[OLPC-Philippines] Fwd: OLPC Pilot requirements

Ryan Letada rletada at gmail.com
Tue May 12 23:46:10 EDT 2009


“As a guy that has written numerous grants for schools I can honestly say
this would never get funding because of all the question marks.  We the
people who want this to happen for the Filipinas must answer the questions.”
                - Rick Hendricks

Hello Everyone,

We are truly excited to see the renewed momentum in the group. Be assured
that there are many of us who believe that Filipino youth deserve the
transformative benefits that the XO laptop has to offer.

Recently, a *core team *has been assembled to raise important questions and
to answer them. Thus far, the team consists of marketing, finance,
technology, and deployment specialist.  We are still in the process of
identifying key members, and are actively seeking an educator who is
well-versed on constructionism – an educational framework that serves as the
foundation for XO learning activities.

[Check:  http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Constructivism]

The core team is dedicated to learning best practices from other
organizations across the globe (www.waveplace.com, and www.olenepal.org),
who uses XO laptops and other technological innovations to enhance
educational opportunities. Our learning will hopefully position us to
successfully deploy pilot program throughout the Philippines, keeping in
mind a long term vision of leapfrogging youths into 21st century learning
and creating an educational standard where Information and Communication
Technology is part of the norm.

For sustainability and scalability reasons, the core team feels that
incorporation is a necessary step to garner the funds needed to finance
operational expenses and laptop purchases.  A pilot program will necessitate
full-time employees, who will provide continuous training and support for
participating teachers and students.  Our current volunteer model alone will
not be able to provide the constant monitoring and support that a pilot
program needs.

In essence, the incorporation process will address most of the question
marks that Rick and the others have raised.

As we work towards incorporation, we will simultaneously work on starting a
pilot program. We are looking for schools with progressive teachers and
administrators as well partner organizations who are aligned with our vision
[more in the following email]. So if you are interested in partnering with
us, please contact us at CoreOLPC.PH at gmail.com.

Most importantly, *WE NEED YOU*. Our core team cannot do it alone.  Feedback
and suggestions such as the ones from Rick, Janet and Mafe are needed. We
also need direct involvement in regards to marketing, finance,
development/fundraising, curriculum development, etc.  So if you are
interested in providing a helping hand, please join on our team:

Thank you and if you have any questions, suggestions or inquiries, please
feel free to contact us through this list serve or email:
CoreOLPC.PH at gmail.com

