[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Hi Leigh, Thanks for those references – I will check them out we can discuss this with my colleagues and learn from them, on a different list as it may be getting a bit off subject. I’ll get back to you. However, just to complete this thread, let me reply once more:- To reply to your questions, I think the concept is to bring the activity-focused approach to the front, hence the “radically different interface”. However, we are talking mainly of 6-12 year olds and as they use the laptop they do acquire all the keyboard and mouse skills, scrolling, concept of windows and menus. In my experience of training computing to complete beginners, that gives them a great start to the more traditional interfaces including Ubuntu and Windows, whatever the policy that prevails. If the OLPC is linked to the SPC’s regional VSAT programme, the RICS systems come with a server and optionally some desktop computers for community access, and those are being supplied with Ubuntu, I have noticed. In the Solomons we have a growing network of Distance Learning Centres (www.schoolnet.net.sb) and those make ideal hubs for OLPC projects in nearby schools, and thus teachers and more experienced, older students will have access to more traditional computing technology. However, there is quite a lot you can do with the XO. It does have a terminal (as an activity) and you can get in to the back end and customise it as you wish. There are communities around the world developing all kinds of applications (activities) for it (http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Activities - see the link to All Activities), as well as localisation projects. The content development side is lagging behind (although there is a new concept of collections category). That is where I thought there would be synergy with Wikieducator. I did not envisage the XOs themselves being used by the more expert educators specifically for content development in a setting like your workshop, rather I envisaged any available technology to be used to develop content for the XO school servers. Certainly, the laptops also will allow a much greater pool teachers in rural schools using the laptops to collaborate and contribute. On robustness, a lot of thought has gone into it. This is where there is no comparison with the EEE PC. You can drop them onto carpeted concrete from 1.5m - that is certified! We have tested that (from 2m onto uncarpeted concrete unintentionally!!!). In Brazil the BBC filmed someone using the laptop in the rain for 1 hour. The screen (which is very high resolution and size for the target price of USD 100) can have the backlight turned off and then it is readable outside in blazing sunshine, in black and white mode, something you cannot do on traditional laptops of any type. The version 8.2 now has aggressive power management so that if you turn the wireless off, one battery charge will last 8 hours, and it only needs less than 2 hours at 17W to re charge. My Asus EEE PC gets so hot I get worried leaving it on unsupervised. I am sure it uses heaps more power . Power supplies are a major challenge and so this is highly significant. The XOs do have a touch pad problem with hot humid climates, you may have noticed. But all XOs shipped from November should be equipped with newer hardware with this fault corrected – you can always plug in a USB mouse as work around. Waste management is definitely in SPC’s sights. Ian Thomson, my full time colleague and RICS coordinator has worked in NZ on recycling programs and is developing strategies to recommend to participating countries. David Leeming OLPC Coordinator, SPC and Technical Advisor, People First Network Honiara, Solomon Islands From: wikieducator@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Leigh Blackall Sent: Thursday, 4 December 2008 4:32 p.m. To: wikieducator@googlegroups.com Subject: [WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC Hi David, thanks for all this information.. it is certainly helping me to reflect on my experience. Perhaps the problem was our expectation and approach to the OLPC in Tuvalu. We were expecting to use the computers primarily to access and work on the Internet. I've since learned that the operating system on those particular OLPCs is old and the problems have been fixed. But I have also discovered some disconcerting background info on OLPC development (see Brian Lamb's comment in my blog: Your critique reminded me of Ivan Krstić, who left the OLPC project in some frustration. We were asked not to blog (!) his very candid remarks at a recent speaking gig I saw him at recently, though many of his criticisms are here: http://radian.org/notebook/sic-transit-gloria-laptopi Though the potential is also represented in a post like this: http://radian.org/notebook/astounded-in-arahuay It is great to hear success stories from others. Perhaps the Tuvalu experience was the first full blown
