<h2 class="entry-title"><a class="entry-title-link" target="_blank" href="http://olpcoceania.blogspot.com/2010/12/solomons-marovo-pioneers-new-pacific.html">Solomons kids use XO and Wiki to bring encyclopedia to life</a></h2>
<div class="entry-author"><span class="entry-source-title-parent">from <a href="http://www.google.com.au/reader/view/feed/http%3A%2F%2Folpcoceania.blogspot.com%2Ffeeds%2Fposts%2Fdefault" class="entry-source-title" target="_blank">OLPC Oceania</a></span> <span class="entry-author-parent">by <span class="entry-author-name">Michael Hutak<br>
<br></span></span></div><div><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">In 2005, almost twenty years after his first visit to the Solomon Islands, Norwegian Professor Edvard Hviding <a target="_blank" href="http://portal.unesco.org/science/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4365%26URL_DO=DO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION=201.html">published</a> an unprecedented work: <i>Reef and Rainforest: An Environmental Encyclopedia of the Marovo Lagoon</i>.
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. <br><br></span></div><div><a target="_blank" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6i5OXNl4TMw/TQ9pY-R4adI/AAAAAAAAAyI/pTXVo9NcoL8/s1600/trip+to+solomons+314.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6i5OXNl4TMw/TQ9pY-R4adI/AAAAAAAAAyI/pTXVo9NcoL8/s200/trip+to+solomons+314.jpg" border="0" height="150" width="200"></a><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">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 <a target="_blank" href="http://wikieducator.org/Patukae_College/OER_Reef_and_Rainforest_wiki_in_Marovo_Language">via a wiki platform</a>. 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.<br><br><a target="_blank" name="more"></a></span></div><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">"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."</span></div><div><br><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Find out more about the Marovo Reef and Rainforest Wiki Project</span><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"> <a target="_blank" href="http://wikieducator.org/Patukae_College/OER_Reef_and_Rainforest_wiki_in_Marovo_Language">here</a>.</span></div>
</div><div><span style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: Tahoma; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br>
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<br>-- <br><span style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse;">-- <br>Michael Hutak<br>Director, Oceania<br>One Laptop per Child<br><a href="http://www.laptop.org/" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204);" target="_blank">www.laptop.org</a><br>
<a href="http://olpcoceania.blogspot.com/" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204);" target="_blank">http://olpcoceania.blogspot.com</a><br>--------<br>Skype: michael.hutak<br>Cell: +61 412 001 052<br>Fax: +61 2 8008 1616<br>Web: <a href="http://www.hutak.com/" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 204);" target="_blank">www.hutak.com</a><br>
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