We look forward to working with you,



Core Team


On Wed, May 13, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Marife Mago <marife.mago at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> As a follow through on this thread.  As per my understanding I see that
> deployment and support issue is not at all a problem  even  both from on the
> XO  activities and technical.  As I see it in this thread we  do have a lot
> of enthusiast, which is great.
>
> The question being now is how do we get a funding and where do we start.
> Few months ago...I've read some emails regarding that. What's the latest on
> that?  So, I think that's one of our major concern.  Since Janet's company
> express their concern on donating how do they do that...do we have something
> ready to accept donations? And how can we tap our gov't...."lobbyst" as we
> say to finally reach them and be interested on this and the rest.  Who is
> willing to do  the website ....so we can start the campaign marketing for
> donation ...etc...
>
> And from there we can identify who and where to do the initial or pilot
> deployment.
>
> Charles, you might want to include this from your agenda. So, we can
> finally form the team to spearhead this.  I'll also invite others who are
> interested to join the group.
>
> Thanks and any thoughts on this?
>
> Cheers,
> Mafe
>
>
> On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 4:45 PM, Charles Chen <ideasman88 at yahoo.com.au>wrote:
>
>> Hello everybody,
>>
>> Allow me to share my thoughts on the comments of Janet, Rick and Mafe. I
>> appreciate your interest to help OLPC Philippines and hope each one of you
>> can help take this group forward.
>>
>> 1. OLPC Background. Just for the information of Janet, Rick and Mafe. I
>> assume you are aware that OLPC was started by Nicholas Negroponte from MIT
>> and funded by donations by parties like Google to develop the XO laptop.
>> Despite all the new laptops that have been introduced by commercial
>> manufacturers only the XO was designed primarily for the child. A lot of
>> work has been spent to make it sturdy, kid-friendly and open to use
>> non-proprietary software which is free.
>>
>> Unfortunately, even with the technical innovation done in developing the
>> XO, Negroponte is not a businessman and had not been able to effectively
>> capitalise and promote the benefits of using the XO. At the same time, he
>> had wanted only to deal with the national governments of countries in
>> developing an OLPC educational program. It was only recently with the entry
>> of competitors like Microsoft and Intel developing similar laptops has the
>> attitude of Nicholas has been more open to working with non-goverment groups
>> like us to roll out the program.
>>
>> The other constraint in deploying OLPC in other countries outside the US
>> is that its implementation is not formally organised or even financially
>> supported. We are unable to benefit of any financial and admin support OLPC
>> Boston has to assist us in our efforts. This is still essential as it costs
>> money to do a pilot much more an actual full deployment for an entire
>> country even if every one of us volunteers our time and effort.
>>
>> 2. OLPC Pilot. I first proposed doing an OLPC Pilot more than a year ago
>> with Don Bosco Technical Institute in Mandaluyong. However, until recently
>> the pilot was put on hold due to the lack of an appropriate deployment
>> model. Although most of our volunteer members have an IT background (I am
>> not one of them being an ex-banker), there was a problem forming a consensus
>> on what this model will be. Due to the many types of laptops and software
>> currently available as well as a different preferences from a number of our
>> members a consensus was never reached.
>>
>> Recently after attending an event organised by OLPC Australia (I am based
>> in Sydney, Australia) I now was able to identify a deployment model based on
>> the feedback of OLPC members here. And it is using OLPC's XO with Sugar as
>> the software application. The model will use already available content free
>> in the internet to use the XO laptop as an educational supplement to teach a
>> particular subject. With this information, I am now organising a pilot in a
>> public school in Antipolo with a donation from a generous local donor.
>>
>> The cost of doing the pilot is another hurdle our group has to address in
>> order to make this happen. You see, the group does not have a legal entity
>> in the form of a non-stock, non-stock foundation to be able to legally
>> solicit donations from interested individuals and companies. To be able to
>> register the foundation, the SEC requires a minimum paid-up of 1.0 Million
>> pesos. But more than the money, I was unable to solicit enough volunteer
>> members to help me do the organising for this purpose. I have decided again
>> on my own  by registering the OLPC foundation getting people outside the
>> group to assist me for this purpose.
>>
>> 2. Opportunities to start your own OLPC Pilot. Reading from the comments
>> of Janet, Rick and Mafe, I get the understanding that all three of you want
>> to start your own pilots in your respective groups. I will be willing to
>> help you start you own pilot subject to the following conditions:
>>
>> a. Pilot School. You will have to identify a proposed public school to be
>> the beneficiary of your pilot. It has to be a public school so that we can
>> benefit of having a formal educational setting in using the OLPC XO. This
>> means we can leverage our resources with that of the school. The other
>> reason also why it has to be a school since it will have to manage
>> continuing the program once set-up and running.
>>
>> b. Pilot Sponsor. To implement the pilot will require funding to cover all
>> the costs involved for this purpose. Like the cost of setting up a wireless
