[Olpc-za] Cape Town project/pilot idea

[Dennis Stevenson]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Dennis Stevenson <adventureafrica at mac.com>
> Date: 04 May 2008 8:31:39 PM
> To: devel at lists.laptop.org
> Subject: AFRICA - LIFE SKILLS PROJECT IDEA
>
> Life Skills & Marine Ecology
>
> 1. Name:
>          Dennis A Stevenson
> 2. Email address:
>          denniss at iafrica.com
> 3. Organization:
>          Cape Windjammers Education Trust
> Cape Town, South Africa
>
>
> I am the president of a registered charity called Cape Windjammers  
> Education Trust – www.capewindjammers.org .
> It is CWET’s mission to use the power of training under sail for  
> life skill, leadership and career development thereby contributing  
> to sustainable peace and development in the region. Training under  
> sail is internationally recognized for being an efficient tool to  
> induce sustainable behavioral change in youth (Edinburgh University  
> research). It is implemented widely in many countries around the  
> world with the exception of the African continent. It is CWET’s aim  
> to make this tool widely available for South African civil society  
> organizations and the youth they are working with.
> Our organization is run entirely by passionate committed volunteers,  
> and has a very lean budget.
> Here is my vision for the OLPC:
>
> Ø    90% of our trainees are still at school and most come from  
> disadvantaged circumstances, and many are at risk due to their gang  
> and drug infested environs. They are thus ideal candidates to  
> receive an OLPC.
>
>
> Ø    We take them on a 5-day, offshore voyage of adventure.
>
>
> Ø    In addition to teaching them life-skills and seamanship, we  
> have developed a marine ecology appreciation course (several of our  
> volunteers are post-grad marine biologists) as well as teaching them  
> math and science disguised as navigation.
>
>
> Ø    A wet and windy boat is not a good environment for a book or a  
> bunch of photocopied pages.  Nor for any conventional computer.    
> The OLPC will be ideal for the distribution of static learning  
> material that must be taken to sea.   The lightness and the one- 
> handed grip suits an environment where one must always have “one  
> hand on the boat”.
>
>
>
> Ø    South Africa has 11 official languages and any one course will  
> have trainees from several of them.   Hence the need to develop  
> where possible language independent material.  This fits the nature  
> and philosophy of the OLPC.
>
>
> Ø    But static material, however necessary, is not what grabs a  
> child (I have two sons 12 and 14 so I know whereof I speak).  There  
> is enormous scope for interactive material in experiencing the world  
> of seamanship, navigation and marine ecology.  I have not yet  
> explored all the possibilities but for instance:
>
> o      Marine species recognition and logging
>
> o      Animations of ocean currents, tides and winds
>
> o      Illustrate the way the marine species use and are affected by  
> the ocean currents and winds
>
> o      Animations of ships’ navigation lights, shapes and sounds for  
> safety at sea (first you see only the lights, secondly you state  
> what type of vessel(s) it is (e.g. a submarine towing a hovercraft)  
> the the ship is revealed
>
> o      We could simulate a marine radio network using the OLPCs and  
> the children could practice radio procedure, sending and receiving  
> “mayday” messages, etc.
>
> o      Interactive scalars and vectors, shaping a boats course
>
> o      Etc…
>
> o      All of these will make great games (the way kids like to learn)
>
>
>
> Ø    Logging and Blogging: the youngsters learn that the ship’s log  
> needs to be written up regularly.  In like fashion we expect them to  
> keep a log of their experiences and thoughts.  Where possible we  
> want them to put up a Blog on the net.  Here is an example from the  
> girls we sent to take part in the Tall Ships cultural exchange in  
> Europe last year:
>
> http://teamsa-joins-tallshiprace-2007.blogspot.com/2007/08/team-sa-is-back-from-tall-ships-race.html
>
> We also taught them how to use a video camera and how to film on  
> board a ship and so in addition to written journals they made a  
> video journal (available on request).   How much better if each  
> child had an OLPC with a built in camera, and could make their own  
> multimedia journal entries as things happen or thoughts occur to  
> them.  Where we are using more than one vessel the children would be  
> able to exchange experiences across boats on the mesh network.
>
>
>
> Ø    The multimedia journals will be taken back to their school and  
> community where they can be projected from the OLPC while the child  
> gives his/her report back.
>
>
> Ø    After the 5 days at sea plus the preparation and debriefing  
> days the OLPC will have become an extension of the child and they  
> will go on to use them to explore and discover more and more  
> knowledge.
>
>
> Ø    Having been on a sailing adventure and arriving home with a  
> laptop will give the child a lot of credibility among their peers  
> and community.  This will allow them to exercise their newfound self- 
> confidence and leadership skills.  And to break out of the “you’ve  
> got to be in a gang to be somebody” trap.  We expect each child that  
> we have invested in to be a multiplier and to influence many others.
>
>
>
> 8. Description of your experience, both with hardware and software:
>
> Ø    25 years in the Life Insurance Applications development team of  
> an international, Fortune 500, financial services company, the  
> biggest in Africa (see www.oldmutual.com).
>
> I started in programming, and progressed to systems analysis,  
> systems design, application systems architecture and Business/IT  
> strategy and process design.   I achieved the positions of Chief  
> Architect (Life Assurance) and the Principal Consultant for Strategy  
> and Architecture.   I was especially valued for my innovation and  
> human/machine interface design, constantly being at the forefront of  
> new technology exploitation.   I have had the advantage of having  
> been schooled in the days when memory and random access storage were  
> tiny and code had to be very tight and sparse, plus having lead  
> design in the days of designing for the client server environment  
> where the client was a PC and the server was a mainframe.  Early on  
> in my career I designed the first online, real time updating, system  
> using a database, in the financial services sector in South Africa.   
> Late in my career I had the pleasure of designing the first  
> Insurance sales system operating on a salesman cell phone and  
> resulting in an issued policy on the mainframe legacy systems all  
> within the space of the client interview.
>
> I designed the web-based sales system for our UK company.  I  
> published numerous websites starting in 1995 right up to the present.
>
>
> Ø    5 years as a consultant at the head of my own company (see www.ITStratCon.com 
> )
>
>
> Ø    And now, though I still have the company, I don’t accept  
> contracts anymore because I am involved full time with being
>
>
> o      A stay-at-home Dad for my two early teen boys.
>
> o      President of Cape Windjammers Education Trust
>

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