Letter from the Editor

Letter from the Editor

In June 2016, I was wrapping up a presentation on a report I wrote about South Korea’s creative and software education for the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada. The report became one of the most viewed report of the year in the organization I worked for and was retweeted by big names in education such as creativity expert, Sir Ken Robinson. I think the report fared well because it discussed a big trend in K-12 education–creativity and computer science education in a way that was relevant and readable to both education practitioners and researchers.

After putting that report together, I wondered why research can’t be more engaging, relevant, and fun for the stakeholders who really matter the most–children, educators, and parents. How can we really learn about what education is all over the world instead of depending on international standardized data? How can we bring people from different fields with a common passion for education together? Personally, I was also really curious about what teaching and learning looks like in classrooms in other countries.  

Last summer, I took a leap of faith and started Ottiya as a platform to bring together a global community people passionate about education to start the conversation about creative, meaningful, and fun learning and education. The Ottiya magazine all started with one conversation with one friend, which led to another conversation and eventually that snowballed into over hundreds of back and forth emails and messages. Over the course of about 8 months, I gathered contributions from all corners of the world and looked for more when we needed to the pages. I worked really closely with all of our contributors to help them put together interesting articles and activities. With no previous issue to refer to, literally everything had to be built up from scratch.

This was definitely not an easy journey. Hundreds of hours were poured into writing, editing, and designing, and illustrating this magazine and Ottiya’s online platform. Although I had support from my wonderful assistant editor, designer, and publisher, I had to quickly pick up new design, production, and business skills. What kept me going in the tough times was my strong conviction that our children and the education community deserve and need a platform like this: a place to connect, a place to refresh, and to come together for learning and education.

I hope that the Ottiya magazine will provide you with valuable insight about learning and education from our contributors from all over the world. Also, keep your eyes out for the next issue on play and consider contributing to and supporting our work in the future.

Many thanks to my wonderful assistants, our publisher, our contributors, our sponsors, and you for believing in this vision for Ottiya and making this a reality! I hope you will stay connected in our community–together we can continue to grow into a global community dedicated to meaningful, creative, and fun learning and education for children for years to come!

Yours truly,

Rufina  

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