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Maria, The real experts to reply to your question are the teachers and children already using the laptops. SPC has a current programme with currently over 1000 6-8 year olds and 100 primary school teachers mostly with absolutely no prior computing experience using the OLPC laptops and finding them excellent for teaching and learning in remote community schools. Several thousand more shortly to be deployed under the SPC trials programme. It's designed for young ages, 6 years upwards, and for teachers to introduce more child-centres approaches such as more active, discovery learning and learning by doing. The focus of the teacher training is on the curriculum integration, i.e. teaching ideas. Teachers with no experience normally start creating lesson resources, worksheets, local language readers, etc within 2-3 days of starting. Children become experts by themselves, as we discovered in PNG after 5 months. It does not need technology experts to use or introduce! In PNG there are several educational institutions (i.e. DWU - St Benedicts and Don Bosco Tech Institute) already having introduced OLPC into their teacher training programmes. Some other comments: I believe the way it was introduced in the workshop was in good faith, and I am perhaps guilty of not providing some guidance on how the exercise should be done. I am a teacher myself - I worked as a VSO volunteer in two very remote Solomons schools for 3 years in the 90s. One of them had no resources, no books, no equipment. I taught science using empty tin cans and stones from the beach. The laptop would have transformed how I could teach and the early lives of those children. One example alone - the laptop comes with content already installed, including a slice of the wikipedia providing an entire reference encyclopaedia on Chemistry - a marvellous resource for any science teacher and mark my words, the children too!. Add the school server and you could pack it with the entire Wikipedia, the entire school curriculum resources, community continuing education materials, information on any subject. The scale of the program would mean that all those excellent highly motivated teachers that I have known, in those remote schools, could become empowered to collaborate in content development - of relevant, Pacific-centred resources. Think of the OLPC as wide approach to transforming basic education, not just a laptop. If you want a browser with tabs, it's all open for you to start a project and develop one, and furthermore, you can even localise it to your local language . It's all possible with an open development approach. Firefox 3 can be installed if you need that, etc, etc. By the way, the software is not a fixed set - there are hundreds of activities that can be downloaded and installed. The OS version is also more advanced now with version 8.2 - not what you found on the Tuvalu batch which are yet to be updated. The principles of OLPC are about one-to-one computing (child ownership - but interpreted from Pacific view point), and connectivity - everything you do on the laptop can be shared. These are not lab computers where children won't get a look in and if they do, only teach them office skills - which can certainly come later. They do have browsers and can access the wiki certainly, and as the whole development approach is open I would expect to see teachers using them creatively for producing local content, not only on the wiki but with other open source tools - eXeLearning for instance, is a simple-to-use offline HTML content authoring tool that will run on the XO. The main thing is that this is designed to scale - and that is where the transformational aspects will be seen. David Leeming OLPC Coordinator, SPC and Technical Advisor, People First Network Honiara, Solomon Islands From: Maria Droujkova [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, 4 December 2008 7:24 a.m. To: wikieducator@googlegroups.com Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC I have two questions for David Leeming, based on this conversation. Thank you for offering to answer, David. 1. From Leigh's experience, it looks like OLPC laptops take an onsite specialist (or specific detailed instructions) to get, even (or especially?) for people with computer background. One can't just start using them, given previous computer experiences. Is it so? 2. In your opinion, are these laptops appropriate tools for wiki work, as exemplified by that 40-person workshop, in the light of the fact they aren't really computers? -- Cheers, MariaD Make math your own, to make your own math. naturalmath.com: a sketch of a social math site groups.google.com/group/naturalmath: a mailing list about math maker activities groups.google.com/group/multiplicationstudy the family multiplication study --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
advanced now with version 8.2 – not what you found on the Tuvalu batch which are yet to be updated. The principles of OLPC are about one-to-one computing (child ownership – but interpreted from Pacific view point), and connectivity – everything you do on the laptop can be shared. These are not lab computers where children won't get a look in and if they do, only teach them office skills – which can certainly come later. They do have browsers and can access the wiki certainly, and as the whole development approach is open I would expect to see teachers using them creatively for producing local content, not only on the wiki but with other open source tools – eXeLearning for instance, is a simple-to-use offline HTML content authoring tool that will run on the XO. The main thing is that this is designed to scale – and that is where the transformational aspects will be seen. *David Leeming* *OLPC Coordinator, SPC and Technical Advisor, People First Network* Honiara, Solomon Islands *From:* Maria Droujkova [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] *Sent:* Thursday, 4 December 2008 7:24 a.m. *To:* wikieducator@googlegroups.com *Cc:* [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Subject:* Re: [WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC I have two questions for David Leeming, based on this conversation. Thank you for offering to answer, David. 