Education. Dr. Sevier has over fifteen years of experience in K-12 education including serving for five years as a physics teacher, five years as a music teacher, and five years as an assistant school administrator. The Board of Sage Leadership Partners is also comprised of three additional voting members. Yi Cui, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Vanderbilt University. Professor Cui's research focuses on networking systems and streaming media technology. He currently holds two patents in distributed streaming media systems and networks. Lance Lott is an Assistant Superintendent, Information Technology & Strategic Planning for Metro Nashville Public Schools. Lance's past positions include serving as the controller and vice president of administration for HCA Health Alliance, the Chief Information Officer of Health Trust, and the Founder and Chairman of InfoAdvantage, Inc. (1993-2005). Thomas Ford is Regional Director for Pearson Achievement Solutions and rounds out the voting members of the board. Mr. Ford is an experienced professional trainer and has serviced the needs of major metropolitan urban districts throughout Florida and Georgia for the last eight years. Mr. Ford was selected as teacher of the year for Broward County Florida (1997), one of the country's largest school districts.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is looking to add two additional voting board members. If you feel that your ideas, innovation, and passion align with our cause we would love to learn more about you through your work as on Open Source Teaching Fellow.

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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Our Staff The Executive Director for Foundation Relationships is Mary Catherine Sevier, J.D. Mrs. Sevier has a Bachelors of Arts in English from Converse College (1986) and a Juris Doctorate from Vanderbilt University (1989). Mrs. Sevier served for three years as a corporate attorney before deciding to devote her professional focus to the mission of education and quality teaching in middle and secondary schools. She has thirteen years of experience in teaching the Language Arts, inclusive of six years as a teacher of gifted and talented students (grades 6 – 12). Mrs. Sevier also serves as an independent contractor for the Tennessee Department of Education, providing training to teachers on best teaching practices related to improving student performance on Tennessee's High School Exit Exam in English. The future Managing Partner of Open Source Teaching is Jessica Lewis, Project Manager for the National Center on Performance Incentives, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University. Jessica Lewis is a third-year doctoral student at Peabody College (Vanderbilt University). Mrs. Lewis is pursuing her doctorate of education in the area of K-12 Education Leadership and Policy. Her professional interests and efforts are focused on the importance of stimulating greater teaching quality within the education system, with particular attention to enhancing teacher learning opportunities, recruitment and retention mechanisms, and pathways for professional growth. For the past two years, Mrs. Lewis has worked as a legislative policy analyst for the State of Tennessee’s Office of Education Accountability. During her time, she has completed several statewide evaluation projects on a variety of education topics, including alternative schools for high school students, public charter schools, as well as schools on the state’s high priority list for NCLB.

Created with

Sage Leadership Partners, Inc., P.O. Box 330951, Murfreesboro, TN 37133 © 2006. www.opensourceteaching.org. All rights reserved.

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