España: proyecto Rural Emprende ofrece formación online para emprendedores rurales

El proyecto Rural Emprende tiene como objetivo ofrecer apoyo a personas del medio rural con espíritu emprendedor, fomentando y desarrollando proyectos e iniciativas empresariales que permitan abarcar un amplio abanico de posibilidades en la sociedad de la información.

Integrado dentro del área de actuación Ciudadanía Digital del Plan Avanza, el proyecto comprende cuatro grandes fases de las que ahora se inicia la segunda y que está dirigida a ofrecer formación online sobre creación de modelos de negocio, web 2.0 y nuevas tecnologías. La confederación ofrece asesoramiento gratuito durante el periodo de duración.

A través de este proyecto se pretende romper las tradicionales barreras existentes en las zonas rurales para poner en marcha ideas innovadoras. Con este programa se pretende vencer estos obstáculos, disminuyendo así la brecha digital existente en este sector y que los empresarios tengan la oportunidad de establecer contactos y networking con expertos y agentes relevantes de la industria TIC.

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Open educational resources - State of the art

The February 2009 issue of Open Learning is dedicated to Open Educational Resources (OER) - "teaching, learning and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use or re-purposing by others."

The special issue, appropriately openly accessible, "present an overview of the OER movement, and the perspective is largely that of the OER provider."

In the words of Susan D'Antoni: "The production and use of OER raises a number of issues, and the concluding article addresses a crucial concern that brings us back to the perspective of the first article - open licensing. If materials are to be openly and freely shared, they must be licensed in a manner that promotes this objective. Ahrash Bissell's article aims to explain the logic of the open licensing that is essential to OER and to explore related considerations."

Looking for OER? Try out the search page by the Commonwealth of learning

Distance learning on food security information reporting and analysis

The EC-FAO Food Security Information for Action Programme has produced some useful distance learning courses on different aspects of food security information. The courses are mainly designed for self-paced learning, with no personal instruction. They use the latest instructional methods in e-learning such as: personal learning paths, illustrative case studies, learner tracking, and interactive tests and exercises.

The module on 'Reporting Food Security Information' provides guidance in designing, writing and increasing the impact of food security reports in different contexts. The 4 lessons are:

• Understanding the User's Information Needs - how to design effective food security reports for decision makers by focusing on their information needs.
• Reporting for Results - how to write food security reports aimed at producing results by providing decision makers with actionable recommendations.
• Writing Effective Reports - organizing and presenting food security information.
• Reporting Formats for Food Security - selecting the right format and structure for a food security report based on its purpose and context.

Another module gives information on 'Food Security Information Systems and Networks.' It explains how to understand the main objectives of a food security information system, how key components of food security information systems support decision making processes, provides guidance in determining the types of organizations responsible for food security data collection, analysis and reporting, and illustrates how to identify the steps needed to assess and improve different information systems concerned with food security analysis.

Tags: agricultural information food security reporting distance learning training