Talk in Dohuk, Iraq

In late December 2003 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.