1. From Leigh's experience, it looks like OLPC laptops take an onsite specialist (or specific detailed instructions) to get, even (or especially?) for people with computer background. One can't just start using them, given previous computer experiences. Is it so? 2. In your opinion, are these laptops appropriate tools for wiki work, as exemplified by that 40-person workshop, in the light of the fact they aren't really computers? -- Cheers, MariaD Make math your own, to make your own math. naturalmath.com: a sketch of a social math site groups.google.com/group/naturalmath: a mailing list about math maker activities groups.google.com/group/multiplicationstudy the family multiplication study -- -- Leigh Blackall +64(0)21736539 skype - leigh_blackall SL - Leroy Goalpost http://learnonline.wordpress.com http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Thanks David http://laptop.org/manual - very nice. I hadn't seen that before Did you ever see the page for interested personal computer users who had access to an XO? I keep hoping to find a copy. I don't remember enough to find it in waybackmachine. I thought it was a great idea because it addressed so many of the differences in a positive light and really helped bridge the understanding and expectations gap. ..Valerie On Dec 1, 11:07 pm, David Leeming [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hi Valerie, tryhttp://laptop.org/manual I am happy to reply to this thread as much as people wish! David Leeming OLPC Coordinator, SPC and Technical Advisor, People First Network Honiara, Solomon Islands --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
When I first started looking into OLPCs, there was a one page guide for people who had used other computers. It addressed lots of these issues and explained work arounds or alternatives. It had a list of fun activities that would help orient an experienced computer user to XO behaviors. By the time I got an XO, the page was gone - someone decided that this was inappropriate. Apparently there were some mistakes or misunderstandings that were contained in the document. If you had an XO you should stumble around and learn to love it. Too bad. I think the OLPC folks would get more support by helping PC users be successful and understand what trade offs have been made and why as well as translating PC into XO. There are lots of us who would like to be more positive, but the learning curve is just too steep without some assistance. With all our PC baggage, it is hard to get to a starting point to explore the real power and innovations. There are so many great things the little green machine can do. A mouse and a USB memory stick are invaluable for us differently-abled computer users. I had to install Opera to get around the authentication certificate issue to access Moodle on one of the school's servers. I loved the bright, clear screen. It was a huge hit going through security in airports. And it certainly made a fashion statement, especially if there were little kids around. If anyone has a copy of the OLPC guide for PC users, that would be a great place to start. Making that correct and current would help enormously. ..Valerie On Nov 30, 8:59 pm, Jim Tittsler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 14:22, Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like Google's Chrome, but less than 3 clicks around you soon realise that ... --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Thanks for the pointers Jim. Actually, I never did work it out... nor did 40 others! I'm fending off attacks on my blog... I knew I'd hit a nerve with my post. I can see how many people will dismiss my post as couldn't get past my own preferences, but that ignores the experience of the 40 others I spoke for, 10 of whom had never used a computer before. I watched a few people look at my Asus and could see their intuition working on it better than on the OLPCs. Leo, you got the text in this email thread right? On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 3:56 AM, valerie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: When I first started looking into OLPCs, there was a one page guide for people who had used other computers. It addressed lots of these issues and explained work arounds or alternatives. It had a list of fun activities that would help orient an experienced computer user to XO behaviors. By the time I got an XO, the page was gone - someone decided that this was inappropriate. Apparently there were some mistakes or misunderstandings that were contained in the document. If you had an XO you should stumble around and learn to love it. Too bad. I think the OLPC folks would get more support by helping PC users be successful and understand what trade offs have been made and why as well as translating PC into XO. There are lots of us who would like to be more positive, but the learning curve is just too steep without some assistance. With all our PC baggage, it is hard to get to a starting point to explore the real power and innovations. There are so many great things the little green machine can do. A mouse and a USB memory stick are invaluable for us differently-abled computer users. I had to install Opera to get around the authentication certificate issue to access Moodle on one of the school's servers. I loved the bright, clear screen. It was a huge hit going through security in airports. And it certainly made a fashion statement, especially if there were little kids around. If anyone has a copy of the OLPC guide for PC users, that would be a great place to start. Making that correct and current would help enormously. ..Valerie On Nov 30, 8:59 pm, Jim Tittsler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 14:22, Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like