Details: First International Distance Learning events for NYC, South Carolina, Denmark, Ireland, and Greece schools. Launch of Mariners of Greece program with Harvard Professor Greg Nagy. Partnerships and Support: PictureTel donations, National Ministries of Education and Maritime Antiquities of Greece.
Collaboration with the Jordan Jubilee School for the Gifted and Talented, at the invitation of Queen Noor and King Hussein of Jordan.
Hosted the first USA National Webinar on school shootings. Collaboration with Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office to address school violence post-Columbine
Development: Met with Irish Government leaders for Learning for Peace program. Addressed racial and immigrant violence in Northwest England and US-Serbia conflict. Outcome: Birth of the Learning for Peace program.
In 2001, OPEN embarked on a pioneering journey to the Wilderness Canyons, collaborating with Dr. Shirley Smith from SCETV and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park in Colorado. This initiative marked the beginning of OPEN’s dedication to integrating real-world environmental challenges and conservation efforts into educational experiences.
Second installment of Learning for Peace. Schools from the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, England, Greece, USA (NYC schools), Bahrain, Belgrade, Serbia all presented their views on local and international conflicts of our times and their views for a more tolerant and peaceful world.
The first educational work in sub-Saharan Africa with Mkomazi Game Reserve focused on protecting the critically endangered African Black Rhino.
Event: Bridge Builders World Trade Center Memorial Design competition. Five OPEN countries’ schools from Middle East and Europe participate, but it was George Westinghouse Career and Technical Education High School in Brooklyn school students’ design that met the incredibly short deadline, and was accepted as an entrant for the prestigious…
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OPEN awarded Phase I and Phase I and II grants by NSF, US Department of Education, and NASA. OPEN was among the first to receive these prestigious Federal Grants for video games for learning.
Dr. Shirley Smith Star Schools Grant from US Dept of Education – OPEN co-develops curricula with Dr. Smith’s Team for the educational TV series and arranges trip to Mkomazi Game Reserve in Tanzania through dear friend, Mr. Billy Dowd. Mkomazi was and is a sanctuary for breeding and protecting critically…
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OPEN invited by King Abdullah of Jordan to participate in a global technology conference of all the top international technology companies. OPEN was the only small foreign tech company to be invited due to our earlier distance learning education projects there with his Father’s Jubilee School.
OPEN joins together with ITG software development company of Jordan and Educators from New Jersey to advance and localize ITG’s enterprise scale Learning Management System (LMS) – Eduwave and market in USA. It was adopted by schools in New Jersey who were willing to trial a work in process on…
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Event linked US National Evening News Host Peter Jennings by live videoconference to Interreligious Peace Award winner, Prince Hassan from Amman, Jordan. OPEN arranged and co-managed the technology for at the UN event and integrated and co-managed the videoconferencing technology in Jordan for the groundbreaking gala event. It was deemed…
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Recognition: OPEN received additional grants from NASA (as a subcontractor to Indiana University) and the U.S. Department of Education. Domain: Focused on real-world issues, mainly environmental, emergency services, and time travel games to historical periods, all multiplayer Game-Based Learning applications in ongoing partnership with Indiana University School of Education.
Expansion: Grew network of schools internationally. Affiliations: Advanced partnerships with Harvard University, MIT, and also began co-developing new education content with World Heritage sites in the USA – Mesa Verde, Olympic National Park, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Expansion: Grew network of schools internationally. Affiliations: Worked with Harvard University, MIT, and other World Heritage sites in the USA – Mesa Verde, Olympic National Park, and Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Collaboration: Professional partnership established with Dr. Wednaud Ronelus, a STEM Researcher from NYC Schools, to enhance OPEN’s educational initiatives for NY City schools and beyond.
In 2010, Dr. Wednaud Ronelus and the Maverick Educators Institute worked with OPEN to bring cutting-edge educational technology and services to New York City schools, highlighting OPEN’s commitment to STEM education.
To celebrate the great work of Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary of NOAA to protect the critically endangered Northwest Atlantic Right Whale, George Newman of OPEN produced and MC’d an awards ceremony featuring Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young for Stellwagen’s 20th anniversary at the Woods Hole Oceanographic…
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OPEN expanded the Endangered Species and Biodiversity Series in 2013, soon to feature educational content on endangered Hawksbill sea turtles – Turtle Trails and animated storybook Serengeti-Mara Trails – illegal global trade of African rhinos, elephants and registered legal hunting of the African lion. Students learning and then taking action…
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OPEN and our partner Small Solutions Big Ideas (SSBI) produced a tribute program to Professor Seymour Papert of MIT, one of the founding fathers/mothers of computers for learning. Seymour was a true visionary who mapped out the long tail future of computers for learning. His constructionism pedagogy to this day…
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Move: Headquarters relocated to San Francisco. Revival of International Distance Learning PBL program series.
Ellen Baldwin joins with us in San Francisco, to support OPEN’s business and project development, and accounting. Ellen supported all project planning and business arrangements, as well as kiosk deployment and promotional museum displays with Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and NOAA Papahanaumouakea National Monument in Hilo on the Big Island.…
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Initiative: Setup of interactive kiosks and marketing for Turtle Trails game with Volcanoes National Park and World Heritage site in Hawaii
Since well before 2013 and to this day, Kupono McDaniels Guides OPEN’s activities and education program work with HAVO and hosts several OPEN international distance learning events and hosts global programs on Volcanoes and Emergency Services and Disaster Response related applications. Rebecca Embree joins OPEN as volunteer and liaison to…
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OPEN partners with Small Solutions Big Ideas (SSBI) and together enlists schools across Bungoma County, Kenya farm region.
