Tag Archives: OLPC

Switched-on youth – CASE STUDY: @OLPC

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Technology plays a momentous role in shaping the future of our societies and ensuring that the next generation is prepared to cope with the burdens – and embrace the opportunities – to come. So, how exactly are we enabling our youth to contribute in this digital era?

Read this article by Stephanie Spurr posted at International Innovation where

Mariana Ludmila Cortés, VP of Business Development at OLPC, explains how the non-profit organization is enabling children in developing countries to access educational devices for self-empowered learning.

You can download the PDF here.

OLPC Announces Partnership with Zamora Teran Foundation

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One Laptop per Child (OLPC) announced today a partnership with the Zamora Teran Foundation, a non-profit organization, dedicated to the successful implementation of OLPC programs throughout Central America. OLPC, in partnership with the Zamora Teran Foundation, will provide innovative teacher training, professional development opportunities, and related implementation services, to OLPC programs around the world.

The Zamora Teran Foundation  has distributed more than 42,000 OLPC Laptops to children in Nicaragua and is currently providing implementation support services to more than 50,000 OLPC Laptops in Honduras and 5,000 OLPC Laptops in Costa Rica. The results are impressive, with improvements in school retention rates and academic achievement.

“We are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to share our expertise in OLPC program implementation with schools and communities around the world,” said Maria Josefina Teran Zamora, President of the Zamora Teran Foundation. “We believe that in joining forces, we are creating a better future for all.”

The services offered by OLPC in partnership with the Zamora Teran Foundation focus on six components that are essential for a successful OLPC Laptop program.  The organizations offer a comprehensive teacher training program, as well as a full logistics and implementation solution. Services include the provision of advanced technical support and training to local, on-the-ground teams to ensure program sustainability. Monitoring and evaluation services are available to ensure that the goals of each program are defined and achieved. The organizations work with each local community to develop a strong community of volunteers  to support the program, and a strong network of development, to ensure the expansion of each program. With these six essential components, OLPC offers a comprehensive ecosystem of support to each program.

For more information about the One Laptop Per Child the Zamora Teran Foundation, please contact Leah (leah@laptop.org) .

OLPC was founded in 2005 with the goal of transforming education through the provision of a durable, connected, laptop computer to every child in the world. To date, OLPC has distributed more than 3 million laptops to children around the world.

Knowledge by OLPC reaches children in rehabilitation – Rwanda

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P1130394The Center CECYDAR/FIDESCO RWANDA was founded in 1992 by a Rwandan couple, Cypria and Daphrose RUGAMBA. The Center has welcomed children from very disadvantaged backgrounds.

When children arrive at the Center, they enter a process of physical and psychological rehabilitation, as well as an intellectual and spiritual one. The goal is to heal the whole child and ultimately reunite them with their families, whenever possible. As soon as the home and family situation permits, children are reunited with family and reintegrated into their community.

The more than twenty years of experience in the field have provided the Center with real expertise in the rehabilitation of children. The center is truly an expert organization in the successful reintegration of these children into their families and communities. It now has an effective, proven methodology, which has helped many children return to their families and to education.

CECYDAR/FIDESCO RWANDA is convinced that the most natural and ideal living environment for a child is always his or her family. The Center seeks to reintegrate the child as soon as possible in a family environment (nuclear family, extended family or foster family). This reunification is accompanied by certain measures aimed at improving the economic situation of the family. After reunification, the Center monitors the short, medium and long term needs of the child. The Center can accommodate up to 50 children at a time. The average stay for a child lasts 3 to 6 months.

While living in the Center CECYDAR/FIDESCO RWANDA, children have the opportunity to participate in the One Laptop per Child Program. Through an Open OLPC Learning room known as the “OLPC Corner”, children have the opportunity to participate in three week camps. This is often the first time many of these children have attended school. During these camps, children have the opportunity to acquire “Knowledge by OLPC” by the use of OLPC laptops as they explore the learning process.

Participating children have the opportunity to learn to read, write stories, play educational games such as typing Tuttle, memorize, maze and dare, using the OLPC laptops. Other students have the opportunity to learn simple programming languages, including Scratch and Turtle Art. Celestine Ngarambe, of OLPC, is in charge of leading the children in their educational journeys. She assesses each child to ascertain his or her educational level and guides them as they learn to use the OLPC laptops.

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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.

TEDxMiami – Be the difference – Oct 24, 2013

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This year, TEDxMiami’s fourth annual Fall Conference celebrates the power of innovation and different viewpoints which innovators bring to longstanding problems. Our speakers will provoke you to Live Differently, Work Differently, Play Differently, Learn Differently, and most importantly, to Be the Difference.

Be part of a catalyst moment for Miami
With more speaking applications received than ever before, Miami is certainly bursting at the seams with innovative and disruptive ideas. With the platform set, we can help take these ideas worth spreading and continue supporting them to the next level.  Join us for a night of connection, inspiration and action!

When:  Thursday, 24 October 2013 - Doors open 6:00PM, Event 7:00PM to 10:00PM
Where:  Adrienne Arsht Center - 1300 Biscayne Blvd. Miami, FL 33132
Tickets: Purchase your tickets here (Tickets are General Admission) SOLD OUT

The networking reception is at the Knight Concert Hall Lobby from 6-7pm. Doors to the auditorium open at 6:30pm. Concessions are available throughout the evening however, food is not allowed in the auditorium. Mingle with attendees at the after-party immediately following the event in the lobby.

Speaker Line-Up (revealed thus far)

  • Rodrigo Arboleda – One Laptop per Child, Revisited
  • Risa Berrin – Health Information Project
  • Richard Weiner – The Virtues of Gossip
  • Anabelle K. Paulino – A Modern Twist on an Ancient Memory Technique
  • John E. Lewis, Ph.D – A Solution for Your Health Care is Ringing. Will You Answer the Call?
  • Fernando Fabre – Creating An (Entrepreneurial) Mafia
  • Frankie Ruiz – Running to Join a Miami Movement