Google's Chrome, but less than 3 clicks around you soon realise that ... -- -- Leigh Blackall +64(0)21736539 skype - leigh_blackall SL - Leroy Goalpost http://learnonline.wordpress.com http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Leighblackall --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Callan Services, an international NGO that has centres around PNG helping people including children overcome disabilities. Our man from OLPC, Professor Barry Vercoe has also visited them previously. Some teachers from Callan Services in Wewak attended the DWU training and immediately saw the potential. I have video taken by Alfred, showing them using the laptops to create visual resources for teaching sign language - on the spot! So they are definitely championing that aspect of the wide potential of OLPC. They also have a centre in Kiunga, where I visited schools that Lawrence Stephens of PNG Sustainable Development plans to start OLPC projects in their areas of interest, and we briefed them - possibly they can become part of a hub for Western Province. PNGSDP plans to give them a class of laptops to develop those ideas. We also visited the Mt Hagen area, as they hope to start a project exhibition school at Kisap near Banz, and visited Sister Rose at the nearby Shalom Centre (Banz), a centre for people diagnosed with HIV. We discussed how we might link that in some way to the street children Lawrence had pointed out to me at the market. I remembered that in the early days, we were primarily thinking of the children who did not attend school, but the focus has now become centred around schools - probably as it is easier to manage. But those children do not attend school - a visible side of the 50% who are not at school in the 6-17 age group. We discussed ways in which the residents at the centre might somehow use the laptops to share their stories, in some way working to involve children not at school. Not sure how that will develop but it shows the range of possibilities. I am increasingly seeing OLPC as a sort of transformational technology - not a phrase to use lightly - due to it's potential widespread impacts. First Secretary Seri Hegame rightly described the OLPC as a human development programme, not just education. Over the top? Well I have been through a learning process and I as some one who works in these schools and communities to make these things work, I am not keen to promote something that won't. I hoipe I have a healthy sceptisism but I am see some remarkable results in a short time. It needs to be properaly evaluated, of course. David Leeming OLPC Coordinator, SPC and Technical Advisor, People First Network Honiara, Solomon Islands From: wikieducator@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Leigh Blackall Sent: Tuesday, 2 December 2008 5:02 p.m. To: wikieducator@googlegroups.com Subject: [WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC Thanks for the pointers Jim. Actually, I never did work it out... nor did 40 others! I'm fending off attacks on my blog... I knew I'd hit a nerve with my post. I can see how many people will dismiss my post as couldn't get past my own preferences, but that ignores the experience of the 40 others I spoke for, 10 of whom had never used a computer before. I watched a few people look at my Asus and could see their intuition working on it better than on the OLPCs. Leo, you got the text in this email thread right? On Tue, Dec 2, 2008 at 3:56 AM, valerie [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: When I first started looking into OLPCs, there was a one page guide for people who had used other computers. It addressed lots of these issues and explained work arounds or alternatives. It had a list of fun activities that would help orient an experienced computer user to XO behaviors. By the time I got an XO, the page was gone - someone decided that this was inappropriate. Apparently there were some mistakes or misunderstandings that were contained in the document. If you had an XO you should stumble around and learn to love it. Too bad. I think the OLPC folks would get more support by helping PC users be successful and understand what trade offs have been made and why as well as translating PC into XO. There are lots of us who would like to be more positive, but the learning curve is just too steep without some assistance. With all our PC baggage, it is hard to get to a starting point to explore the real power and innovations. There are so many great things the little green machine can do. A mouse and a USB memory stick are invaluable for us differently-abled computer users. I had to install Opera to get around the authentication certificate issue to access Moodle on one of the school's servers. I loved the bright, clear screen. It was a huge hit going through security in airports. And it certainly made a fashion statement, especially if there were little kids around. If anyone has a copy of the OLPC guide for PC users, that would be a great place to start. Making that correct and current would help enormously. ..Valerie On Nov 30, 8:59 pm, Jim Tittsler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 14:22, Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Hi Valerie, try http://laptop.org/manual I am happy to reply to this thread as much as people wish! David Leeming OLPC Coordinator, SPC and Technical Advisor, People First Network Honiara, Solomon Islands -Original Message- From: wikieducator@googlegroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of valerie Sent: Tuesday, 2 December 2008 1:56 a.m. To: WikiEducator Subject: [WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC When I first started