Assistant Minister of Education Calist Mwatela set up a meeting between these groups, and they are planning a series of Skype meetings over the next few weeks. Sandra wrote more about this and her dream of an OLPC Kenya Alliance, as a guest post on the Eshibinga blog.

Keep up the good work!

Starting with a gift of 100 laptops from donors on Boston, and expanding through the interest of a number of OLPCorps projects in 2008, South Africa has expanded its OLPC community to almost 1500 students and teachers today.

Given the depth of information out today about the diversity of olpc programs, there is much more research to be done – not about whether to give learning tools to children (of course you should), but about how to use them as the basis for transforming and enriching a community. To paraphrase a famous educator, the diversity in OLPC implementations around the world will help us discover the most effective approaches.

A tip of the hat to OLPC Australia, which continues its truly remarkable work.

OLPC South Africa is preparing to publish a case study of it’s entirely grassroots growth – from 100 students and mentors in Klipotwn in early 2008 to a network of 1400 students in 5 cities, all sharing training and class experiences.

Support for these programs was a combination of individual donations, local purchases, government support, OLPCorps, and support from other international NGOs.  Some are traditional school projects, while others such as at the Kliptown Youth Project involve a combination of community, school, and peer mentoring.

The full study should be up on Friday.  Here are a few quotes:

South Africa spends a larger share (5-6%) of its GDP on education than any other African nation. Education is compulsory for all children between the ages of 7 and 15 (grades 1 to 9) and access to primary education, the UN’s second Millennium Development Goal, is now nearly universal.

However, as recently pointed out by Trevor Manuel, South Africa’s National Planning Minister, South Africa ranks 137 out of 150 countries in math and science and is one of the bottom 25 performers on the African continent.

…

As of early 2012, there are a total of 1,400 XO laptops in South Africa. The Kliptown Youth Program provides technical and training support for all these deployments.

…

The first priority was getting people to understand that the XO is not a toy – it is a resource for education. Many children in Kliptown have difficulty learning to read so it is important to get them excited about reading. The children like reading from the XO screen because it makes learning fun and cool.

I look forward to further creative power tests and batteryless setups!   And to any additional power-saving tweaks.  (these tests have been run with suspend off. another interesting stat would be howl ong it takes to charge the battery while actively using the XO with suspend on.)

Every student will receive their own XO laptop today, in an effort to level the digital playing field for more than 525 kids at the school. The XOs will be provided by OLPC, with $245K in support from the Knight Foundation.  Community advocates will present the laptops at 9:30 a.m. today.

“Access to the Internet and digital skills are vital for success in today’s connected world,” said Jorge Martinez, who leads Knight Foundation’s Universal Access Initiative. “We hope the laptops help these eager young minds at Holmes Elementary to become digital natives who are more informed and engaged in their classrooms and their community.”

OLPC will provide in-house training at the school for parents, teachers and students on how to use the computers to advance students’ learning. The laptops have tools that let students and teachers to work more closely together. Students can follow their teacher’s work on their laptop, or work collaboratively on projects. OLPC is also assisting in creating a localized curriculum to help kids meet their academic benchmarks.

“We are pleased to be working with Knight Foundation and the Miami-Dade County public schools on this new OLPC education initiative in the U.S.,” said Rodrigo Arboleda, chairman and CEO of the OLPC Association.  ”We believe that partnering with foundations, the private sector and the public sector is an excellent model that can be replicated across the country.”

Holmes Elementary School, which serves the majority of Liberty City residents, is at risk of closing at the end of the year if its state test scores do not improve. In an effort to boost performance, a variety of tools and resources are being used to enhance teaching and learning, including the laptops and training program.

“With this project, every child will carry learning in the palm of their hands and we will be one step closer to leveling the educational playing field in Miami,” said Atunya Walker, Holmes Elementary School’s principal. Holmes Elementary has been selected because it is already working with Knight-funded Teach For America to change student performance. Knight provided funding to triple the amount of Teach for America teachers in Miami-Dade – bringing the number to 350 – in a group of inner city schools that includes Holmes.

See the video about this project.

There are natural assessments built into the program, with a fairly short timeframe, thanks to existing conditions at the school and their risk of closure. And I am honored by the involvement of the Knight Foundation, which has been thinking about issues of access to tools and information in the US for a long time.

