One Laptop per Child

Worldfocus.org has produced a video report that describes OLPC Rwanda’s plans to provide computer access to the country’s 2.3 million schoolchildren:

via worldfocus.org

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On Friday, the OLPCorps application period will end. We’ve been very pleased so far with the university students, NGOs, schools, and other individuals and groups who have been inspired by the program. We’ve received proposals from students in North America, Europe, and Africa. In only three weeks, OLPCorps has attracted university students with significant experience in international development projects and concrete relationships with primary schools and NGOs in Africa. Above all, we’re excited about the energy and passion that university students, schools, and NGOs have shown!

Remember: It isn’t too late for teams to apply. Please see our OLPCorps wiki for details on how to submit a project proposal.

Earlier this week, we talked about the goals of OLPCorps. We also described the OLPCorps Support Committee, which is open to anyone interested in contributing to the program. The knowledge and experience of the OLPC community can play a huge role in the success of OLPCorps, as we try to build upon past successes and avoid prior and preventable mistakes.

Besides the roles described on the Support Committee wiki page, we’re looking for individuals interested in mentoring OLPCorps teams. If you have experience in deployments, pedagogy, technical work, international development, or another field related to OLPCorps, e-mail us at OLPCorps@laptop.org!

We’ll be having a conference call at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 8th to discuss how OLPC community members can support OLPCorps. As this call will focus on the Support Commitee and other ways to get involved, we won’t be discussing general OLPCorps questions. Please see our wiki page for answers to any question. If you’d like to join the call, please e-mail us at OLPCorps@laptop.org, and we’ll send you the call info. All are welcome!

Nonprofit One Laptop per Child is offering free XO Laptop loans and a strong network of dedicated Volunteer Mentors for visionaries of all ages, enabling grassroots projects worldwide.

Over half a million XO Laptops are in the hands of kids worldwide today, in South America, Africa, Asia, the Middle East and Oceania. These kids are not only changing their own lives, but are also changemakers in their villages, cities and countries. The laptops they receive contain software and content not only to learn academic subjects, but also empowering them to understand the world around them (learning online and off) materially engaging their families, environment and beyond.

• Do you believe in a worldwide “Science Fair” of organic learning?
• Do you know a teacher you can work with to create exceptional software?
• Can you find exceptionally creative persons in your area?

Anyone can contribute: would you mentor a small group of tinkerers, or might you alone write a 21st century textbook to be put on all our laptops?  Simply demonstrate your project furthers innovative education in poor countries, architecting something new — we will then provide the hardware you need to lead the way.

• Create software, hardware, guides, graphics, testing or support.
• Advance the state-of-the-art in learning Activities around the environment, languages, health, science, math or humanities.
• Seed a Community Repair Center or Local Laptop Library inspiring others to contribute.
• Are you shovel-ready?

You will be hard-pressed to find a more deeply committed community, passionate to work with you shaping and delivering Quality Work you define. No matter how small or large. We strongly urge you to read our FAQ and apply today if you too can join us, facilitating a worldwide ecosystem of cutting-edge projects around XO Laptops, the Sugar learning environment, community leadership, and beyond.

Children the world over will thank you for engaging your curiosity, exploring their true needs, and actively sharing the fruits of your labor!

Last week, we announced a new student-based, grassroots initiative called OLPCorps (pronounced O-L-P-C-Corps). You can find information about the program at several places, and I’d encourage you to do so before reading on.

This post, addressing OLPCorps’ goals, is the first of many to address specific parts of the program.

Through OLPCorps, we hope to engage highly ambitious, talented, and connected university students in our mission of revolutionizing learning environments for children. OLPCorps can attract widespread international attention among young adults and facilitate long-term partnerships between university students, schools, and NGOS across the world. OLPCorps focuses on deployments in Africa. OLPC also offers internships in Latin America.

Directly, OLPCorps will yield up to 100 deployments and thousands of relationships each year. Because we’re reaching out to people who haven’t been actively involved in OLPC in large numbers in the past, we can dramatically increase OLPC’s network of supporters. The current OLPC community can actively participate in OLPCorps through the OLPCorps Support Committee.

I encourage you to join the discussion on OLPCorps and offer helpful suggestions and questions to improve the program. To everyone who has contributed to the discussion on OLPCorps, thank you!

Look for future posts on the OLPCorps program, including why we’re focusing on university students.

Our contributors program is being revamped, with excellent help from Holt; you can see recent changes to its projects and process on the wiki; which have helped us be much more responsive by email to submissions.  Please follow the updated process while we get a better form-based process up.