Category Archives: OLPC

Finalizó exitosamente proyecto Transformando del municipio de Chía en Colombia

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Del original publicado por ANSPE.

Captura de pantalla 2014-10-02 09.26.24

Transformando es un proyecto de innovación social que consistió en empoderar a los niños y a las niñas de  las familias de la Red Unidos de Chía como agentes de cambio social. Este objetivo se logró a través de una estrategia integral que incluyó la distribución de un computador portátil XO de OLPC (One Laptop per Child) a cada niño y/o niña participante, el uso de videojuegos para el cambio y la participación virtual y presencial en espacios de aprendizaje en los que los niños y las niñas aportaron al proceso de superación de la condición de pobreza extrema de sus familias.

Este proyecto se gestó entre la Agencia Nacional para la Superación de la Pobreza Extrema- ANSPE, a través de su Dirección deInnovación Social, One Laptop per Child -OLPC y la Alcaldía de Chía, quienes se aliaron para poner en marcha esta iniciativa orientada a generar un alto sentido de apropiación comunitaria por parte de los niños, las niñas y sus familias, pertenecientes a la Red Unidos del municipio de Chía.

El proceso inició con una etapa de ideación a partir de un reto de innovación: ¿Cómo empoderar a los niños y las niñas como agentes de cambio usando las herramientas tecnológicas para ayudar a sus familias a superar su condición de pobreza extrema?

Luego se avanzó en la etapa de los prototipos, donde se diseñó una metodología multiestrategia y se desarrollaron contenidos digitales a través de videojuegos con el enfoque de ”juegos para el cambio”[1].

Posteriormente se realizó la fase de pilotaje, a la que se unió Chía, un municipio de avanzada, cuyo lema en el Plan de Desarrollo es ser un territorio inteligente e innovador; además de una Zona Libre de Pobreza Extrema.

En este momento crucial se pusieron en marcha las estrategias planteadas con las familias de la Red Unidos del municipio, con el objetivo de empoderar a los niños y niñas de 7 a 13 años como agentes de cambio dentro del proceso de corresponsabilidad familiar para superar las trampas de la pobreza.

Fueron nueve (9) meses de trabajo con los niños, las niñas y sus familias en los cuales se desarrollaron múltiples encuentros presenciales que involucraron a todos los participantes en la estructuración de proyectos que harían realidad los aprendizajes adquiridos. Igualmente, durante la ejecución del proyecto, los niños y niñas jugaron los tres videojuegos diseñados especialmente para facilitar el aprendizaje de logros relacionados con las dimensiones de nutrición y dinámica familiar.

En este contexto también se incluyó el uso de mensajes de texto y de un portal web que permitió la participación y la interacción de los niños, las niñas y las familias. Otra de las actividades a destacar fue el desarrollo de cinco videojuegos por parte de los niños beneficiarios en el marco de los talleres de programación, realizados con el acompañamiento de expertos en el tema.

¿Qué logramos?

Gracias a este proyecto se logró generar una cultura de uso de las nuevas tecnologías al interior de cada hogar. De la misma manera, se obtuvieron importantes aprendizajes relacionados con la dinámica familiar: la importancia del diálogo,  no lastimar físicamente, compartir más tiempo en familia, comunicar lo que se siente y lo más relevante, las familias conocieron las rutas y estrategias para prevenir y enfrentar el abuso sexual infantil.

Respecto a la nutrición, los participantes adquirieron mejores hábitos de manipulación de alimentos y aumentaron el consumo de frutas y verduras.

Una vez finalizado el proyecto también se generó por parte de los beneficiarios, un mayor interés en acceder a la oferta cultural, recreativa y deportiva del municipio. En este contexto los niños y niñas actuaron como agentes de cambio, pues por primera vez en el municipio de Chía se desarrolló un Concejo de niños y niñas en el que presentaron sus propuestas, las cuales se materializaron, en cuatro (4) proyectos: 1. El gran día: espacio de juego e integración familiar, 2. Ruta temática en bicicleta: pedaleemos en contra del maltrato infantil; 3. Fútbol Convivencia: campeonato para promover la convivencia en el fútbol y 4. Nutriteatro: Títeres para la nutridiversión.

Sin embargo, para las familias el resultado más importante fue la  Unión Familiar que se generó a través de estrategias que mejoraron la comunicación y la resolución de conflictos en el interior del hogar. Este proceso fue facilitado por el uso de las tecnologías que aumentaron las posibilidades para compartir y aprender en familia.

