People


My idea now of P2PU - Nordic (shortly described) is to create something like a "P2PU - school", run by Folkbildningsrådet and their sister organizations in Norway, Dennmark and Swedish-speaking part of Finland and other interested organizations or individuals. Why Folkbildningsrådet and their sisters-organizations? I think that someone have to have the responsibility to promote, organize and maintain quality in the courses, but also that these organizations will reach people (students) that does not knew about peer to peer online learning.
The idea is that the Nordic tradition "folkbildning", with studiecirklar (study-circles), folkhögskolor (Folk High Schools) and so forth have a lot to win on building on new forms of "institutionalized informal learning" - P2PU and that P2PU have a lot to win on the long Nordic tradition of organizing and institutionalize "informal learning". This seems as a paradox, but the thing is that these institutions in Sweden are "separated from the school-system", does not have an national curriculum, but at the same time receive partly grants from the government for life long learning.
                
This is an oversimplification, but I hope you get the idea and think that it something to build on. 
                
The idea is based on that Folkbildningsrådet and their sisters-organization formally get commissioned to support P2PU-Nordic.

The group is not settled yet - it is still people that I think can be interested in creating P2PU - nordic, but there might be other organisations and people that can be involved. I think that it might be good to contact Jan Pawlowski, jan.pawlowski@jyu.fi, and the organisation http://www.nordlet.org. 

The idea I described are based on involving representatives working in "Nordic tradition "folkbildning", with studiecirklar  (study-circles), folkhögskolor (Folk High Schools) and so forth"


Folkbildning
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studiecirkel
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkh%C3%B6gskola
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkbildning
http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folkbildningsr%C3%A5det
http://hem.folkbildning.net/
http://www.nordlet.org


Topics
Translating to Swedish
    Already in progress, maybe a week or two and it could be finished
    
(A software recomended by a friend is Wordfast Pro for translation. Speeds up the process but I'm not using it now. May be something to look into for new languages.)


http://www.digidel.se/eng/ (similar to race Online in UK) to activate digital excluded citizens, Folkbildningsrådet is one of many organizations in that network.

Very high interest in free-standing courses - many people enroll higher education only for free standing courses and are not intested in earning a diploma
Swedish get proud in teaching other people

interest in developing skills for the jobplace

John - Dropuouts and retention
Steps along the way, being able to catch up a week later where you paused with new people. High dropout in the beginning. 
Face to face good to keep people engaged
Marisa - Connect people in the same area attending the same course, Johns "Coach Surfing" for learners

Leo personal top 2 most wanted courses: "How to be a teacher" focused on young people teaching Internet to elderly people to gain teaching experience, "Entrepreneurship for a better sustainable future"


"Folkbildning – for lifelong learning
People want to learn and develop in many different contexts in all phases of life. Swedish folkbildning meets this need – and thereby contributes to societal development and growth. But folkbildning also has an intrinsic value because well-informed and active citizens constitute the core of democracy. Folkbildning is open to everyone in society. In folkbildning, everyone participates on equal terms, but based on different conditions. People seek knowledge and development through folkbildning for various reasons. All of these reasons are meaningful – regardless of whether it is a question of personal development, increasing the chances of finding a new job, or simply a desire to learn. In study associations and folk high schools, opportunities of lifelong learning are provided through a rich offering of courses and educational programmes – everything from study circles where a small group meets a few times in their leisure time, up to multi-year, full-time courses of study at folk high schools.

Concept of folkbildning
Folkbildning grew forth at the beginning of the last century in a Sweden where the level of education was low and large groups of the population were excluded from higher education. Folkbildning became the answer to people’s longing for knowledge and desire to influence societal development. Folkbildning is still borne by the idea of a society with small educational rifts. There are always people, who for various reasons need alternatives to the formal educational system. Here, folk high schools and study associations have their most important mission, based on the fundamental right of all citizens to knowledge and development. Folkbildning is a part of the liberal non-formal education sector and is free from detailed national control. This freedom, like the strong ties to the non-profit sector, makes folkbildning a force of societal change. The ideas of folkbildning are noticeable not least in its practical activities, through dynamic interaction with the participants. Folkbildning has the following characteristics:

• It is always voluntary for the individual to participate in folkbildning.
• The participants have considerable opportunities to influence the content of the activities.
• Folkbildning is characterised by an environment in which learning and social interaction go hand in hand. The circumstances and experiences of every participant are taken into account.
• Folkbildning contributes to strengthening civil society through close co-operation with volunteer organisations, associations and various types of networks."  

(111203 http://www.folkbildning.se/Folkbildning/Oversattningar/English-translations/
)

Also added some notes here on the relation between P2PU and Folkbildningen largely taken old notes written by Niklas. Please click here [[nordic-folkbild]]

Evaluation translating language: - from 1st effort to regular updates and best practice
Translator meeting prior to Nordic translation effort?

Next Steps:
     Compare the texts http://p2pu.org/en/pages/about/ and http://www.folkbildning.se/Folkbildning/Oversattningar/English-translations/


Folkbildning is open to everyone in society
[14:18:02] Niklas Karlsson: There are always people, who for various reasons need alternatives to the formal educational system.
[14:27:30] Niklas Karlsson: http://twitter.com/#!/JanPawlowski
[14:27:46] Niklas Karlsson: http://users.jyu.fi/~japawlow/
[14:29:59] Niklas Karlsson: http://p2pu.org/en/pages/about/
[14:30:07] Niklas Karlsson: http://www.folkbildning.se/Folkbildning/Oversattningar/English-translations/