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Credits
I would like to express my indebtedness to the contributions made by others to this concept.
Foremost, I would like to recognize the many significant contributions of my co-founder, John Scarbrough, in shaping the conceptualization of the WEgrid. Two of his contributions really stand out (and are recognized as the third and fourth words in the title "The World Education Grid Enterprise"). When I first proposed that we approach education reform from an 'enabling-systems' viewpoint, it was John who came up with the 'enterprise' concept for driving the process. He also identified the 'Grid' technologies as the most viable vehicle for realizing the World-Education-Grid system. These two ideas set the stage for me to build out the WEgrid conceptualization. Over the many months as I struggled to create a conceptual framework for unifying the whole of education, it was John who, through his deep understanding of the critical issues of education, enabled me to be grounded every step of the way. When I went up blind alleys, it was John who listened patiently to my frustrations and provided the light that enabled me to see the way through.
I'd also like to recognize the work done by Professor Parker Rossman in his living Internet project, "THE FUTURE OF HIGHER (LIFELONG) EDUCATION: For All Worldwide, a Holistic View". This labor of love helped me get a holistic view of education.
I would also like to recognize Peter Senge's influence on the conceptualization of the WEgrid Organization. Although this website does not go into any depth on Senge's influence, his ideas will be central to how the WEgrid Organization is realized. In its fundamental goal to drive a continuously evolving entity (the World-Education-Grid), the WEgrid Organization may be the perfect application of his concept of a 'learning organization'.
Jonathan
Walker
Foreword
Most of the concepts that are the basis for the WEgrid Enterprise originate from various education and technological visionaries and organizations around the world. The World-Education-Grid Enterprise is an integration of these concepts into a global 'enterprise' framework that enables a call to action to be made.
The World-Education-Grid Enterprise is a bold idea on grand scale. It is a 'big-picture' movement intended to complement the current excellent standards-setting efforts and other 'bottom-up' education reform initiatives. In its mission to 're-engineer' education into a comprehensive unified architecture, it will integrate three non-orthogonal education dimensions that relate 1) how the universality of education can be achieved, 2) how education can be made significantly more effective, and 3) how education can be evolved to meet the challenges of the future.
It is the absolute conviction of WEgrid that without such an 'over-arching' framework, education cannot succeed holistically in its reach, its efficacy, and its future role in human endevours. Only islands of success are possible without it. Indeed, education solutions, hobbled by the inadequacy of the infrastructure that currently implements education, will continue to limit the progress of education.
It is also very important to understand that the World-Education-Grid is an 'enabling' concept not a 'prescriptive' one. It is conceived to facilitate the construction of education solutions, but does not 'prescribe' the education ideas (good or bad) that define the intended education value.
At first brush the challenge of the WEgrid initiative may seem overly daunting, especially to those who are unfamiliar with the existing 'enabling' systems technologies and methodologies that will be harnessed to achieve its vision. However, a critical mass of proven technologies and design methodologies already exists to embark on this project. The essential initial challenge will be to muster the political will to go forth.
John
Scarbrough
Jonathan Walker
Conceptualizing WEgrid
'The System is the Solution"
The World-Education-Grid Enterprise (WEgrid) will be a global non-profit organization to be governed by representatives from all nations worldwide. Its goal will be to marshal the resolve and resources to solve the growing world-wide education crisis.
The imperative for embarking on so bold a venture is clear. The world community must bring education to the vast majority of learners worldwide, if the human condition is to improve; the efficacy of education must be significantly improved if education is to fulfill its promise; and education must evolve to fulfill its crucial role in an increasingly fast-moving future.
The mission of the WEgrid Enterprise is to 're-engineer' education on a global scale in order to facilitate the timely construction and delivery of highly effective customized education solutions.
The strategy is 1) to establish a world organization that will caste the support and evolution of global education into a coordinating 'enterprise' and 2) to create a worldwide 'Education Super-System/Superhighway' as a common global architecture for education in order to realize a vision of superior education worldwide.
... more information on 'Conceptualizing WEgrid'
The Imperative
The two driving imperatives for the WEgrid Enterprise are 1) the need for a common unifying architecture for education, and 2) the need for a comprehensive solution to education.
The
Need for a Common Unifying Architecture for Education
The
current infrastructure that implements today's education lacks the power to
meet the demands of tomorrow's education. Thus, there is an urgent need to
're-engineer' education, to make a quantum leap forward in the expressive
power of the infrastructure that will implement education in the 21st
century.
The
Need for a Comprehensive Solution to Education
In
a fast moving world, a comprehensive solution that addresses all the major
issues of education is essential if education is fulfill its important role
in reversing negative global trends and raising mankind to new heights.
... more information on 'Imperative'
Mission
The mission of the WEgrid Enterprise is to 're-engineer' education to enable, on a global scale, the timely construction and delivery of highly effective customized education solutions.
The WEgrid Enterprise challenge will be to establish a common architecture to unify the important dimensions of education, so that a holistic solution to education can be realized on a global scale.