Cabe resaltar que se logró un nivel de participación en los encuentros presenciales, del 73% en niños y niñas, y del 64% en los padres de familia, con un 94% de permanencia de las familias en el proyecto.

¿Qué aprendimos?

Hay muchos aprendizajes por retomar y difundir; uno de ellos es la apropiación comunitaria como clave para la sostenibilidad de los proyectos sociales. No solamente se trata del importante impacto que tiene el trabajo con los niños y las niñas para el proceso de superación de la pobreza extrema, sino también la incidencia que genera el uso de las tecnologías para democratizar el acceso al aprendizaje.  Un ejemplo de ello es que los niños se convirtieron en maestros de los adultos para el acercamiento a la tecnología.

El juego desde un entorno digital (videojuegos), y un entorno físico (la lúdica en los encuentros de aprendizaje), conectó a los participantes de todas las edades con los objetivos del proyecto generando co-responsabilidad y apropiación comunitaria, aspectos claves para la sostenibilidad de los proyectos sociales.

¿Qué sigue?

La Alcaldía de Chía, a través de la Secretaría de Desarrollo Social, decidió dar continuidad al proyecto como una estrategia que permite promover la participación de los niños, las niñas y las familias Unidos.

Finalmente, pensar en el escalamiento como fase siguiente, implica retomar las lecciones aprendidas de esta experiencia, llevarlas a otros contextos que estén en el camino de convertirse en Zonas Libres de Pobreza Extrema y potenciar estrategias que rompan círculos viciosos de la pobreza desde la participación de los niños y las niñas.

PARA MAYOR INFORMACIÓN

Video documental del proyecto:

Página Web: http://www.transformando.gov.co/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChiaTransformando

Casos de éxito (blog): http://transformandoxo.wordpress.com/

SugarCamp Chía: http://app.eltiempo.com/#colombia/otras-ciudades/en-chia-crean-videojuegos-para-superar-la-pobreza/14263236

CONTACTOS:

AURA ESTELA MORA MONTERO

aura@laptop.org

Tel: 3123215851

One Laptop per Child

 JUAN FELIPE YEPES

juan.yepes@anspe.gov.co

Tel: 3102541339

ANSPE– Centro de Innovación Social

 

The award-winning documentary film, WEB, will have its global release next week!

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We’re excited to announce that the award-winning documentary film, WEB, will have its much anticipated global release in partnership with Social Media Week next week!

The film features OLPC Founder, Nicholas Negroponte and chronicles children in remote villages in the Andes Mountains and Amazon Jungle gaining access to XO laptops and the Internet for the first time. It is a poignant embodiment of the theme of Social Media Week’s global conference, “Reimagining Human Connectivity.”

http://vimeo.com/106111815

 

Over the course of the four day conference, WEB will be screened in 7 cities around the world, kicking off a global release of the film on online platforms like iTunes and Amazon.

As part of Social Media Week, the film will be screened in Berlin, Johannesburg, Miami, Mumbai, London, Rotterdam and Rome, exclusively for conference attendees.

The film will be released simultaneously online for those who can’t attend but wish to take part in this exciting global conversation about access to information, new forms of community and collaboration and the connected world we are creating together.

Those interested in seeing WEB can purchase passes to attend social media week at socialmediaweek.org, view the film online at http://bit.ly/WebTheFilm or visit webthefilm.com for information about hosting their own local screening.

Website – WebTheFilm.com
Twitter – @WebTheFilm
Instagram – @WebTheFilm

Photo credit: @WebTheFilm

Robotics Summer Camp at Phillis Wheatley Elementary School

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from the original post at the Miami Herald

…Q. Why are you starting a robotics program for kids?

A. At MAKO, we had over 100 engineers and were doing all these H1 Visas. It didn’t make sense to me why there weren’t more American engineers coming out from the education system that can contribute directly. I started working with a lot of the schools and universities here. For the United States to continue to be strong, we need more engineers to innovate. The data were showing where you can have the largest impact on influencing directionally is to get more middle school students excited about engineering. We’ve supported various efforts over the last five years in inner-city schools. It has been rewarding, but I felt we weren’t moving fast enough and struggled with how to measure success and how to scale. So this year we took on a different approach.

