[IAEP] Commenst for an Oceania project

[Ian Thomson]

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 <http://www.spc.int/> 


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