And the Fargo team develops some game-like projects around Physics and Etoys.

From now through May, specially-marked packages of Betty Crocker fruit snacks will feature a “Win & Give” campaign, giving people a chance to win laptops themselves and donate laptops to children in Africa.

The campaign shows moms and kids that even the smallest act can make a big difference, and that giving to others can be fun. “Research shows that providing children with opportunities and experiences to feel the joy and impact of giving to others helps them grow into kind, empathetic and respectful adults,” said Dr. Michele Borba*. “The ‘Win & Give’ campaign truly makes a difference and it’s so easy for kids in the U.S. to get involved.”

Having a giving heart is important, as 93 percent of moms would exude more pride if their children grew into giving adults than if they were wealthy, according to the Kids’ Altruism Indicator**. But, between work, school and after-school activities, it can be hard for families to find the time to give back. Dr. Borba recommends five ways families can incorporate giving into their everyday lives: Tap into kids’ passions. For instance, an animal lover may get excited about helping at a local animal shelter. Encourage children to become involved in causes they care about. Let them lead the charge and follow-up with support. When watching the news, take the time to explain hot button issues and how people have been affected by local disasters, like hurricanes or tornados.

Kids are compassionate and may proactively want to help by donating clothes or writing letters to those affected. Especially when they know they can make a difference. Take that moment to mobilize compassion – “What can we do?” is a great question that empowers children to lead the way. Be on the lookout for local opportunities to help.

Each package contains a code that can be entered at WinOneGiveOne.com to see if they’ve won an XO laptop; for every laptop one, another is donated to a child in Africa.  The website allows parents and kids to see the impact laptops have on kids in Rwanda with videos from the students and teachers who received the laptops, and includes tips and comments from Dr. Borba.

* Michele Borba is an educator, author, and parenting expert working with General Mills.
** The Kids Altruism Indicator survey was conducted by Kelton Research in December 2010, among children ages 7-12.

Last week we got the good news. Our class is soon going to get two more computers. That is great news because we are a class of 40 kids and and increasing… [they] have helped us learn most of the computer basics, writing, recording, games, music, etc etc. Recording activity was my favorite. When I grow up I want to be a photo journalist.

Our dream as a class is to have each kid own his or her own laptop. I think a computer has a private face. As much as computers do lots of public work, but I think and I stand to be corrected, that a computer is also personal. The reason I am saying this is because I have some personal matters in my life which I have typd and recorded on one of the laptop. It is no secret here in Eshibinga that my dad has been living with HIV AIDS. He does not have long to live. Every word he tells me is important. Every smile he gives me is precious, every prayer he makes for me and my three other siblings is memorable. After learning about the recording activity on the xo laptop, I asked Mr. Amunga to give it to me to go with it home. I sat my dad under his favourite tree. And I recorded his voice, his smile his face.

Later I realized that what I had recorded was so important. I don’t want it erased. It may be the only chance for my three sisters and I to hear and see our dad in future.
The advice dad was gave was very personal and very private. I don’t want my classmates to read watch or see the recording I made on the xo laptop. Neither do I want it erased. What do I do? Yesterday teacher announced that will get two more laptops. I want to talk to him to give me this particular one for keeps. It has the face of my dad, my history, my roots. I need to keep this recordings. They are too personal, too private, too precious. A computer has two faces the private and the public.

I have very good news. Just in time for the one year celebration of the launch of our XO deployments at August Town Primary and Providence Methodist Basic School, six members of the global OLPC community will be visiting us. They will be taking lots of pictures, doing interviews, workshop sessions, meeting the parents, teachers and students – all during the week of January 29 to February 5. One of the goals while they are here is to collect lots of content – National Geographic quality pictures and amazing stories that will be published later in the year along with those of five other small OLPC deployments worldwide.

This is an initiative to publicize to a worldwide audience the great OLPC work being done in Jamaica, Madagascar (Nosy Komba), Philippines, Kenya, Haiti, and Vietnam.

