The XO progress is slow despite the enthusiasm of everyone who has tried them. Teachers at one school have been using them for three weeks, but the school committee hasn't found the time to meet to approve a fundraiser (for flash drives to reflash as needed, two-pin adaptors and power boards for charging, and wireless routers so they can access the internet). It's about $240 for a school to take on 20 laptops, and that level of fundraising is both reasonable and a good indicator of how invested the teachers and staff will be once they have the laptops. We've given an end-of-April deadline for applications, so we should have a good idea of where they will be after that. I have meetings with two other school committees set up this week.
I'm still learning about the laptops. Trying to work with Blue Print Data to secure internet filtering software to reassure concerned head teachers about the safety isssues of bringing the internet to their school.
Half of the laptops are upgraded to the 8.2 OS, a tedious process that I'll be thrilled to complete. I've run another training of trainers for Rotary club members, Cultural Center employees, and our social welfare officer, and invited so many more who haven't yet found the time to attend. And I just helped the Ministryof Education draft an application for a new volunteer to continue this work beyond my close of service in August. I see so much potential for teachers to use these in their classrooms, but I believe a volunteer might be necessary to keep up the enthusiasm and provide technical support for the first two years.
Hopefully I'll have more news soon!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
Despite the Floods...
... we had our first XO courses this week!
We were scheduled to start our trainings this week, and despite valient efforts by the weather (worst flooding in 30 years, 40 inches of rain in 5 days, buses not traveling) we held both of our classes on schedule!
There were a few moments when I was fairly certain this wasn't meant to be:
Obstacle #1: I was at a training on another island last week and my Sunday flight didn't leave because of wind at my destination airport, my Monday flight didn't leave because the departure airport was flooded, and the next round of storms was expected to arrive Tuesday (the day of our course).
Solution #1: I took an overnight ferry Monday night, arriving a few hours before our 11am Instructor's course.
Obstacle #2: When the weather is bad in Fiji, people don't go to work. This is absolutely understandable once you've experienced bad weather in Fiji. If you don't have to go outside, you shouldn't. Attendance at my class was bound to be low.
Solution #2: What we lacked in quantity, we made up for in quality. One librarian, one Ministry of Education Officer, and the Provincial Adminstrator were all in their offices despite the torrential downpours. They are now ready to show you how to begin exploring your XO.
Obstacle #3: The power went out in the library about an hour before my instructor course, and still hasn't been returned. Surprisingly, this is not storm-related. Their power bill wasn't paid. So, we are trying to teach a computer class in the South Pacific in the summer without AC, we can't recharge the XOs from our office, and the wireless router is temporarily useless.
Solution #3: We moved our first Student Course to the PA's conference room. We still don't have a good place to recharge them or internet access, but hopefully the power will come on next week.
Obstacle #4: One of the employees who wasn't coming to work due to weather was the person in charge of contacting at-risk youth to attend the courses.
Solution #4: Thankfully, this somehow happened even in her absence. Without me having to do anything. These laptops are so appealing, and the offer of a free training apparently doesn't come along very often. Even though I had asked them to reschedule the course until Monday with hope that power would be back on, I still had eight students arrive an hour early on Friday! (What a wonderful problem to have!)
All in all, our first course went really well. The librarian who is trained to help instruct the Intro to XO Course was out sick (Obstacle #5, no good solution), so I had to call in a fellow volunteer to act as my extra eyes. But the students learned quickly (about half had never touched a computer before) how to operate Sugar, and they were chatting with each other in no time.
I walked them through the different views, how to join others in Chat, to view the Moon (which we haven't seen for a week because of the clouds), and to explore the Maze, and they taught themselves how to use the Video function. I'm still uncertain about how to use many of the Activities, but I think these students are likely to be teaching me soon enough.
We spent an hour and a half together, and if the batteries weren't draining, I think they could easily have been attentive for another hour, expecially if this Intro also included a first glimpse at the internet. I'll be scheduling a follow-up course with this group as soon as I return from leave at the end of February. Until then, their assignment is to get their library cards so they can access the XOs while I'm away.
Here are some pictures of our first official XO students!
Using the camera to take a picture with a friend...
So intense...