The goal of the WEgrid common architecture for education is 1) to achieve 'universal' education, 2) to significantly increase the 'effectiveness' of education, and 3) to drive the 'evolution' of education.
... more information on 'Mission'
Strategy
In simplest terms, the WEgrid strategy is to establish a new global infrastructure for education and to drive that infrastructure through a 'people' organization with global representation. Specifically, the concept is to caste education into a global 'enterprise' that will orchestrate a coordinated journey towards education excellence delivered on a global scale, and to power that journey via an 'education super-system/superhighway', the World-Education-Grid, with the expressive power to enable the creation of superior education solutions, and the operational power to efficiently deliver education value worldwide.
.
The idea is to approach the transformation of education by re-engineering it, in order to make a quantum leap forward in the power of the infrastructure that implements education. As a state-of-the-art 'education-solution-enabling' infrastructure, the World-Education-Grid will redefine the education landscape in which education solutions are formulated, implemented, and deployed. The World-Education-Grid will be an 'education solution workbench' that will empower every nation, administrator, teacher, and learner with the resources and tools to efficiently assemble and apply simple ('just-enough'), customized ('just-right'), and timely ('just-in-time') education solutions.
The WEgrid assumption is that with access to powerful 'education-smart' tools, educators will create a diversity of reusable education solutions, many of which would not be possible to even dream of using traditional means.
... more information on 'Strategy'
World-Education-Grid
Conceptualizing
the World-Education-Grid
The World-Education-Grid will implement a common architecture for education.
It will be 1) a system for creating and managing education solutions (an 'Education
Super-System'), 2) a vehicle for delivering
them worldwide (an 'Education Superhighway'),
and 3) a 'research workbench' for supporting the evolution of education.
As an 'enabling' system, the World-Education-Grid will power a comprehensive solution to the world education crisis founded on
... more information on conceptualizing the 'World-Education-Grid'
WEgrid Organization
Conceptualizing
the WEgrid Organization
The
WEgrid Organization
will implement an 'enterprise' organizational framework to orchestrate
and actuate the future of education on a global scale.
Purpose -- The WEgrid Organization's main purpose will be to orchestrate the development and evolution of the World-Education-Grid. It will effect this goal --
- by orchestrating the initial development and on-going evolution of the World-Education-Grid;
- by fostering the education and systems research that will drive the evolution of the World-Education-Grid system in particular, and education in general;
- by providing an efficient process and pathway for the takeup of productive research;
- by supporting both systemic change (i.e., evolution of existing education paradigms) and system reinvention in education (i.e., creation of new education paradigms), and the coordination of their convergence.
- by ensuring that every country, culture, school, teacher, and learner can define, and implement their own education strategies without compromise; and
- by enabling a major 'power/value shift' towards the education consumer and the frontline education-value producer.
... more information on the conceptualizing of the 'WEgrid Organization'
Education Solutions
The 'Education Solution' concept is the centerpiece of the World-Education-Grid conceptual framework. It is the vehicle for encapsulating and delivering education value. The formalization of the concept is the primary mechanism for the unification of education under the World-Education-Grid.
'Education Solutions' are treated as simple abstract objects that can be constructed, categorized, customized, stored, discovered, and delivered. This important simplicity is a major innovation of the World-Education-Grid and masks the breadth of types of actual education solutions, spanning every aspect of education and all levels of education. In short, the concept encompasses anywhere education value is created, delivered, and administered. This includes the implementation of national or regional education initiatives; the systemization of the functioning of education institutions; the construction, administration, and delivery of education courses and learning environments; the support of different learning processes; and the authoring, administration, and delivery of learning content.
Education Solutions are conceived as made up of a variety of types of components derived from 'physical capital' (e.g., laboratory equipment, a school bus), 'human capital' (e.g., a teacher reading aloud), and 'knowledge capital' (e.g., a method of statistical analysis).
... more information on the conceptualizing of 'Education Solutions'
Timing
The timing for establishing the World-Education-Grid Enterprise as a mobilizing framework for global education is right on a number of fronts --
... more information on 'Timing'
Realizing
WEgrid
'Vision
+ Pathway = Future'
Mustering
the Political Will --
One of the goals of this website is to help build the political will to launch
a global education re-engineering initiative. Currently, most of the nations
of the world are 'significance blind' to the power of the technologies and
the organizational structure that the WEgrid initiative will harness to realize
the WEgrid vision. By providing an articulation of the conceptualization of
the WEgrid vision, this website is a first step in bringing an understanding
of what can be achieved by these technologies backed by a complementary driving
organizational structure. The conceptualization of WEgrid answers the question
'what is it precisely?'. As a second step, this website provides an overview
of how that conceptualization can be realized (i.e., an answer to the question
of 'how it can be implemented').
With these two questions answered to the satisfaction of every nation, the
stage will be set to move the WEgrid initiative forward. It is anticipated
that this will not happen in unison, because each nation will have to translate
their understanding of the WEgrid vision into their own national context and
to build the political commitment from that position.