looking into OLPCs, there was a one page guide for people who had used other computers. It addressed lots of these issues and explained work arounds or alternatives. It had a list of fun activities that would help orient an experienced computer user to XO behaviors. By the time I got an XO, the page was gone - someone decided that this was inappropriate. Apparently there were some mistakes or misunderstandings that were contained in the document. If you had an XO you should stumble around and learn to love it. Too bad. I think the OLPC folks would get more support by helping PC users be successful and understand what trade offs have been made and why as well as translating PC into XO. There are lots of us who would like to be more positive, but the learning curve is just too steep without some assistance. With all our PC baggage, it is hard to get to a starting point to explore the real power and innovations. There are so many great things the little green machine can do. A mouse and a USB memory stick are invaluable for us differently-abled computer users. I had to install Opera to get around the authentication certificate issue to access Moodle on one of the school's servers. I loved the bright, clear screen. It was a huge hit going through security in airports. And it certainly made a fashion statement, especially if there were little kids around. If anyone has a copy of the OLPC guide for PC users, that would be a great place to start. Making that correct and current would help enormously. ..Valerie On Nov 30, 8:59 pm, Jim Tittsler [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 14:22, Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like Google's Chrome, but less than 3 clicks around you soon realise that ... --~--~-~--~~~---~--~~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups WikiEducator group. To visit wikieducator: http://www.wikieducator.org To visit the discussion forum: http://groups.google.com/group/wikieducator To post to this group, send email to wikieducator@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~--~~~~--~~--~--~---
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
Hi Valerie, Glad you asked, as I'm in the process of posting to my blog a text that basically outlines my over all disappointment with them. I was guilty of being charmed by their innovations, but that has always been from the perspective of what the OLPC could offer computing generally, particularly in wealthy economies. Clearly the OLPC sparked such things as the Asus Eee PC and a new awareness of free software, but the innovations in the OLPC will damage their effectiveness in poorer economies. Here's my text that I'm about to post to the blog (links not in yet): My experience with OLPC in Tuvalu. In Tuvalu I experienced my first OLPC reality test. I've touched them before, drooled over them at an expensive conference in Wellington while I stuffed my face with atlantic salmon and caviar orderves one morning... but up until now, I had never had the opportunity to see or use them in the context they were designed for. What follows are my notes on such an opportunity, using brand new OLPCs in a wiki training workshop for teachers in Tuvalu. The setting: The workshops I've been running here are for the Tuvalu Ministry of Education. They have me here for a Wikieducator initiative called Learning for Content (L4C). Many primary and secondary teachers from around the Islands of Tuvalu are here, as well as people from non government organisations and service areas in Tuvalu. The organisers and I thought it would be a good idea to run the session on the new OLPCs, and expose the teachers to what was coming to their students. We are working in a large room on the second floor of the Government building, over looking the Funafuti atol. It is very hot in that room all day, and I try to keep prime position in front of the only fan. There is a wireless network set up froma main satellite connection and distributed through a Linxis wireless router situated in the room with us. The OLPCs were fresh out of the box and the IT person had only had the afternoon before to familiarise herself with them. The OLPC experience: The first thing I noticed (but already knew about) was the radically different operating system interface is. It doesn't look anything like any Linux distribution I have used before and it certainly looks nothing like any Windows or Mac OS. This operating system is out on its own again, a 4thoperating system if you will, and while I at first was mighty impressed by it back in Wellington while eating caviar, I have serious reservations about it here in Tuvalu... The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like Google's Chrome, but less than 3 clicks around you soon realise that its not of course. I couldn't for the life of me work out how to get new browser tabs happening, and I suspect that tabbed browsing is not possible! The apparent absence of such an important browser feature had me seeing doubts about the approaching workshop. If I couldn't even work out the browser, let alone the operating system, how the hell was I going to run a workshop for 40 odd people through it over the next 6 days? Its funny, it only takes one perculiarity of a thing – compared to what we're used to of course, and we start to look out for more and see only the faults. I started to notice the differences a lot more from this point on, not in terms of innovation – though on reflection I can see many aspects of the software that could be seen as innovative, but more in terms of usability and limitations to what we needed to be doing. I couldn't work out how to save and recover files from