Space College will also strive to be “backwards compatible” so as to allow participants with limited computer access and software tools to participate in Space College. Also, many of the mentors that will participate in Space College’s activities will be from older generations that tend to not be as adept or enthusiastic about using the latest, greatest, newest thing. Of course, Space College participants will be enlisted in the creation of solutions to access issues.
Space College will seek to focus interaction of related activities when possible but it will not seek to monopolize these interactions. As such, while only a few sites can be “official” great effort will be taken to assure that other fora that emerge are utilized so long as open, honest, productive interaction is the goal. The greater and more pervasive the discussion of and interaction with Space College activities, the greater its reach an its ultimate potential. Space College seeks to be an collector, organizer, and creator of space exploration materials but it also seeks to be a stimulant to others to do the same in an open and collaborative fashion.
While collaboration is the ultimate goal of Space College personal achievement and competition are to be encouraged as well. Given the nature of the real world it would be counter productive to ignore how it works. Competition can be done in a collaborative fashion with different teams attempting to derive the best – or a better – way to do things. In the end the fruits of this competitive collaboration will be made available to all. As personal achievement, space exploration seems to attract an unusually high number of people with a personal goal and vision. That should be encouraged whenever possible – again such that in the end a rising tide lifts all boats.
If a student lives in a remote community that has XO laptops from the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) initiative or other “legacy” computers that have Internet connectivity, then Space College should seek to meet their eagerness to learn with materials adapted to their ability to access it. Space College should also inspire these students to enhance their ability to interact – ideally their community’s ability to support such enhanced access.
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