Talk in Dohuk, Iraq
In late December Baylor University sent a delegation of 22 educators
to Dohuk, Iraq to lead a workshop to help in reestablishing higher
education in the Kurdistan region. I was joined on the physics
side of this trip by Dr. John Vasut, a departmental lecturer.
Baylor has had a cooperation agreement with Dohuk University since
1996, but this was the first time we have had the opportunity
to act on it. We found the people friendly and eager to reestablish
normal ties and educational commerce with the rest of the world.
The workshop we conducted involved presentations in educational
theory and the teaching of various subjects. We also brought textbooks
and other reference and research materials to share with our Kurdish
colleagues. However, bringing a small number of textbooks to their
isolated university on a single trip can only help in a limited
way. Although Internet connections were not available at Dohuk
when we were there, they have since been reestablished. This means
the giving can go on through OPEN TEXT, and the dissemination
of physics materials can be made to a wider audience.
OPEN TEXT was designed for reestablishment or
self-study of physics materials at low cost. The talk I gave in
Dohuk discusses the OPEN TEXT concept in more detail than the
scant material already posted on this site. The talk is in PowerPoint
and may be downloaded below.
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