We brought in experts in various disciplines and embarked on a one-year pilot to take the concept to the next level. So we put together a really unique curriculum where we brought in a Stanford University professor, Ken Salisbury, and the kids got a virtual tour of one of the best biorobotics labs in the world. We had them build robotic arms, similar to what we did at MAKO, and we had a whole curriculum around anatomy and physiology. Once they built it, we showed them how these are being used, we brought them to Larkin Hospital, where they met a renowned orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Carlos Lavernia. They saw how the robotics arms were being used in medicine. We brought them to the Stryker-MAKO facility, where they met engineers, including engineers that came out of their neighborhoods and are great role models. What really got them excited was a visit from One Laptop Per Child’s CEO Rodrigo Arboleda. His research has shown that when you give a laptop, the logical thing to do is build things on it, and the process develops kids’ creative thinking.

Now we are looking at how we can implement this within schools starting in South Florida. We are bringing into the process art and creativity, we had Pharrell talk to these kids. We are going to follow and mentor these 20 kids for the next few years and bring in more kids. We’ll see where this goes, but we are very excited about it. We had a staff of 15 people working on this project over the summer with all the right disciplines in place.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/08/24/4304536/qa-with-maurice-ferre-whats-next.html#storylink=cpy

 

Zambia’s Twabuka Community School Receives Donated Laptop Computers

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Reposted from original

Award-winning US travel writer Candyce H. Stapen (gfvac.com) recently visited Wilderness Safaris’ Toka Leya Camp from 15-17 June, not only to enjoy Zambia’s renowned hospitality, but also to donate 11 new computers.

The laptops from One Laptop per Child (OLPC) are powered by their own individual solar panels, which eliminates the immediate need of providing electricity for the school. The computers’ programmes are also able to operate without Internet access when necessary, although Internet access is a plus.

“I am delighted to be working with Travel Sommelier who helped plan our wonderful trip to Zambia and with Children in the Wilderness (CITW) to bring One Laptop per Child (OLPC) computers to rural schools in Africa. The project, Henny’s Kids, is named for my mother, Henrietta, who was an elementary school teacher”, says Candyce H. Stapen. “She would have been extremely proud to see how quickly the children learned how to use their new laptops and she would have been delighted to provide access to reading material and to a whole new world of educational opportunities.”

One Laptop per Child Zambia

According to Dr. Sue Snyman, Programme Director for CITW, one of the main priority needs previously identified by the School PTA and village headmen was access to computers. Toka Leya’s GM, Petros Guwa, and Dr. Snyman work closely with the school in terms of community development projects and meet with the PTA on a regular basis. “The teachers are extremely enthusiastic and proactive and we will be working with them an ongoing basis to ensure the correct assistance and training is received. Ideally we are hoping to grow this project so that the school has the required number of laptops to ensure maximum benefits to both the children and teachers”, Snyman added.

OLPC is a non-profit organization founded in 2005 with the goal of transforming education by providing every child with access to a connected laptop computer, the XO laptop. Connected laptops provide a cost-effective way to create learning environments that facilitate the greatest possible development of all children. OLPC is driven by a firm belief that laptops have a unique ability to leverage children’s innate curiosity and desire to learn, to develop critical thinking skills, and to foster a lifelong love of learning.

A laptop and solar panel, plus shipping fees, cost USD350. Donations of any amount are welcome. To assist us with achieving the next minimum directed order of 100 laptops, please contact Candyce (donate@hennyskids.com), Sue (sues@wilderness.co.za), or send a check or money order in U.S. dollars made out to One Laptop per Child for any amount. Please mail your donation to: Henny’s Kids, P.O.B. 42673, Washington, D.C. 20015-9998, USA.

MoneyGram, OLPC donate 250 tablets to students in SA

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Thursday 31 July 2014 | 18:13 CET | News


 MB-OLPC-20140730_025 The MoneyGram Foundation and the One Laptop Per Child Foundation (OLPC) have donated 250 tablets to students in South Africa’s Masibambane Junior Primary School in Orange Farm. The MoneyGram Foundation’s grant facilitates the initiation of the OLPC pilot program and provides access to technology to the Masibambane School as a way to support and supplement its existing curriculum. This XO tablet-based program is intended to combat social exclusion and to encourage individual empowerment amongst student users. The XO tablet that the OLPC Masibambane Learning Environment program is centered on was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and features a 7.5-inch optical multi-touch display screen. It is loaded with an array of e-learning software that both enables and tracks each child’s educational progress.MB-OLPC-20140730_026 MB-OLPC-20140730_022MB-OLPC-20140730_030

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The OLPC project is alive and well in The Queen City.