>> broadband connection in the classrooms to be used. Purchasing an XO for each
>> student covered in the pilot. Teacher training to use the XO, the Sugar
>> application and the proposed content. And if the Pilot is outside Metro
>> Manila, transportation and accomodation expenses for the people tasked to
>> set-up this up in the proposed area. Bear in mind, we still save a lot with
>> volunteers doing the actual work and not license fees to be paid in using
>> free non-proprietary software for the pilot. Just for the information of
>> everybody, I can arrange purchasing an XO laptop through OPLC Australia for
>> about US$259 each. It is ideal to purchase sufficient number of laptops to
>> provide each student (and teacher) in the entire grade level for the pilot.
>>
>> c. Educational focus. Please identify what educational focus you would
>> want to have in your pilot. My Antipolo pilot will focus on teaching
>> English. Rick let me check whether I can find a suitable content we can use
>> for teaching biology.
>>
>> d. Project Management. Being a Project Manager myself, I consider this the
>> most essential need to implement the pilot. You will need to nominate a
>> particular person that will be available on the ground to check, review and
>> monitor the implementation of the pilot and more importantly helping check
>> on the progress of the school to continue the pilot once successful.
>>
>> 3. OLPC Get-together. I will be in Manila from 22 June to 6 July and will
>> be organising another OLPC Get together in order for all of us to meet each
>> other in person. It will be most likely be on a Sunday afternoon (either 27
>> June or 4 July) and will be in the Makati area (most likely at the Asian
>> Institute of Management). I will appreciate if there will be more than the 4
>> people (that included me and a friend I invited as a guest) who were present
>> when I did this last year.
>>
>> In closing in behalf of OLPC Foundation (to be registered shortly), let me
>> welcome Janet, Marife and Rick to the OLPC Family.
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Charles Chen
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On *Tue, 12/5/09, olpc-philippines-request at lists.laptop.org <
>> olpc-philippines-request at lists.laptop.org>* wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: olpc-philippines-request at lists.laptop.org <
>> olpc-philippines-request at lists.laptop.org>
>> Subject: OLPC-Philippines Digest, Vol 19, Issue 5
>> To: olpc-philippines at lists.laptop.org
>> Received: Tuesday, 12 May, 2009, 3:18 AM
>>
>> Send OLPC-Philippines mailing list submissions to
>>     olpc-philippines at lists.laptop.org<http://mc/compose?to=olpc-philippines@lists.laptop.org>
>>
>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit
>>     http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-philippines
>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to
>>     olpc-philippines-request at lists.laptop.org<http://mc/compose?to=olpc-philippines-request@lists.laptop.org>
>>
>> You can reach the person managing the list at
>>     olpc-philippines-owner at lists.laptop.org<http://mc/compose?to=olpc-philippines-owner@lists.laptop.org>
>>
>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
>> than "Re: Contents of OLPC-Philippines digest..."
>>
>>
>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Re: questions (Hendricks, Rick)
>>
>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Message: 1
>> Date: Mon, 11 May 2009 13:17:42 -0400
>> From: "Hendricks, Rick" <Rick.Hendricks at rcsdk12.org<http://mc/compose?to=Rick.Hendricks@rcsdk12.org>
>> >
>> Subject: Re: [OLPC-Philippines] questions
>> To: "OLPC Philippines/Pilipinas grassroots"
>>     <olpc-philippines at lists.laptop.org<http://mc/compose?to=olpc-philippines@lists.laptop.org>
>> >
>> Message-ID:
>>     <695B0C350FD2E548B0D668970DA7B7F5033AF1EF at S000S01E.rcsd.dom<http://mc/compose?to=695B0C350FD2E548B0D668970DA7B7F5033AF1EF@S000S01E.rcsd.dom>
>> >
>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>>
>> Just to continue this thread which is peeking my interest. I'd like to
>> address the techiees and the XO's in the States.
>>
>> My purpose as a teacher attempting to help there is to find a way to
>> deliver both text and video based lessons to the schools there. I am
>> especially intrigued by Adobe flash's .swf for the ability to make things
>> interactive, high quality, scalable graphics with relatively small memory
>> footprint. I can make a thousand of these on a DVD and send them free of
>> copyright and have them used perpetually for the subjects.  I like these
>> because I can take requests from the instructors there about what they would
>> like and I could suggest sequence and lessons for teachers who need it.
>>
>> I can find hundreds of teachers who will help me to outline what is done
>> here, how , why and in what sequence.  The pictures is worth more than a
>> thousand words because of the language barriers. I certain the XO can show
>> the pictures and that a gig is enough memory to hold quite a long
>> presentation.  Most teachers will like to make PowerPoint shows and I don't
>> know if we can show these but I can translate the shows into flash without
>> too much effort if its' needed.
>>
>> If Mafe is going to Boston, let me be bold and suggest that the marketing
>> of this program has been pretty bad so far.  The success has come from the
>> installments but I have not seen a lot of good marketing on this one.
>> Techiees should know that they don't necessarily come out well on video when
>> explaining things.  It would be really good to get an enthusiastic teacher
>> to demonstrate what the XO can do and even better to show what it is doing.
>> That's why nearly any pilot would be great.   Even after reading and trying
>> to see how to do this, its not evident to me what I could do other than to