Seeding WEgrid -- To build an initial momentum, a world conference will be held to bring together the representatives of national education systems and also leaders in the technologies that will be harnessed. The intent will be to build mutual understanding and to fuse commitment. From that event, the WEgrid Enterprise will be launched as a global force for driving the future direction of education.
Implementing WEgrid -- The central implementation focus of the WEgrid Enterprise is to establish a continuously evolving global 'grid' for education (the 'World-Education-Grid') that all education stakeholders will be able to 'plug' into to produce and consume education value. The challenge of implementing the WEgrid concept is two-fold, the creation of the World-Education-Grid and the establishment of the WEgrid Organization.
Bridging the 'Divides' -- To significantly reduce the current global inequities in education access, an important challenge for WEgrid is to eliminate the various 'divides' between the nations of the world. Technological, infrastructure, affordability, and cultural 'divides' will be addressed nation by nation in order to realize the WEgrid vision globally.
... more information on 'Realizing WEgrid'
Realizing the World-Education-Grid
World-Education-Grid -- 'Semantic Grid' technologies will be the central technologies governing the implementation of the World-Education-Grid. In addition, a number of complementary technologies and design methodologies will be harnessed at different levels of its implementation.
... more information on realizing the 'World-Education-Grid '
Realizing the WEgrid Organization
WEgrid Organization -- To drive the establishment and management of the World-Education-Grid, the WEgrid Organization will be implemented as two organizations, the WEgrid BOARDS and WEgrid TRUST.
... more information on realizing the 'WEgrid Organization'
Home Page Instructions
You can get an overview of the WEgrid Enterprise on this page by hovering your mouse (don't click) over the buttons on the left side of this window. To access more detail on the topic, simply click the button to enter the full website. On the right of this page are a several self-guided presentations. Hover your cursor over any of the presentation buttons to get a synopsis of that presentation. Click to start the presentation.
This website is divided into two main branches and a set of self-guided presentations --
button
or any of the indented buttons below it.
or any of the indented buttons below it.
Presentations
The WEgrid concept is multi-dimensional idea with many sides to it. As an aid to understanding its various aspects, the following self-guided slide presentations are offered. For elaboration on key points, these presentations make liberal reference to the full website.
A Quick Overview
This presentation provides an overview of the WEgrid Enterprise.
The Problem -- It identifies the inadequacy of the education infrastructure as the critical challenge that must be addressed in order to establish the system framework for solving the major issues of education.
The Solution -- It describes the WEgrid solution as two entities, 1) an education super-system/super-highway, and 2) a global organization to orchestrate and actuate the future of education.
Realization -- It provides a quick overview of how these entities will be realized with links to a fuller exposition in the WEgrid website.
It concludes with 1) a simplified visualization of education's transition to the World-Education-Grid, 2) an overview of some of the industries that will be created by virtue of the World-Education-Grid, 3) a description of its revenue model, and 4) an abbreviation of the full plan for bringing the WEgrid Enterprise to life.
World-Education-Grid
This presentation provides an overview of the World-Education-Grid.
It outlines its role as an education Super-System and as global education Super-Highway, and the conceptual framework used to support these roles.
It briefly outlines its principal goals of 1) enabling the universality of education, 2) implementing a quantum leap forward in the effectiveness of education, and 3) supporting the evolution of education to meet the needs of a fast-moving future.
Education Solutions
This presentation provides an elaboration on the concept of an Education Solution.
An understanding of it and its formalization into a system framework, is critical for appreciating the power of the WEgrid initiative to forge a global revolution in education.
Visualizing
the World-Education-Grid
To appreciate the power of the WEgrid concept, it is important to be able to visualize the operation of the World-Education-Grid.
This simplified presentation starts with a visualization of the concept of an Education Solution and builds out from there to introduce some of the other concepts that form the system framework for supporting the delivery of education value.
Note: Because there will be a broad diversity of types of Education Solutions (ranging from national education initiatives all the way down to simple learning modules), this presentation only provides a visualization at a general level. The details will vary greatly with different types of Education Solutions.
Logic
behind
the World-Education-Grid
This presentation provides an exposition of the logic behind the conceptualization of the World-Education-Grid.
It begins with the formalization of the concept of an Education Solution into a system framework, and postulates that, by expanding it with additional system capabilities to address the major issues in education, a new education infrastructure can be established to power the future of education.
Brief History
Although the full WEgrid concept was germinated in December, 2002, its origins date back several years.
In the late 1990s, a Los Angeles businessman
with a passion for education traveled throughout the United States and the
world to talk with educators and highly-placed politicians about the major
issues of education.
In early 2002 he linked up with John Scarbrough from Arizona, who had deep
insights into e-Learning and its potential. They jointly formed a for-profit
e-Learning company around an e-Learning concept.
For a few years John Scarbrough had known Jonathan Walker, a former e-Learning
company founder and a former computer science professor. Jonathan proposed
a non-profit initiative to put in place an infrastructure to support the Globalization
and Unification of e-Learning. The WEgrid concept was born.
In February 2003, John Scarbrough and Jonathan Walker founded the World Enterprise
for Universal Education and started planning.
(Click link for more information)