Update: Headquarters moved back to Boston.
Series: OPEN invites and our young hosts interview leading scientists and technology experts. Focused on reaching young students and the public to further promote scientific literacy. Soon we followed with host Syra Mehdi in a neuroscience series on the brain and the effects of music, The Singing Brain and Women…
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Early version of commercial Internet Backpack for remote community connectivity and emergency services applications introduced.
OPEN partners with Imcon International for Internet Backpack technology to offer remote connectivity solutions for remote areas in Africa. First trials in Liberia working with Madam President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Telecommunications and Education Ministries at the time.
Expansion: Began creation of a Program Series on Sustainable Agriculture and Forestry with schools and ministry partners in Bungoma, Kenya, Liberia and the DR Congo and later Malawi, and Nigeria. OPEN sought to empower communities with sustainable (regenerative) agriculture practices, and increase biodiversity by promoting the preservation of intact forests…
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Extensive Internet sensor monitoring system and open source data repository of Living Observatory and MIT’s Responsive Environments lab’s ecosystem restoration program is further inspiration for OPEN’s entry into utilizing IoT for real world deployments in its many countries and related education and training programs. Our initial focus with IoT is…
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For ecosystem restoration programs and climate change research.
Esri is the world leader in GIS Mapping Applications and Location Services for K-12 (Primary to Secondary Education) for OPEN’s African and NY City Schools – offering our students a truly valuable tool and skillset for the digital generation’s job market.
Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii erupts violently and unexpectedly out of fissures lying under neighborhoods on the Big Island. Thousands of homes destroyed and a school, Kua O Ka La also. OPEN partners with Kua O Ka La to help students and teachers there and for promoting rebuilding and fundraising. OPEN…
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Dr. James McKnight and Gillian Julius soil chemist and soil biology experts respectively together with OPEN develop regenerative agriculture research instructions manual for schools, farmers and ministry of agriculture testing. Schools agriculture programs utilize and give feedback through use and testing. Book and subject evolves with research feedback from testing…
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OPEN produces an international distance learning program event with Living Observatory Outdoor event site in the marshland, broadcasting to 7 country locations. Brian Mayton of MIT Media Labs and the Living Observatory and the Mass Audubon Society present to OPEN sites in Africa, Southern France and New York City schools.
In 2019, OPEN forms a strategic alliance with Helium Systems, LoRaWAN blockchain IoT network provider. OPEN facilitates international expansion to Australia and remote African countries. Goal to utilize IoT for Smart Farming and Sustainable Community Development education marked a significant expansion of the OPEN network’s impact and reach.
New Team members: Heather Cowap – Education Scientist and Janice Bogues, NYC Educator join the OPEN Team as Education Consultants.
OPEN’s partnerships with Seeed Studios, RAKwireless, and Ubidots IoT in 2020 facilitated the deployment of environmental and farm monitoring systems, advancing OPEN’s mission through technology.
Due to Covid spirits were low at year’s end OPEN organized and managed a global classroom music event where parents and students from home would introduce their homeland cultures through music. The event was a huge success and so Music From Spaceship Earth (MFSE) – Cultural Histories of the World…
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OPEN and La Rev team together deploys our first complete ecosystem monitoring LoRaWAN sensor network system. La Rev de Gaia is an eco-preneurial project that aims to create a self sustainable living system where we form conditions under which humans, animals and nature can exist in productive harmony. The goal…
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OPEN focuses on IoT technology applications and begins to develop related courses and deployments trainings around IoT with Heather Cowap and other educators and technologists. More IoT company introductions through Travis Teague hosted weekly online Helium Hacks Hour.
Special Interest Group (SIG) and partners with IBM’s Open Horizon AI Edge Computing open source unit.
Knox Grammar a leading private school in Australia, and Knox partner school Walgett, an aboriginal community school in the northwest New South Wales also joins the OPEN network of schools. Several distance learning sessions from Agriculture expert Luke Farr from his Walgett farm site and school on sustainable indigenous practices…
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The expansion of IoT education programs and multiple new country deployments in 2021 demonstrated OPEN’s commitment to integrating cutting-edge technology into learning experiences, preparing students and professionals for the future.
OPEN sets up office in Liberia and brings on country directors in Liberia (Goanbei Zeyoe), DRC (Wilfred Mushagalusa), Kenya (Bonventure Masika), Malawi (Dominic Nyasulu); Jamaica (Ruel Corniffe), Trinidad Tobago (Edward Campbell)
Other MFSE programs were delivered in 2021 and 2022 across the world for live events and partnership with Elk online music. Now musicians can jam with no latency up to 600 miles. OPEN begins to introduce to some USA NYC schools. Post Covid schools cannot handle advancing music education programs,…
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Collaboration with the Royal School for Educational Therapy and Consulting Partners and US Embassy Nigeria for teacher training programs.
Adding powerful IoT Edge computing and Weather Forecasting and Climate Data repository offerings into OPEN’s fast growing portfolio of software and services for OPEN’s smart agriculture, and sustainable community development initiatives.