[IAEP] (no subject)

[Edward Mokurai Cherlin]

Please pass this on to

     OLPC Australia <olpc-au at lists.laptop.org >,
     OLPC New Zealand <olpc-nz at lists.laptop.org >,
     OLPC Oceania <olpc-oceania at lists.laptop.org >,
     Grassroots <grassroots at lists.laptop.org >

On Fri, February 3, 2012 7:41 am, Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote:
> Hello everyone,
>
> You may be interested in a review I have written of the OLPC Australia
> education programme:
>
> http://www.dhanapalan.com/blog/2012/02/01/creating-an-education-programme/

Thank you for this. Is Australia planning for the necessary conversion
from printed textbooks to all-digital Open Education Resources? I say
that it is necessary in part because the computers cost less than the
printed textbooks, and also because we cannot integrate computer
software into the curriculum until we go to digital OERs. Bangladesh
has done so, and both Uruguay and South Korea have announced plans to
do so.

There are OERs on almost every subject at all levels, but outside
Bangladesh there are no complete integrated suites covering all of the
requirements, including teacher training. We need governments and
school authorities to take this problem seriously, to plan for what is
needed, and to think about how to organize and fund the conversion.

> It contains the video of a talk I gave at the linux.conf.au conference
> in January, and a more detailed explanation of that talk.
>
> Some of the key points:
>
>   * We have a com­pre­hens­ive edu­ca­tion pro­gramme that highly
> val­ues teacher empower­ment and com­munity engagement, with a focus
> on building sustainability.
>   * The invest­ment to provide a con­nec­ted learn­ing device to every
> one of the 300 000 chil­dren in remote Aus­tralia is less than 0.1% of
> the annual edu­ca­tion and con­nectiv­ity budgets.
>   * For low socio-economic status schools, the cost is only $80 AUD
> per child.
>   * Our pro­gramme is avail­able to any school in Aus­tralia, for $380
> AUD per child.
>   * Our programme is schools-centric, with a strong focus on the teacher.
>   * A teacher must undergo training and earn a certification to
> qualify to receive XOs for their class.
>   * Training is conducted online, and hence scales very well.
>   * We have an online community to provide peer-driven support,
> assisted by OLPC Australia personnel.
>   * Technology development and deployment is guided by the principle
> that it must be manageable by non-technical personnel.
>   * Our technology platform is open and not locked-down, providing
> maximum opportunity for children to learn and empowering
> schools/communities to own the deployment for themselves.
>   * We are seeing real educational results from our efforts, and are
> engaged in longitudinal and detailed evaluation.
>   * Our supporters include corporations and members of parliament at
> state and federal levels, but we can always use more help :)
>
> Please have a read if you are interested, and contact us if you would
> like to take part in our mission.
>
> We will be releasing more information on this educational programme in
> the coming months.
>
>
> Sridhar
>
>
> Sridhar Dhanapalan
> Engineering Manager
> One Laptop per Child Australia
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep


-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks