[OLPC-Oceania] Solomons kids use XO and Wiki to bring encyclopedia to life

Michael Hutak hutak at laptop.org
Mon Dec 20 19:49:16 EST 2010


Solomons kids use XO and Wiki to bring encyclopedia to
life<http://olpcoceania.blogspot.com/2010/12/solomons-marovo-pioneers-new-pacific.html>
from OLPC Oceania<http://www.google.com.au/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Folpcoceania.blogspot.com%2Ffeeds%2Fposts%2Fdefault>
by
Michael Hutak

In 2005, almost twenty years after his first visit to the Solomon Islands,
Norwegian Professor Edvard Hviding
published<http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4365%26URL_DO=DO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION=201.html>
an
unprecedented work: *Reef and Rainforest: An Environmental Encyclopedia of
the Marovo Lagoon*. First arriving in Marovo in 1986, Hviding is a dedicated
pedagogue, and ensured his work was not only available in the indigenous
Marovo language, but that it aligned with the national curriculum, and came
complete with teachers' guides and lesson plans.

<http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6i5OXNl4TMw/TQ9pY-R4adI/AAAAAAAAAyI/pTXVo9NcoL8/s1600/trip+to+solomons+314.jpg>Now
the OLPC XO laptops in the region are being used to bring a new dimension to
this incredible resource. Solomon Islands Government are working with UNESCO
to enable the kids of Marovo to use their XO laptops to access and update
the encyclopedia via a wiki
platform<http://wikieducator.org/Patukae_College/OER_Reef_and_Rainforest_wiki_in_Marovo_Language>.
The
project is unique in its approach in the Pacific: making an exceptional
resource not just available to remote rural schools but open to their
contributions via the XO and the Wiki, accessed through VSAT internet
access.

"The project demonstrates how technology can be used in poor rural
communities to foster and protect indigenous knowledge as a living and
dynamic resource owned by the communities themselves," says ICT for
education expert, David Leeming, who is managing the project. Mr Leeming
cites the project as an effective use of Open Educational Resources (OER),
an approach which he says is suitable for boosting the learning systems of
poor and disadvantaged communities right across the Pacific. "This can work
wherever there is a demand for quality education that reinforces vernacular
languages and local content."

Find out more about the Marovo Reef and Rainforest Wiki Project
here<http://wikieducator.org/Patukae_College/OER_Reef_and_Rainforest_wiki_in_Marovo_Language>
.

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Oceania<http://www.google.com/reader/view/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Folpcoceania.blogspot.com%2Ffeeds%2Fposts%2Fdefault?source=email>using
*Google Reader.*


-- 
-- 
Michael Hutak
Director, Oceania
One Laptop per Child
www.laptop.org
http://olpcoceania.blogspot.com
--------
Skype: michael.hutak
Cell: +61 412 001 052
Fax: +61 2 8008 1616
Web: www.hutak.com
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