[OLPC-Oceania] Encouraging impressions from the field in Solomons OLPC pilots.

[Michael Hutak]

Encouraging impressions from the field in Solomons
pilots.<http://olpcoceania.blogspot.com/2010/10/encouraging-impressions-from-field-in.html>
<http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_6i5OXNl4TMw/TMpe7ld9PcI/AAAAAAAAAq8/Zh8IHu2iLR8/s1600/Batuna.jpg>
Laura Hosman is an American researcher who has been travelling through
Melanesia visiting our OLPC pilot projects in PNG and the Solomons. She has
been keeping a fascinating diary of her impressions at her blog, ICT4D Views
from the Field <http://ict4dviewsfromthefield.wordpress.com/>.
Her latest entry covers her visit to the village of Batuna, in Marovo
lagoon, Solomon Islands.

"It was a special day in Batuna, because the sixth graders were taking the
national exam. This meant that classes were not as they would be on a normal
school day, so the teachers gathered the students who had their laptops,
invited them in to the same room, and had them demonstrate the various
programs they could use on the laptops. And there were many that I had not
seen before! I asked each student what their favorite program was and I
received numerous answers: Paint, Chat, Memory, Writing, Photo/Camera,
Connect, Maze, and Slideshow (with Paint receiving the most votes by far).
The students seemed very at ease with working together over the computers–in
other words, they could chat, or play a game with another student sitting
across the room. I hadn’t witnessed this activity, certainly to this extent,
before."

Ms Hosman credits the permanent presence of a dedicated IT support expert as
crucial to the encouraging scene at Batuna:

"...the presence of Elnah Tati, who, in addition to teaching business
computing at the college, is the IT expert at the college *and* for the OLPC
program. She therefore also helps the primary school with teacher training
and creative ideas for using the XOs. The programs and software being used
on the XOs at Batuna were more diverse and advanced than I had witnessed
elsewhere up to that point—which I believe was a reflection of Elnah’s
involvement."



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