THE VISION OF eCANDLE
"You can give a man or woman a fish and feed them for a day, or teach them to fish and feed them for a lifetime. Or you can teach a man or woman to run a successful fishing company, employ hundreds or thousands of people, and feed entire villages forever."
WHY WAS eCANDLE STARTED?
Because Education is the key to life
To serve those hungry for knowledge
To fulfill the mission of BYU "Enter to learn go forth to serve"
To involve students in development and planning
To involve faculty in research and publishing
To involve community
WHAT DOES eCANDLE STAND FOR?
electronic-
Coalition for the
Aggregation of
Net-based
Digital
Learning
Environments
WHAT WILL eCANDLE LOOK LIKE?
eCANDLE lessons will consist of highly interactive flash and video elements.
WHO WILL eCANDLE SERVE?
Those who are thirsty for knowledge
The "poorest of the poor"
The "aspiring middle class"
Others in the world in greatest need
DEMOGRAPHIC SELECTION DECISION CRITERIA
How many people can we help?
Do they have a critical need to learn?
Do they have the desire to learn?
Do they have access to a mobile device?
Do they have access to a wireless network?
Do they have the ability to implement what they learn
on a sustainable basis?
TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS
Traditional PC
$100 PC
Mobile phone
Video iPod
Ultra-Mobile
PC "Origami device"
WHO WILL BENEFIT?
Students, Faculty, Administration, Families, Communities, Countries
FUTURE CONTENT STRATEGY
The seven E's
- E-Business
- Entrepreneurship
- English-as-a-second language
- Electronic information technology
- Ethics and leadership
- Economic self-reliance
- Environmental stewardship
WHERE IS eCANDLE GOING?
May Beta test (BYU Hawaii)
15th Annual IAMOT Conf.
June 10th Annual GCCCE Conf.
Fall 2006 Pilots
Winter 2007 Deployment
Additional eCANDLE informaiton:
Our goal is to provide an online educational environment for developing countries. Our first target market will be China. Online content will include everything from English as a second language to the basic business skills and training required to meet China's growning economic and employment demands.
According to Richard T. Hezel and Josh Mitchell of Hezel Associates, LLC, the world market for education is about $2.3 trillion dollars. This money is being spent by 1.4 billion students in countries around the world. The numbers further conclude that of those 1.4 billions students, over half of them, 800 million, are in China. This large increase is attributable to 300 million rural Chinese migrating to urban areas in search of better economic and educational opportunities. Unfortunately, the available education infrastructure is simply not available in regions where the needs are the highest. The Chinese government recently approved $100 billion to build 100 new universities across China; regretfully this still isn't enough. Sighting Tsinghua University in Beijing as an example, for every one student enrolled, 10,000 students are denied attendance.
The extreme cost of overhead and logistic impossibility of creating a university in remote areas of the world prevents an increasing number of students from gaining an education. Fortunately, with the advent of wireless internet, education is becoming a reality for the masses previously denied. Online or electronic education is more than scanning a couple of textbooks and creating an online java-scripted multiple choice test. Online education needs a personal touch and some interaction. Like traditional education, online education needs a foundation of values and ethics. This foundation needs to not only produce academic excellence, but also provide the skills necessary to break the poverty cycle - even the poorest of circumstances.
In cooperation with Brigham Young University, the Debra and Kevin Rollins Center for eBusiness, and eBusiness center's philanthropic branch, the eLeaven Initiative, we are proud to present the eCANDLE Foundation. The eCANDLE Foundation stands for the electronic Coalition for Aggregation of Net-based Digital Learning Environments (eCANDLE), and was initially envisioned by Curt Allen and Wayne Brickey in early 2004. The foundation was created to act as the ultimate educational vehicle, which will deliver essential educational nutrients to the educationally underprivileged throughout the world.
In order to prepare the eCANDLE Foundation to be the ultimate educational vehicle, research will focus on understanding psychographics and demographics of an international audience. As we learn more about these areas, we'll start to understand how we can overcome barriers like language, culture, comprehension, and testing on an international level. The eCANDLE Foundation will also become the flagship to provide some form of internationally recognizable accreditation. From these focus areas, eCANDLE will transform from a visionary idea into a wonderful reality for people hungry for education.
eCandle Foundation