We were scheduled to start our trainings this week, and despite valient efforts by the weather (worst flooding in 30 years, 40 inches of rain in 5 days, buses not traveling) we held both of our classes on schedule!There were a few moments when I was fairly certain this wasn't meant to be:
Obstacle #1: I was at a training on another island last week and my Sunday flight didn't leave because of wind at my destination airport, my Monday flight didn't leave because the departure airport was flooded, and the next round of storms was expected to arrive Tuesday (the day of our course).
Solution #1: I took an overnight ferry Monday night, arriving a few hours before our 11am Instructor's course.
Obstacle #2: When the weather is bad in Fiji, people don't go to work. This is absolutely understandable once you've experienced bad weather in Fiji. If you don't have to go outside, you shouldn't. Attendance at my class was bound to be low.
Solution #2: What we lacked in quantity, we made up for in quality. One librarian, one Ministry of Education Officer, and the Provincial Adminstrator were all in their offices despite the torrential downpours. They are now ready to show you how to begin exploring your XO.
Obstacle #3: The power went out in the library about an hour before my instructor course, and still hasn't been returned. Surprisingly, this is not storm-related. Their power bill wasn't paid. So, we are trying to teach a computer class in the South Pacific in the summer without AC, we can't recharge the XOs from our office, and the wireless router is temporarily useless.
Solution #3: We moved our first Student Course to the PA's conference room. We still don't have a good place to recharge them or internet access, but hopefully the power will come on next week.
Obstacle #4: One of the employees who wasn't coming to work due to weather was the person in charge of contacting at-risk youth to attend the courses.
Solution #4: Thankfully, this somehow happened even in her absence. Without me having to do anything. These laptops are so appealing, and the offer of a free training apparently doesn't come along very often. Even though I had asked them to reschedule the course until Monday with hope that power would be back on, I still had eight students arrive an hour early on Friday! (What a wonderful problem to have!)
All in all, our first course went really well. The librarian who is trained to help instruct the Intro to XO Course was out sick (Obstacle #5, no good solution), so I had to call in a fellow volunteer to act as my extra eyes. But the students learned quickly (about half had never touched a computer before) how to operate Sugar, and they were chatting with each other in no time.
I walked them through the different views, how to join others in Chat, to view the Moon (which we haven't seen for a week because of the clouds), and to explore the Maze, and they taught themselves how to use the Video function. I'm still uncertain about how to use many of the Activities, but I think these students are likely to be teaching me soon enough.
We spent an hour and a half together, and if the batteries weren't draining, I think they could easily have been attentive for another hour, expecially if this Intro also included a first glimpse at the internet. I'll be scheduling a follow-up course with this group as soon as I return from leave at the end of February. Until then, their assignment is to get their library cards so they can access the XOs while I'm away.
Here are some pictures of our first official XO students!
Using the camera to take a picture with a friend...
So intense...
My favorite volunteer helping out with the lesson...
Monday, December 22, 2008
Wananavu! (Nice!)
Ni sa bula! The xo's are hooked up to the wireless!
The telecom gurus worked out the glitches while students gathered for a school break storytelling. After reading a story about a white christmas, we made snowflakes to decorate the library. Tomorrow, they'll be able to look up weather forecasts around the world, search for images of real snowflakes, and do a wikipedia search to learn about snow. What a wonderful holiday gift for these children.
Happy holidays!
The telecom gurus worked out the glitches while students gathered for a school break storytelling. After reading a story about a white christmas, we made snowflakes to decorate the library. Tomorrow, they'll be able to look up weather forecasts around the world, search for images of real snowflakes, and do a wikipedia search to learn about snow. What a wonderful holiday gift for these children.
Happy holidays!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
450MB!!!
This is a HUGE file. The wiki info on the 8.2 upgrade says it may take 20 minutes to download the new OS to a USB from the internet. Here, it took about 23 hours. Really. And it took multiple attempts because we have inconsistent power/ connections (so having 23 hours of uninterrupted connection time is rare!)
I know we have slow connections here, but I imagine there are similar problems in other places that are trying to use the XOs. Is it possible to have future upgrades shared in smaller files (more of them, so if a connection falters, you don't loose everything and have to start from the beginning?)
Because we are in Fiji, and because it is the holiday season, folks are not showing up for work. So that broadband connection for the library is not yet up... hopefully before Christmas!