a USB. Admittedly I was by now very short on time and didn't look long or hard for it, but I was continuously thrown off by new icons I hadn't seen before, trying to work out what signified what and where, and how long a thing took to initiate, how to quit a thing, or how to swap windows. As with most things that require patience, I had to walk away from this one and get the classroom ready for a workshop I was now dreading. Soon we had somewhere near 20 people in the room for day 1. The nice little charm of the OLPCs turning on started filling the room.. great, everyone found the on button. The IT lady was running around connecting everyone to the wireless network, but each computer was taking a dreadfully long time to connect, often hanging once the access key was entered, or just dropping the connection soon after it found it. I needed a projector to demonstrate things in the workshop, but couldn't plug an OLPC into the projector. The only other device on hand was a standard 17 inch laptop with Windows Vista on it :( I filled some time raving about the OLPCs and how much I was stoked to be in a room full of them, and how they were the thing that inspired Asus and others to start putting out great little things like the Asus Eee PC. Eventually we had enough OLPCs connected to proceed, and we packed up the 3 or 4 that just didn't connect or misteriously turned themselves off
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
link to my blog post: http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/my-experience-with-olpc-in-tuvalu/ On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 5:22 PM, Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: Hi Valerie, Glad you asked, as I'm in the process of posting to my blog a text that basically outlines my over all disappointment with them. I was guilty of being charmed by their innovations, but that has always been from the perspective of what the OLPC could offer computing generally, particularly in wealthy economies. Clearly the OLPC sparked such things as the Asus Eee PC and a new awareness of free software, but the innovations in the OLPC will damage their effectiveness in poorer economies. Here's my text that I'm about to post to the blog (links not in yet): My experience with OLPC in Tuvalu. In Tuvalu I experienced my first OLPC reality test. I've touched them before, drooled over them at an expensive conference in Wellington while I stuffed my face with atlantic salmon and caviar orderves one morning... but up until now, I had never had the opportunity to see or use them in the context they were designed for. What follows are my notes on such an opportunity, using brand new OLPCs in a wiki training workshop for teachers in Tuvalu. The setting: The workshops I've been running here are for the Tuvalu Ministry of Education. They have me here for a Wikieducator initiative called Learning for Content (L4C). Many primary and secondary teachers from around the Islands of Tuvalu are here, as well as people from non government organisations and service areas in Tuvalu. The organisers and I thought it would be a good idea to run the session on the new OLPCs, and expose the teachers to what was coming to their students. We are working in a large room on the second floor of the Government building, over looking the Funafuti atol. It is very hot in that room all day, and I try to keep prime position in front of the only fan. There is a wireless network set up froma main satellite connection and distributed through a Linxis wireless router situated in the room with us. The OLPCs were fresh out of the box and the IT person had only had the afternoon before to familiarise herself with them. The OLPC experience: The first thing I noticed (but already knew about) was the radically different operating system interface is. It doesn't look anything like any Linux distribution I have used before and it certainly looks nothing like any Windows or Mac OS. This operating system is out on its own again, a 4 th operating system if you will, and while I at first was mighty impressed by it back in Wellington while eating caviar, I have serious reservations about it here in Tuvalu... The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like Google's Chrome, but less than 3 clicks around you soon realise that its not of course. I couldn't for the life of me work out how to get new browser tabs happening, and I suspect that tabbed browsing is not possible! The apparent absence of such an important browser feature had me seeing doubts about the approaching workshop. If I couldn't even work out the browser, let alone the operating system, how the hell was I going to run a workshop for 40 odd people through it over the next 6 days? Its funny, it only takes one perculiarity of a thing – compared to what we're used to of course, and we start to look out for more and see only the faults. I started to notice the differences a lot more from this point on, not in terms of innovation – though on reflection I can see many aspects of the software that could be seen as innovative, but more in terms of usability and limitations to what we needed to be doing. I couldn't work out how to save and recover files from a USB. Admittedly I was by now very short on time and didn't look long or hard for it, but I was continuously thrown off by new icons I hadn't seen before, trying to work out what signified what and where, and how long a thing took to initiate, how to quit a thing, or how to swap windows. As with most things that require patience, I had to walk away from this one and get the classroom ready for a workshop I was now dreading. Soon we had somewhere near 20 people in the room for day 1. The nice little charm of the OLPCs turning on started filling the room.. great, everyone found the on button. The IT lady was running around connecting everyone to the wireless network, but each computer was taking a dreadfully long time to connect, often hanging once the access key was entered, or just dropping the connection soon after it found it. I needed a projector to demonstrate things in the workshop, but couldn't plug an OLPC into the projector. The only other device on hand was a standard 17 inch laptop with Windows Vista on it :( I filled some time raving about the OLPCs and how much I was stoked to be in a room full of them, and how they were