The team visiting Jamaica includes:

- documentary film maker, Bill Stelzer, who works with the OLPC deployments in the US Virgin Islands
- OLPC’s community support manager since 2007, Adam Holt, who splits his time between Boston and Haiti
- executive director of Ntugi Group, Mark Battley, who support OLPC implementations in Northern Kenya
- Quentin Peries Joly and Laura de Reynal, University students from OLPC France who have done extensive work with the OLPC project in Nosy Komba, Madagascar
- Nancie Severs, who envisioned and started the first OLPC deployment in a floating village, Vietnam.

Ars Technica recently reviewed the XO-3 and XO-1.75 with an eye towards the future implications of low-power computing, discussing power generation by hand, by bike, and by water wheel as well as through solar panels.

Of course we’re not done with the low-power revolution; phones and computers – even the latest XOs – are still too power hungry to be quickly and easily charged by ambient light (as solar calculators are) or by hand (despite the simplicity of hand cranks, legs are much better suited for generating power than arms and hands). So while alternate charging works it requires explicit attention and preparation.

But in places without electrical infrastructure that have some steady source of power, computers and computing can increasingly be part of everyday life.

> Q: What are the XO-3 power consumption and charging requirements?

It’s still too early to lay out exact claims for this. These are A1 prototypes. This is the stage where we start finding all the things that use more power than we would like, and reduce them. The exact size of the battery is also changing as we maximize the space in the battery cavities.

We won’t make exact claims on power until it moves well into B- and C-series builds. That said, a lot of internals are almost identical to the 1.75, so things I’ve previously said about 1.75 are a good approximation of the XO-3.

• The traditional display consumes more power than the Pixel-Qi.
• The maximum runtime power draw of the 1.75 is 5W. (Not including the extra 5W you can draw from the USB port.)
• The power input front end of the XO-3 is identical to the XO-1.75 and XO-1.5: an 11V-25V input range and a maximum input rating of 25W.
• The XO-3 can also be powered by USB OTG (On-The-Go).
• The XO-3 would survive long term if you connected it directly to a car/motorcycle 12V power system (with no adapter).
  (I don’t think any other tablet made so far could say that.)

Here’s a video showing a 1.75 powered completely by our 10W PV panel.  This is a raw panel, with no power controller or internal battery; there is no battery in the XO. The laptop has suspension turned off. Chris Ball and I shot it yesterday, on a sunny winter day in Cambridge.  More notes and details below, for the power geeks.

Unlike the XO-1.5 the XO-1.75 almost never gets to the 25W maximum because its runtime power is much lower. So peak power draw only happens when charging a very low battery.

OTG has a strict 5V/7.5W power specification so charging via OTG will take longer. No, I’ve not yet measured how much longer. Sadly its not a nice linear thing that you can just do the math and figure out. There are many variables some of which will change with the next prototypes.

Having a robust, wide voltage range, high power input is an important feature when using alternative power sources. Alternative power can be very unclean and very sporadic. You must be very forgiving on what you allow and when its available you want to maximize your input.

> Has it been demonstrated to be chargeable by “solar panels,
> hand cranks cranks and other alternative power sources?”
> [Sources] not requiring systems that cost more than the laptop,
> nor someone with XO-green skin color to crank?

The claim of being chargeable by alternate power sources isn’t new.  Every XO generation we have made to date matches this claim, and in each generation we make an improvement.

It’s always been possible to charge an XO from alternative power sources. Sites in Rwanda, Peru, Haiti and the Solomon Islands (just to name a few) are powered entirely by solar. These use XO-1′s and XO-1.5′s. Some use a commercial-type solar system and some are just solar panels that connect directly to the XOs.  Read more:

The XO-1 and XO-1.5 had maximum runtime peak power draws in the 10W range. Running things like the camera activity which keep the system busy would draw that power continuously. If you didn’t have 10W of input you’d go backwards. Most people don’t really realize how much work 10W of continuous power is. The physical size of a 10W solar panel isn’t huge but its still pretty large and you need perfect solar conditions for that 10W. So what you really need is a larger solar panel that so a wide range of solar conditions still work.

The XO-1.75 and the XO-3 tablet have a runtime peak power draw in the 5W range and they idle even lower. So power sources with peak production in the 5-7W range can fully power the new XO devices in a variety of conditions. A 10W panel would almost certainly have no net power draw unless the solar conditions were really terrible.

This is a must have for any zombie apocalypse survivor. Who cares if the electricity is down! #olpc #zombie #apocalypse