>> donate money.
>>
>> In my case, for example: I would like to see the program in Liloan, So
>> leyte.  So what can I do?  I have spoken with the schools there, they are
>> all for it.  How can I buy them the XO?  I know how to donate in general but
>> I don't know how to make it happen there - even if I front all the money.
>> If I could buy them here - do I send them Balikbayan?  How much is that? Is
>> there an install team in Manila that I could send there on Cebu pacific? Do
>> I have to make another trip there to set up broadband?  How much will that
>> cost?  I have a lot of unanswereds and I am trying to find the answers.
>>
>> As a guy that has written numerous grants for schools I can honestly say
>> this would never get funding because of all the question marks.  We the
>> people who want this to happen for the Filipinas must answer the questions.
>>
>>
>> I am thinking that in August I will bring the high definition video
>> Cameras there and produce a video to detail the need, the techniques used to
>> fill that need, the costs and mechanism such as the ones questioned above.
>> I would take videos and pictures and use them to redesign the website so
>> that benefactors looking to make real changes could have confidence that the
>> installations will produce real results.
>>
>> Rick
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: olpc-philippines-bounces at lists.laptop.org<http://mc/compose?to=olpc-philippines-bounces@lists.laptop.org>on behalf of Marife Mago
>> Sent: Mon 5/11/2009 11:49 AM
>> To: OLPC Philippines/Pilipinas grassroots
>> Subject: Re: [OLPC-Philippines] questions
>>
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> This is so true..that part of the success of this program is how this can
>> be  useful in a local setting and how this will be implemented to the
>> users.  I agree on starting and keep this going and do a small deployment.
>> We can start piloting this to a small number of kids then eventually if it
>> gain the attention of some then we can  dream for a bigger deployment.
>>
>> The guys that I'm talking about are very much willing to work on exploring
>> the XO activities, getting some of the educators create lesson plans that
>> would make the activities easy for the kids and teachers to learn in the
>> long run if we'll have major deployments in school.  In which addressing the
>> 80% that Jerome is mentioning.
>>
>> And from there we can we easily get feedback on how the kids find some of
>> the activities in the XO and we can also solicit activity suggestion that
>> could probably be a good project for our technical group here that can be
>> implemented locally and suited for the needs and later on share globally.
>>
>> I'll continue working in close contact with this group who are interested
>> in coming up with lesson plan and curriculum for this program.  Also, if we
>> can unleashed to both kids and teachers the many (OER) open educational
>> resources available that would be great.
>>
>> BTW: They're currently working  100 kids in their project site that
>> they've been teaching them weekly. So, if there's anybody who would want to
>> do the pilot on these group, please do let me know.
>>
>> I'm inviting him also to join the mailing list, so he can introduce and
>> talk more about what they're doing with these kids and where it is located.
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Mafe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 10:25 AM, Jerome Gotangco <jgotangco at gmail.com<http://mc/compose?to=jgotangco@gmail.com>>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     Hi Rick,
>>
>>     Thanks for the email. I'll split my replies in chunks. Let's see if we
>>     can start something from here.
>>
>>
>>     On Mon, May 11, 2009 at 8:43 PM, Hendricks, Rick
>>
>>     <Rick.Hendricks at rcsdk12.org<http://mc/compose?to=Rick.Hendricks@rcsdk12.org>>
>> wrote:
>>     > I have had roughly the same questions for some time now and I think
>> we have spent too much time on internal organization and not enough on
>> developing a working pilot.  I am both a teacher and engineer.  School
>> dynamics are unpredictable each school has it own paradigm.   I think would
>> help us to have a pilot created somewhere - anywhere! Doing something -
>> anything! onto which we can expand and build.
>>     > This would allow organizations such as Janet's to see the type of
>> laptop, how it is used and what its capabilities are.
>>     >
>>     > If we don't have a working unit to give them, I need to know why
>> not.  I'll buy one for this purpose.  In fact I'd buy more if I knew what
>> they would be used for.
>>
>>
>>     The first thing is that we're a loose group of enthusiasts at the
>>     start, and perhaps the most vocal (at least on this list) are the
>>     technically-inclined people, hence there are a lot of discussion on
>>     the technical merits rather than the more salient points that needs to
>>     be discussed. This is not the fault of the list per se, it just
>>     evolved as it is. Lately, we've been getting a good number of emails
>>     asking about OLPC as an organization, how it works, how is it
>>     happening locally, which we always say that its currently an interest
>>     group and I don't see anything wrong with that.
>>
>>     But I think that's one reason why a local pilot isn't happening
>>     locally is that we haven't gone beyond that "interest group" mindset.
>>     Perhaps not everyone though, but the list in general. This is perhaps
>>     a valid reason why having local access to an XO-1 unit is like digging
>>     for gold in the desert.
>>
>>     A few weeks ago me and Ryan met up at the mall to discuss stuff
>>     regarding this and one of the things he said to me was that he's just
>>     sad to see his XO-1 unit not doing anything. This is true, because the
