The founder and chairman of Sage Leadership Partners, Inc. is Art Fuller, Executive
Assistant and Fiscal Budget Officer for the Tennessee State Board of
Education. Art has served in the field of education for fourteen years
holding public policy, project management, professional training,
information technology, media consultant, and teaching positions. Art's work as a classroom teacher has been profiled in FamilyPC Magazine (November 1999, p. 156) and The New Yorker Magazine (January 24, 2000, pg. 59). Several of his editorials on education have been published in the The Tennessean.
My pathway to open source teaching
By Art Fuller, Founder & Chair Sage Leadership Partners, Inc.
My pathway to open source teaching dates back to my experience as a child, specifically, annual summer visits to the birthplace of my parents, Montgomery, Alabama. As a child, I fondly remember visiting at least 10 male cousins, around my age. We used to play sports all day and enjoy childhood games all night. My parents were one of the few from the family to move away from Montgomery.
Little did I know this simple act provided me with an opportunity to experience an array of social networks and educational expectations which none of my male cousins imagined. It is true that both of my parents earned Bachelors degrees from Alabama A & M University, but so did the parents of a number of my cousins. Today, at the age of 34, my trips to Montgomery are filled with remorse, as I am the only one remaining who is not deceased, incarcerated, or strung out on the addiction of alcohol, drugs, and/or low expectations. I am the only male from this group who has a college degree or owns his own house. I am convinced my access to a different set of social networks and educational norms is the primary reason.
This belief was solidified during my three years with a comprehensive school reform organization in which I visited nearly two hundred urban schools throughout the nation, particularly the Southeastern United States. Within many schools, I saw the same faces of my male cousins. This experience convinced me that I had to find a way for these same faces to become exposed to the same type of social and academic networks which I benefited.
My parents have always encouraged me to explore everything and it is through this exploration that I personally found motivating topics that required me to learn and develop new skills. I envision Open Source Teaching is such a platform, where all learners can find any area of interest and explore it deeply guided by on-demand and engaging new media that provides open access to the expert applied knowledge of the world's experts, within all areas of commerce.
It is my hope that exposure to the language, descriptions, stories, and applied knowledge of such people (in a format beyond traditional text) can create a spark in individuals to acquire the necessary skills to excel in wherever their interest resides. This is the fundamental premise of open source teaching and the reason I am committed to institutionalizing this work so that learners throughout the world are empowered. Open Source Teaching is and will continue to be my life's work.
I welcome your support of the new form of public service for a knowledge economy, open source teaching.
