ICTlogy

On Thursday 15th April I’m speaking at the First International Congress about E-Learning and social inclusion

My communication will be 30 minutes long within the framework of Thursday afternoon (15.45-17.15) session II: Problem solving methodology for e-learning. Ain’t no complete communications programme yet: promise to publish at once when noticed.

Though I’m still thinking on what I exactly want to say, my mental scheme is as follows:

The online volunteer: knowledge manager and transmitter

Theoretical Framework

• Taxonomny of the online volunteer
• The potential virtual volunteer as the eternal excluded from cooperation for development: a “market” to discover
• The virtual volunteer en his knowledge centered role: store, organize, create and transfer knowledge

Practical case: e-Learning for e-Inclusion

A three pieces puzzle:

• Content and didactic materials
• e-Learning platform
• Syllabus, coordination and teaching

Main characteristics of online volunteering centered e-learning projects:

• The e-volunteer as the knowledge transmitter, without time nor space boundaries
• South-south cooperation: the e-volunteer placed at the target social framework
• Economic sustainability: online volunteering costs, replication opportunities, multiplier effects of the model

Can I set up a project like this?

• The experience of the Campus for Peace
• Free content: GNU licenses, Creative Commons, MIT OpenCourseWare and Learning Objects repositories
• Free e-learning platforms: Moodle, Claroline, MIT Caddie.net, other F/OSS supports
• Virtual volunteers: Onlinevolunteers.org, others.

Jayne Cravens is looking for some Spanish-speaking “techie” online volunteers. Here goes her original mail:

“Does anyone out there know of an online discussion group or association that could help me reach Spanish-speaking “techies” who might be interested in online volunteering?

In particularly, I’m trying to recruit some Spanish-speaking MS Access experts, but other areas of expertise (web site design, online database development, etc.) are also needed.

[snip]

The Online Volunteering service is seeing a big increase in the number of assignments either in Spanish or asking specifically for Spanish-speakers. To view such opportunities, please visit: www.onlinevolunteering.org click on “Search Assignments”, and choose “Spanish” in the language category.”

Contact info:

Jayne Cravens (jayne.cravens@unvolunteers.org)
Online Volunteering Specialist
United Nations Volunteers
www.unvolunteers.org
Bonn, Germany

Online Volunteering: www.onlinevolunteering.org
UNITeS: www.unites.org
Global volunteerism portal: www.worldvolunteerweb.org

[Update: opportunities have been fulfilled… but there’s still a need for profiles like these ;) ]

“InterConnection enhances the visibility of non-profit organizations in developing countries.

Our Services Include:
Virtual Volunteer Web Design
Web Site Hosting
Tech Support
Enhanced Solutions

Will they think of me as a non-profit and redesign my blog for free? ;)
I’ll surely add them in my links list.

“We are working to expand the universe of CyberVolunteering by encouraging social service and other organizations to think beyond the traditional face-to-face volunteers who are today and probably always will be the backbone of most volunteer efforts. Face-to-face volunteering will always have a vital place in the delivery of social services. Our effort is not to replace these efforts, but to supplement them.”

A site with examples, experiences and opportunities. A little site, but well focussed.

Some terms I’ve run through and (maybe as note to self) I want to make clear:

Cybervolunteer: same as online volunteer. I’ve found places where cybervolunteers are thought to be ICT Volunteers, but I don’t agree with this sense.

e-Volunteer: same as online volunteer

ICT Volunteer: a person who is working to foster the implementation and use of Information and Communication Technologies. He can install hardware, software or carry on with ICT training programmes. There’s no need to be an online volunteer to be an ICT volunteer: installing hardware is a good example. And there’s no need to be an ICT volunteer to be an online volunteer: teaching a language through a virtual campus is not related with ICT fostering, at least in a direct way.

Online Volunteer: maybe the most standardized term, it deals with volunteers working from home or work or wherever but not in place. An internet connected device is the main communication tool and his main added value is knowledge. He can do things but, over all, he knows how to do things. Thus, he’s a good assistant, consultant, advisor, etc. And, of course, he can transfer his knowledge, so he can effectively work as trainer or teacher (e-trainer or e-teacher, of course).

Virtual Volunteer: same as online volunteer.

If you’ve found other terms related to these ones, please, let me know :)

UNV’s Online Volunteering Service has been relaunched and it is now found at www.onlinevolunteering.org.

Quoted from its site “NetAid continues to promote Online Volunteering as part of its mission to fight extreme poverty, and has launched an interactive educational module on volunteering. See the NetAid web site for more information”

I’ll update thus my bookmarks too…