Dear Ian, Thank you for very interesting two posts.
On behalf of the abiword community I invite speakers of Marovo and other Pacific Island languages to contact us on the abiword-dev mailing lists (see http://www.abisource.com/developers/) so that we can explain how to make a Marovo translation of AbiWord and Write. Best Regards, Martin Sevior On Sun, May 15, 2011 at 1:28 PM, Ian Thomson <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi All, > > In the Pacific Ocean, we have a list serve for educationalists. There have > been some posts about the article from Australia about their Governments > “struggles” with introducing laptops into secondary schools. > > These posts have prompted the Principle of Patuake College (in the outer > islands of Solomon Islands) to make the following two posts about the OLPC > project we have there. > > You may have seen the evaluation by the Australian Council of Education > Research that was conducted some time ago on this project. Here are some > recent views about what is happening. > > PS. NOPERS are people who subscribe to the list serve, called NOPE > > I am Brian Bird (Principal of Patukae College - Marovo Lagoon, Solomon > islands). Patukae College is one of the schools piloting the OLPC project in > the Solomons. I welcomed the article published yesterday. It helps to point > out the challenges we all face in introducing laptops into classroom, to > some extent not fully utilised and realised for their desired or intended > purpose. I have also appreciated views and comments surfaced from other > fellow nopers. I would like to think of the article as a beacon that shows > pathway for the schools, teachers, students, parents but more so for each > island country governments to see beyond just equipping schools with laptops > as some nopers have said they are just tools needing humans to make them > work. > > It is always a positive initiative to have ICT introduced in schools but it > seriously requires innovation on the part of island states governments who > are responsible of generating and regulating policies, to institute a > mechanism that would allow the use of ICT in classroom compatible with the > national curriculums. Unless this is realised ICT in classroom would remain > a challenge for teachers. > > For my country Solomon Islands, it needs to collaborate how ICT should be > used to help implement the national curriculum. Only then would teachers > deploy the intended use of this vital and useful technology. > > > > Brian Bird > > Let me add something raw and home based to my previous article to nopers > yesterday. Patukae CHS is one of the OLPC projects project in the Solomon. > While it is true that technology does not in itself responsible for driving > change, it is a tool that can be used to drive change in learning and in > commitment to learn. In Patukae College for instance which is one of the > pilots in the OLPC project we accepted OLPCs as tools and we invested > efforts to make them work. We ran training programme for teachers, and > students, and we provided back-up support to both teachers and students and > the results have been quite exciting. Student literacy rates have gone up. > The overall academic performance of students with laptops had increased and > we have seen increase in school pass rates since the introduction of > laptops. The attitudes of students with laptops have changed; they are more > active in their learning objectives. Parents have also becoming more engaged > in their children’s learning and some of them have even improved their own > English literacy through the use of the reading and pronunciation tools in > the OLPC. > > We at Patukae College have definitely found the OLPC very useful. They have > pushed the boundaries of Education, they have given teachers more option and > ideas, and it has enabled students to learn in a different way. To make it > work we took its vision, drive and commitment, and a belief that used > properly, this tool can make the difference our rural schools are looking > for. > > It is very easy to knock technology on the head, very easy to question its > legitimacy, its usefulness, but let us not forget that we who can > communicate are the lucky ones, we have the opportunity to have computers, > they have helped us. For the first time similar opportunities are given to > children in the rural areas at Patukae and they are now realising the same > opportunities that some of us have been taking for granted. > > In elevating this ICT innovation to another height, Patukae CHS in > collaboration with most of the leading Primary Schools in Marovo Lagoon > started a project last year through UNESCO which has launched a Marovo Wiki > educator program that can globally accessed. > > http://wikieducator.org/Patukae_College/OER_Reef_and_Rainforest_wiki_in_Marovo_Language > > Teachers from these schools were brought together to learn wiki skills to > enable them use the skills in devising lessons both in English and in Marovo > vernacular with the aim that most of these lessons should be uploaded to the > Marovo Wiki/Wiki educator online. > > This is ICT in action right in the classroom and our teachers and students > used the OLPC to make this work. With the introduction of OLPC into its > classroom, Patukae see opportunities through the challenges and decided to > move on realising the potential ICT can bring to its populace. In that view > point I would call on for more support towards ICT expansion in Schools. > > Let us not criticise the technology, nor those that are trying to help. But > rather ask the question, what can I do to add value to this initiative. At > Patukae we take the view that we need to empower our teachers so that they > in turn can empower our students. There is no point always looking at the > empty portion of the ‘half-filled bucket of water’; rather we should be > asking the question, how can I fill the rest of this bucket of water so that > can achieve its full potential? > > I support the OLPC programme and what it sets out to do. I have seen the > benefits it has provided to those that have received it. It is my hope > countries can put in place mechanisms that will empower teachers to empower > children but also processes that will objectively evaluate the impact of > this technology in the education of our children into the future because the > outcome of such evaluations will add more weight to the effectiveness of > OLPCs as an effective learning and communication tool...’ > > > > Brian Bird > > Ian Thomson > > ICT Outreach Section > > Economic Development Division > > Secretariat of the Pacific Community > > B.P. D5 - Noumea Cedex - 98848 > > New Caledonia > > Phone +687-265419 > > Fax +687 26 38 18 > > http://www.spc.int > > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > [email protected] > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep > _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