[WikiEducator] Re: One Laptop Per Child OLPC
again Leigh , I am doing what I can do , I am going to translate your post into Chinese and put it in yeeyan website agian , if you don't mind , would you please post here the whole article coz I canot get access to your blog here in China many thanks and you are always my inspirtation !!! 2008/12/1 Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED] link to my blog post: http://learnonline.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/my-experience-with-olpc-in-tuvalu/ On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 5:22 PM, Leigh Blackall [EMAIL PROTECTED]wrote: Hi Valerie, Glad you asked, as I'm in the process of posting to my blog a text that basically outlines my over all disappointment with them. I was guilty of being charmed by their innovations, but that has always been from the perspective of what the OLPC could offer computing generally, particularly in wealthy economies. Clearly the OLPC sparked such things as the Asus Eee PC and a new awareness of free software, but the innovations in the OLPC will damage their effectiveness in poorer economies. Here's my text that I'm about to post to the blog (links not in yet): My experience with OLPC in Tuvalu. In Tuvalu I experienced my first OLPC reality test. I've touched them before, drooled over them at an expensive conference in Wellington while I stuffed my face with atlantic salmon and caviar orderves one morning... but up until now, I had never had the opportunity to see or use them in the context they were designed for. What follows are my notes on such an opportunity, using brand new OLPCs in a wiki training workshop for teachers in Tuvalu. The setting: The workshops I've been running here are for the Tuvalu Ministry of Education. They have me here for a Wikieducator initiative called Learning for Content (L4C). Many primary and secondary teachers from around the Islands of Tuvalu are here, as well as people from non government organisations and service areas in Tuvalu. The organisers and I thought it would be a good idea to run the session on the new OLPCs, and expose the teachers to what was coming to their students. We are working in a large room on the second floor of the Government building, over looking the Funafuti atol. It is very hot in that room all day, and I try to keep prime position in front of the only fan. There is a wireless network set up froma main satellite connection and distributed through a Linxis wireless router situated in the room with us. The OLPCs were fresh out of the box and the IT person had only had the afternoon before to familiarise herself with them. The OLPC experience: The first thing I noticed (but already knew about) was the radically different operating system interface is. It doesn't look anything like any Linux distribution I have used before and it certainly looks nothing like any Windows or Mac OS. This operating system is out on its own again, a 4 th operating system if you will, and while I at first was mighty impressed by it back in Wellington while eating caviar, I have serious reservations about it here in Tuvalu... The next thing I noticed was the browser. At first glance it looks a little like Google's Chrome, but less than 3 clicks around you soon realise that its not of course. I couldn't for the life of me work out how to get new browser tabs happening, and I suspect that tabbed browsing is not possible! The apparent absence of such an important browser feature had me seeing doubts about the approaching workshop. If I couldn't even work out the browser, let alone the operating system, how the hell was I going to run a workshop for 40 odd people through it over the next 6 days? Its funny, it only takes one perculiarity of a thing - compared to what we're used to of course, and we start to look out for more and see only the faults. I started to notice the differences a lot more from this point on, not in terms of innovation - though on reflection I can see many aspects of the software that could be seen as innovative, but more in terms of usability and limitations to what we needed to be doing. I couldn't work out how to save and recover files from a USB. Admittedly I was by now very short on time and didn't look long or hard for it, but I was continuously thrown off by new icons I hadn't seen before, trying to work out what signified what and where, and how long a thing took to initiate, how to quit a thing, or how to swap windows. As with most things that require patience, I had to walk away from this one and get the classroom ready for a workshop I was now dreading. Soon we had somewhere near 20 people in the room for day 1. The nice little charm of the OLPCs turning on started filling the room.. great, everyone found the on button. The IT lady was running around connecting everyone to the wireless network, but each computer was taking a dreadfully long time to connect, often hanging once the access key was entered, or just dropping the