I know we have slow connections here, but I imagine there are similar problems in other places that are trying to use the XOs. Is it possible to have future upgrades shared in smaller files (more of them, so if a connection falters, you don't loose everything and have to start from the beginning?)
Because we are in Fiji, and because it is the holiday season, folks are not showing up for work. So that broadband connection for the library is not yet up... hopefully before Christmas!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Bula and Namaste from Paradise!
Welcome to our blog about the arrival of one hundred One Laptop Per Child XO laptops in Fiji!
While most people have to request these laptops well in advance, we were fortunate enough that a generous ex-pat arranged their shipment here a year ago without us even having to ask (this is the power of young Fijian smiles!).
Now that the laptops have made it through customs, we are trying to identify the best way to get them into the hands of students. We are in the midst of the summer school break, so we have some time to plan.
We're going to refer to our tiny town as Paradise for the sake of maintaining some anonymity in the blog, but here are some details other XO followers might want to know about Paradise:
- There are several schools in our town, with approximately 1500 primary-age students.
- Paradise attracts a fair number of tourists and ex-pats, there are several internet cafes in town, and many businesses rely on computers.
- We have a wonderful, albeit small, community library, run by the Ministry of Education. The laptops will make their debut in the library, as we work out all the issues around training teachers and students, uploading the new operating systems, and securing wireless access points for the surrounding schools.
- In Paradise, like in all of Fiji, there is an ancient tradition of being able to "kerekere" or borrow whatever you may need (food, money). This works incredibly well for taking care of everyone in Paradise (no one starves), but it is a challenge when Western wants and desires begin to shape the "needs" of people here. In the case of OLPC, there is a concern that laptops sent home, may not return to school.
So far, the XOs have been enthusiastically received by all. A huge thanks to Murray R. for his generous gift (and for having the patience to get the XOs through the complicated customs procedures), to Greg and Karen for welcoming them to Paradise, to Ryan W. for immersing yourself in learning all about Sugar, and to Miles, Anya, and Steven for your faith that the technology aspects will not overwhelm me! And to our young library patrons who are learning even quicker than we are- thanks for teaching us about your discoveries!
Hopefully, but the end of the week we will have found a way to download the 450MB upgrade (a HUGE file for the slow connections in Paradise) and have the wireless router installed in the library... at which point, we should be updating this blog from an XO!
While most people have to request these laptops well in advance, we were fortunate enough that a generous ex-pat arranged their shipment here a year ago without us even having to ask (this is the power of young Fijian smiles!).
Now that the laptops have made it through customs, we are trying to identify the best way to get them into the hands of students. We are in the midst of the summer school break, so we have some time to plan.
We're going to refer to our tiny town as Paradise for the sake of maintaining some anonymity in the blog, but here are some details other XO followers might want to know about Paradise:
- There are several schools in our town, with approximately 1500 primary-age students.
- Paradise attracts a fair number of tourists and ex-pats, there are several internet cafes in town, and many businesses rely on computers.
- We have a wonderful, albeit small, community library, run by the Ministry of Education. The laptops will make their debut in the library, as we work out all the issues around training teachers and students, uploading the new operating systems, and securing wireless access points for the surrounding schools.
- In Paradise, like in all of Fiji, there is an ancient tradition of being able to "kerekere" or borrow whatever you may need (food, money). This works incredibly well for taking care of everyone in Paradise (no one starves), but it is a challenge when Western wants and desires begin to shape the "needs" of people here. In the case of OLPC, there is a concern that laptops sent home, may not return to school.
So far, the XOs have been enthusiastically received by all. A huge thanks to Murray R. for his generous gift (and for having the patience to get the XOs through the complicated customs procedures), to Greg and Karen for welcoming them to Paradise, to Ryan W. for immersing yourself in learning all about Sugar, and to Miles, Anya, and Steven for your faith that the technology aspects will not overwhelm me! And to our young library patrons who are learning even quicker than we are- thanks for teaching us about your discoveries!
Hopefully, but the end of the week we will have found a way to download the 450MB upgrade (a HUGE file for the slow connections in Paradise) and have the wireless router installed in the library... at which point, we should be updating this blog from an XO!
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