>>     laptop is pretty much useless by itself and is only useful in a
>>     classroom. On my part, I only had access to an XO-1 production unit
>>     last year c/o Rowen and most of the stuff I did was either a) show it
>>     to someone how sturdy it is by dropping it intentionally and b)
>>     experimenting with alternative operating system setups that benefit
>>     primarily the hacker community.
>>
>>     So I guess that shows where I am coming from with regards to the whole
>>     project in general. I know very well enough of the technology of the
>>     platform but I can guarantee I can say less than 20% of the
>>     educational aspect in terms of methodology and practice. And I'm more
>>     than happy to have people who can fill up that 80% of knowledge to
>>     help out.
>>
>>
>>     > As a teacher I am quite anxious to develop animations, video and
>> benchmark lessons to supplement the 40 year old textbooks I saw in the
>> classes in the provinces.  The schools in Manila have a bit more resources
>> but most are pitiful.  We Throw Out 8 truck loads of book a year.  All of
>> which are far more modern than the ones I saw there.  After trying to figure
>> out for some time now how to ship those to Philippines, I realize the Holy
>> Grail would be digital.  I can send this stuff for virtually nothing  and
>> provide them with copyright free material in the venue of choice.  That is
>> my interest in this project.
>>
>>
>>     > Lets' start by asking Janet where she would like to see the project
>> work.  Lets get her and her boss a laptop - at my expense if necessary.
>> Lets get that school a class set and see what we can do to meet their
>> needs.  Don't make the mistake of telling them what it can do, Ask them what
>> they need it to do.  I know what I need it to do, but I won't speak for the
>> school.  Lets ask the developers to make the software needed to display
>> video, flash animations, textbooks or other materials.   Network them to
>> internet so they can use it to see the rest of the world or allow teachers
>> like me to send to them what they request.
>>
>>
>>     This is actually what I wanted to ask specifically to Janet but you
>>     beat me to it :-)
>>
>>
>>     > Even the provinces have microwave based broad band receivers.  In
>> Manila I can get moderate speed out of a P999 Smart bro transmitter and I
>> would not hesititate to ask SmartBro for a school based connect at discount
>> or free.  I have a soft spot for Liloan in Southern Leyte because of my
>> relatives there.  I have spoken with the principals there about what they
>> have now and I would be willing to build a working pilot there.   I would
>> evaluate the program based on teacher and students feedback.  Again my
>> purpose was to replace 40year biology text that students were copying onto
>> paper so that they didn't damage them.  They had no idea what the book said
>> but the students were copying them because the teacher told them to.  As a
>> teacher I can tell you that this means the teacher doesn't know what the
>> book says either.  I found this at virtually all levels including junior
>> college.  We need to change all that.
>>
>>
>>     Unfortunately, rote learning seems to be path when the system is
>>     degrading. I must admit, I am not an educator by profession (I am
>>     primarily a software developer) and my interest lies between cutting
>>     edge technology and pragmatic technology for teaching and where both
>>     could play (if possible) in a local setting.
>>
>>
>>     > Where the pilot is located is not so relevant as to get one going.
>> I know this is contrary to developer thought patterns because you like to
>> see planning and structure - no single point of failure,etc.  When you work
>> with children and schools, things will go wrong.  You can't plan for all of
>> them and you shouldn't try.  The power is in now.  Lets trust a good
>> reliable principal in a needy district to provide us with the feedback we
>> need to continue and lets document what has been done and how so that we can
>> answer more requests like the one from Janet.
>>
>>
>>     I agree on these points fully.
>>
>>
>>     > My question Immediately for Janet is : do you have a school in mind
>> already?  My questions for  Jerome are: 1) how much for a class set of  20?
>> and 2) How long will it take to get Janet's organization one to evaluate?
>> (assume I will pay for it)
>>
>>
>>     Currently OLPC has no program for small deployments like these if we
>>     look at http://laptop.org/en/participate/ways-to-give.shtml but I'm
>>     sure we can find a way to get those laptops from other sources. This
>>     list has enough people upstream that can give info. But a small pilot
>>     like 20 would be ideal for a purely volunteer-driven effort.
>>
>>
>>     > I know that not everyone in the organization can get to the
>> Philippines often.  But some are there and I get there every 3 months or
>> so.  Lets get going on this.  In prior discussions, I think we are too
>> concerned about legally structuring the group.  I think this is cart before
>> horse.  Lets get the pilot and evaluate the program.   I have a lawyer there
>> to handle any legal issues but its a donation to a school so I don't see
>> much.
>>
>>
>>     Yeah I agree. I've told a lot off-list that I have very little
>>     interest in formalizing a group at the start if there is nothing to
>>     present at all. But I guess having a formal group has its benefits but
>>     I'll leave that to the legal people to check.
>>
>>     Jerome
>>
>>     _______________________________________________
>>     OLPC-Philippines mailing list
>>     OLPC-Philippines at lists.laptop.org<http://mc/compose?to=OLPC-Philippines@lists.laptop.org>
>>     http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/olpc-philippines
>>
>>
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