The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Gabon organized a five day One Laptop Per Child training on June 17 to 21, 2013. The training was conducted by One Laptop Per Child Association Inc. representatives from its regional office in Kigali.

The training was designed to give a comprehensive introduction to OLPC. The training explained the tremendous milestones achieved to date in providing educational opportunities to children around the world.

The OLPCA representatives introduced the XO, its preloaded content and the Sugar learning platform to the Ministry’s officials, educators from the Institue Superiere Pedagique, Foramateurs du project E-education, and Engineers who will be involved in the teacher trainings and the deployment in Gabon.

The training discussed what has been learned in Rwanda during the past four years.

The OLPC team from Rwanda shared its experiences, achievements, challenges and perspectives in its ongoing effort to integrate OLPC technology into the Rwandan education system.

The Ministry of Education of Gabon invited friends, associates and colleagues, who will be instrumental in furthering the OLPC cause in Gabon, to attend the training. Invitees included individuals from the Centre Numerique de Libreville, Centre techniques Basil Ondimba and other thought leaders from various organizations. Approximately 22 to 25 individuals attended the training each day.

Training Overview

The first day of the training provided a general introduction to OLPC’s background,its mission, and learning philosophy. The team presented OLPC achievements to date. OLPC representatives shared an overview of different OLPC projects worldwide. The OLPC team also discussed the Rwandan experience and the lessons learned over the past four years of the project in Rwanda. The team shared galleries of children’s work from various schools in Rwanda. OLPC representatives examined the impact on  learning, classroom dynamics, changes in school attendance, and the overall changes brought by XO into the families and communities in Rwanda. This busy day ended with all attendees exploring preloaded content on XO. Attendees were able to experience the uniqueness of the Sugar learning platform, which allows learners to create, share and collaborate with their peers.

On the second day, the training introduced the Sugar learning environment to the representatives of different organizations in attendance. It is anticipated that these organizations will be involved in preparation and implementation of next year’s large teacher trainings and deployments. Participants created different lesson plans integrating curriculum topics. During this process, participants became familiar with the Sugar user interface and the Write, Record, Scratch, Etoys, Social Calc and Portfolio activities.

During the third day, OLPC representatives shared the different approaches used in Rwanda to support schools with respect to the learning side of the project. For example, the OLPC team in Rwanda has organized XO users clubs, after school and holiday camps, and XO weekly challenges. The team has also worked with teachers on developing lesson plans that integrate use of the XO laptop. These are ways that teachers in Gabon can further support use of the XO laptops.

The final two days of the training were focused on the technical aspects of the XO laptops.

Participants were introduced to the XO’s hardware and software, the school servers’ technology and troubleshooting tips. The attendees also assembled and dissembled laptops of the ENSB school in Libreville. The training was concluded with an overview of the OLPC deployment guide and the project as implemented in Rwanda. The long discussions and debates conducted by the Ministry’s expert Kacandre Bourdelais and OLPC representatives, Desire Rwagaju & Jimmy Intwali, highlighted potential opportunities and threats to a successful implementation of the One Laptop Per Gabonese Child program.

OLPC is pleased to welcome Donna Mackenzie as its new CFO. Donna has extensive experience as a senior level finance executive. Prior to her position with OLPC, Donna served as CFO of IZEA, a social media marketing organization. Donna’s experience and expertise will serve OLPC well as it launches important new machines, software and services.

OLPC’s latest version of the XO laptop, the XO- 4 Touch, is currently on its way to Uruguay and Australia. The Government of Rwanda recently placed an order for an additional 42,500 XO laptops. In the U.S., the XO Tablet is completed and OLPC is expecting its official launch at Walmart in the upcoming weeks through our strategic partnership with Vivitar, a Sakar company. The XO Tablet also will be available at other major retailer locations in the United States and Canada. Uruguay has already purchased 8,000 XO Tablets.

OLPC is also proud to announce that it has been working with Morphoss Ltd, a software development organization headed by Andrew McMillan in New Zealand. Morphoss will be working to port  Sugar into the XO Tablet through the Android based “Dreams” User Interface. This will provide children using the tablet with increased educational opportunities.

OLPC maintains an experienced team of educators and programmers who continue to support its pedagogical philosophy. Heading the learning team at OLPC as Chief Learning Officer is Dr. Antonio Battro, a neurologist and colleague of Jean Piaget and Seymour Papert. Dr. Battro is also a distinguished member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in Rome. The learning team also includes Walter Bender, former head of the MIT Media Lab and creator of the Sugar educational software, and Dr. Michele Borba, Goodwill Ambassador to OLPC. Additional learning team members will be announced shortly.

In addition, OLPC has recently signed several agreements with major partners, including UNESCO, Oxford University Press, Common Sense Media, TED and Discovery. Applications and content from these partners will be available on the XO Tablet as part of the pre-loaded content and applications.

OLPC continues to be dedicated to its mission of providing every child around the world with connected, educational devices.

Rodrigo Arboleda

Chairman and CEO

One Laptop per Child Association.

Nothing empowers communities like education. That is why Turbana has partnered with One Laptop per Child to donate 1,800 new XO laptops to underpriviledged children in Uraba, Colombia.

One Laptop per Child is a foundation whose mission is to empower the world’s poorest children through education. They manufacture rugged, low cost laptops that connect children with the world and facilitate active learning, sharing and creating, thus providing an education needed for a prosperous future.

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