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Making Digital Literacy a Reality for Everyone

Queens’ Knight School of Communication takes another step toward making Charlotte a model city for digital literacy

WHO:  The James L. Knight School of Communication is launching a digital literacy initiative at Ashley Park Elementary School, a school within the Project L.I.F.T. corridor. Project L.I.F.T. is a non-profit organization that transforms the way students who traditionally perform poorly in school are educated, focusing on nine schools within Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools (CMS).

 

WHAT:  The Knight School has partnered with CMS,  One Laptop per Child, Mobile Beacon and EveryoneOn to clear away digital literacy obstacles for Ashley Park Elementary families and assist parents who cannot keep pace with the technological literacy required of their children. The Knight School will assess families’ technology needs; Mobile Beacon is donating 100 modems and is providing free in-home Internet access for the remainder of the school year to participating families; and One Laptop per Child has already provided students with computers. The initiative aligns with the Knight School’s overarching mission—to raise the digital media literacy rate of the city to improve the lives of Charlotteans—and the launch day will be celebrated by a Mayoral Proclamation.

 

WHY: The focus on Ashley Park Elementary follows the Knight School’s Digital Media Literacy (DML) Index, the first tool of its kind to produce a comprehensive view of DML competency across a municipality—in this case, the city of Charlotte. The community surrounding Ashley Park scored the lowest on the Knight School’s Charlotte area index; a deeper look at the data revealed the neighborhood has the lowest Internet use, contains the highest percentage of adults without a high school degree and has the highest percentage of households with an annual income less than $40,000.

 

WHERE:  Ashley Park Elementary School (Media Center)

2401 Belfast Drive, Charlotte

 

WHEN:  The Second Annual Digital Media Literacy Day, an initiative launched in 2013 by the Knight School

Friday, March 21, 2014, 9-10 a.m. and 4-5 p.m

MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES:

  • Remarks by Dean Eric Freedman of the Knight School on the significance and importance of the initiative
  • Students and parents becoming more digitally literate – receiving lessons on how to use their computers, some who will be using computers for the first time

ABOUT THE JAMES L. KNIGHT SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION AT QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE

The mission of the James L. Knight School of Communication is to prepare consumers and creators of communication messages to become engaged citizens, advocates and leaders in the communities they serve. The Knight School offers a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Journalism and Digital Media, a Bachelor of Arts with a major in Communication, and a Master of Arts in Communication. Alumni thrive in such areas as journalism, media industries, advertising, public and community relations, law, human resources, sports enterprise, corporate communication, government and education.

ABOUT QUEENS UNIVERSITY OF CHARLOTTE 

Queens University of Charlotte is a private, co-ed, Presbyterian-affiliated comprehensive university with a commitment to both liberal arts and professional studies. Located in the heart of historic Charlotte, Queens serves approximately 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students through its College of Arts and Sciences, McColl School of Business, Wayland H. Cato, Jr. School of Education, James L. Knight School of Communication and Andrew Blair College of Health which features the Presbyterian School of Nursing.

ABOUT MOBILE BEACON

Mobile Beacon provides fourth generation (4G) mobile broadband services exclusively to educational and nonprofit organizations across the United States. Mobile Beacon was created by a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that is one of the largest national educational broadband service (EBS) providers in the country. Through an agreement with Clearwire, Mobile Beacon provides high-speed data services and mobile Internet access on the CLEAR 4G network. For more information, visit www.mobilebeacon.org.

ABOUT EVERYONEON

EveryoneOn is a national nonprofit working to eliminate the digital divide by making high-speed, low-cost Internet, computers, and free digital literacy accessible to all unconnected Americans. EveryoneOn aims to leverage the power of the Internet to provide opportunity to all Americans—regardless of age, race, geography, income or education level. For more information, visit www.everyoneon.org.

 

ABOUT ONE LAPTOP PER CHILD 

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide every child in the world access to new channels of learning, sharing and self-expression. In partnership with the public and private sectors and non-governmental organizations and supported by comprehensive implementation and pedagogical services, OLPC seeks to provide each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power connected laptop that empowers individual learning and growth. Fore more information, visit www.laptop.org.