Laptop, netbook, and tablet computers cost much less than printed textbooks. So if we replace all of the textbooks with free digital Open Education Resources (OERs), we can improve education around the world while saving money overall. So that’s what we’re going to do.
What? Wait! How? Who? Where? You mean…?
Yes, I mean…we’re going to educate every child in the world, train them for jobs, eliminate poverty, and cure all of the ills associated with poverty. Then we and the first billion children get to tackle the _hard_ problems, like not wrecking the world.
There is a lot to this story, and it will take a while to tell it. We are going to write textbook replacements on every subject for every country at every age level in every language needed.
The starting point is that a number of factors have come together, not least of them the booki software from FLOSS Manuals for collaborative book writing, editing, publishing, translating and remixing.
Another important factor is that UNESCO is taking OERs seriously, and has invited me to talk about the economics and financial requirements for educating a billion children.
