[OLPC India] Issues on the ground

[Bryan Berry]

> From: "JV Avadhanulu" <jv at auroville.org.in>

> I am really glad to see that the discussion is moving to the real issues.I am pasting part of my mail of 10th July
> 
> I am listing some of the major issues in Auroville pilot ( and I think they would be common to  many other such efforts / projects)
> 1. The pilot starts with small numbers. How to order and get them at a reasonable price. 
> 2. Need  for CDs of XO-1 and XS images/ installation software. These are so huge that many people cant down load them
> 3. Training of teachers and technical teams
> 4. A transition plan from the conventional teaching of today to OLPC based education. This may involve some courseware and interactive learning packages to be developed broadly in line with 'standard syllabus'. This would be a huge task
> 5. A help line to get technical support when the local resources run into a wall.
> 6. The negative stance of the Government is big dampener and inhibits School Administrators and potential funders. Can we do something to shift negative stance of the Government?
> 
> I request other pilot projects / deployment coordinators to add to this list

Hey JV, 

We have a very specific Deployment Guide for Nepal that might help you.
Pradosh Kharel put it together and continually updates it. I recommend
you contact him directly at pradosh at olenepal.org for more details.

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLE_Nepal:_Deployment_guide

You may find the broader OLPC Deployment guide helpful as well

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Deployment_Guide

We have a 65-page teacher training guide but it is all in Nepali, we
have a volunteer, Sudeep who is working on translating it into English.
I don't know how soon it will be done. 

We have the E-Paath set of learning activities, all open-source, for
grades 2 and 6, English and Math. Very soon they will be compatible w/
pootle for translation
http://dev.laptop.org/pub/epaati/E-Paath-latest.xo

-- 
Bryan W. Berry
Technology Director
OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org