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 Internet test, all be it not with children 6 years of age (not sure the Internet is what kids that age should be doing, so great that the OLPCs come with offline versions of Wikipedia and stuff). So my concerns mostly remain in: - Why the OLPC has to use such a redically different interface that offers very little transferability of skills, and limits the opportunities for support from established communities around Ubuntu and Edubuntu? I think much of the value you describe could easily be achieved with an interface that helps to build computer intuition that will assist in the use of computers other than the OLPC - an army of 6 year old computer rebuilders perhaps, and would have strengthened existing projects.. much like Wikieducator duplicating other projects in the name of innovation despite scarce resources. My additional concerns are now: - How long the OLPC will last against 80% humidity and salt air? and - what waste management strategies are in place for OLPC on Pacific Islands? On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 1:47 PM, David Leeming <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > 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:* [email protected] > *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. 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