As I said before -
email I sent to Dr. Ruvan, Mr. Niel and several others (14th January 2010).
"
we are back after our first evaluation visit to 2 schools which received olpc mahines (Thamubathegama (North Central) and Dambulla (Central)).
I would like to have a meeting to present what we gather and we feel how to go head on this project.
cannot cover this experience in an email.
my observation:
Truly speaking, I had some doubts about OLPC approach and its effectiveness. Theoretically, I accepted but practically I was not sure. my mind changed after this interesting visit.
Two schools had two slightly different implementation but those teachers have done a very good job within their capacities.
as you know, I gave a olpc as a present to my kids to start observing their behavior but I was not satisfied in the way they reacted. but I saw many things from those innocent kids from those schools (things not visible from my kids), truly it stuck us so strongly to all our hearts (prasadi, dependara, yasiru, hassikala, geetha and janaki). I think others also much visit other schools and see the reality.
This machine has stuck very hardly to their mind and life, not only them, we identified whole family was proud - "their son/daughter got a computer". we they were caring this machine like another doll (way they talk and behave). one student whose machine was broken, had asked her mother "do you value 25,000 or life of your daughter". at the same time, faces of students who didn't receive machines at the school (waiting for the gift from colombo), those kids whose machines are not working due to technical problems.
without proper training, good introduction, what these kids have discovered was amazing. I am poor to describe in words.
after taking to them in general, we started interacting with them individually or a small groups separately. (thanks to prasadi who mentored us how to do this). It didn't took much time to be so friendly with them. they were telling everything some including personal matters at home too. they were coming after us, some of us found difficult to get into van at the end, some ran home and brought innocent presents for us (fruits for us).
at their home, it was not only one person, whole family has started interacting with OLPC, but the kid was the guide to direct others. (brothers, sisters, sometimes, mother and father too).
true collaborative learning: I observed among them together with both positive and negative trends. some never let others touch their machines. at the same time, they never hesitate to stop doing their work and ready to help their friends when some problems occurred. their are few exceptional cases who could be strong contributors for this generation. we recorded many of these conversations and their activities - once we edited will share with you.
every true story have negative side too. road map to "Great Expectation" is not straight forward, there are many actions to be taken. there are technical, pedagogical and practical issues to be addressed to make this dream to happen in reality.
We gave a present to each school at the end. A USB drive (2GB) with software to reinstall when some problems occurred (both schools didn't have one). both the present and visit was funded by NeLC project. Dependras and Yasirus participation was very help to identify many technical issues. Shall we meet next week to have a serious discussion. On our way back, we discussed and identified short term and long term actions to be taken. Regards, Hewa
(Wrote 14th Jan. 2010)
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| OLPC Promtion |
After 9 months and more evaluation, we have published our results at
(Empovering ICT Adaptation in Primary Education through OLPC in Sri Lanka)
http://www.e-learning.lk/node/83
Interesting aricle which describes and critizies, OLPC. (but I think doing something as it is, not a project, We have to be creative to bring the benefits of ICT to make productive learning environment).
"Can One Laptop Per Child save the world's poor" [PDF] by Mark Warschauer and Morgan Ames (from the Journal of International Affairs)
http://jia.sipa.columbia.edu/files/jia/033-051_Warschauer_bluelines.pdf
small note: In a project, we can talk many negative sides and over look little
positive outcomes. if people have learned from those mistakes and
correcting their path, one day you can do it.
which one is better - writing 100 page report critizing failures or
help others to correct their failures. I am an academic not a
politician, so I like latter.
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